Thursday, January 30, 2020

The Effect of the Internet on Music Essay Example for Free

The Effect of the Internet on Music Essay There has been much ink spilled over the supposed death of the music industry. While this worry may be a bit premature, the most pressing economic issue facing the music industry today is the slow but steady push toward a complete restructuring of itself. Downloadable music, in the form of mp3s, has revolutionized the way we think about and consume music. With the increased prominence of independent labels, file-sharing websites, and innovative artists who are creating their own methods for releasing albums, the traditional record business is becoming increasingly irrelevant. In economic terms, this has so far meant declining record sales among the major labels, a recent spate of firings, and the loss of big artists, who are moving either to concert promoters like LiveNation, independent labels, or their own recording studios. Over the past year, artists from Radiohead to Coldplay to Trent Reznor have released songs and entire albums for free over the internet. They have almost universally been a success, although some less well-known artists, as well as various industry insiders, have argued against this being a workable model. Michael Laskow, CEO of an independent AR company, TAXI, argued that Radiohead allowing consumers to pay what they choose for a digital album is not indicative of the future of the music industry: While the band, its fans and artists alike are celebrating what looks like a success for Radioheads bold move in releasing their new album using the ‘pay what youd like’ model, I think everybody has overlooked one very important aspect of this, and it doesnt bode well for the future of the music industry. Radiohead has been bankrolled by their former label for the last 15 years. Theyve built a fan base in the millions with their label, and now theyre able to cash in on that fan base with none of the income or profit going to the label this time around. The question is: how will new artists be able to use this model in the future if they havent built a fan base in the millions in the years leading up to the release of their album under the pay what youd like model (Lipsman)? The worry that new artists won’t be able to give their music away for free (disregarding the 40% or so of people who voluntarily paid from one to twenty dollars for the album), is a valid one. However, Laskow seems to view major labels as the only answer to new artists looking for an audience and a way to make a living with their music. On the contrary, the rising prominence of independent labels over the past several years has proven that it doesn’t take millions of dollars to create an album and promote it. Labels like Kill Rock Stars, Bloodshot Records, and Rounder Records have all seen their profits rise over the past few years, at the same time that major labels have seen their sales dip or stagnate. Cameron Strang, founder of New West Records, points out the economic advantages in not having the huge overhead of major labels. Thats the difference between us and them. Artists on our label who sell 200,000 copies make a very good living (Margolis). Artists like Aimee Mann and Michelle Shocked are releasing albums on their own. (Dare I even mention Ani Difranco? ) Clearly, independent labels as well as individual artists are capable of doing the work that major record labels have been doing for years. With the advent of webcasting and podcasting, along with XM and Sirius radio networks, traditional radio doesn’t have the same hold on the music buying public’s imagination that it once did. Increasingly, new artists are discovered by getting their songs played on television shows like The Hills and Grey’s Anatomy. The music industry is attempting to do to webcasting what it did to Napster, which is to essentially strangle it through lawsuits in the hopes of being able to squeeze money out of the webcasters. Instead of viewing web-based radio as a unique promotional opportunity, the mainstream music industry only sees profits being taken out of its pocket. At the same time, artists, like the ones discussed above, are realizing which way the wind is blowing. Digital Music News publisher Paul Resnikoff notes that: A growing number of superstars are or soon will be grazing in post-major pastures. And for them, the bigger basket touring, merchandising, publishing, relevance, and even album sales remains more important than a paid download, protected or otherwise (Resnikoff). These additional streams of revenue are often the more lucrative for musicians than album sales. It only makes sense that artists would look at digital music, including webcasting and file-sharing, as ways to gain fans that will purchase concert tickets and merchandise. File-sharing continues almost unabated, although the popularity of iTunes despite much of its music being DRM-protected has provided a model for money-making in the digital era. Despite iTunes and growing copyright protection on albums and songs, paid downloads account for, at most, five percent of all music downloads. Even ringtones, which are currently a substantial slice of the digital revenue pie, aren’t turning a profit. Labels are considering raising prices, but it is unknown whether customers will pay for them, or that a single line of revenue will pull record labels through financially. Warner Music Group and EMI have had massive layoffs over the past year in an effort to restructure and shore up the companies financially. Minimum Advertised Pricing, or MAP, is the setting of minimum prices by manufacturers for retailers. In the case of the music industry, the major labels colluded in the mid-1990’s to require discount retailers to advertise higher prices or give up joint marketing funding, which could mean giving up millions of dollars (Menn 152). The history of MAP, at least in the music industry, appeared to end on September 30, 2002, when the five major labels settled a lawsuit brought by 30 states in an effort to end the practice (Menn 152). In 2000, the Federal Trade Commission investigated price-fixing by major labels and the majors signed a consent decree getting rid of minimum-advertised pricing policies (Christman, Pricing). The FTC has estimated the cost to consumers in the years when MAP was practiced to be at half a billion dollars (Menn 152). For nearly the past 100 years, since the passage of the Sherman Act, mandatory pricing restraints were deemed to violate antitrust laws. It wasn’t until the summer of 2007, when the Supreme Court overturned the law against setting mandatory minimum pricing in a case brought by an accessories manufacturer, that the practice was made legal (Christman, Why Labels). This has potentially enormous ramifications for the music industry and music fans alike; it remains to be seen whether those ramifications will be for the benefit of music fans or to their detriment. The music industry has argued that requiring discounters to sell CDs at the same price as specialty stores will lead to greater selection and a halt to the bleeding that independent record stores have experienced (Christman, Why Labels). At the same time, music fans have bemoaned the high price of CDs for years, and raising prices unilaterally could drive down music sales even further. The major label system, which requires millions of dollars in overhead to promote certain artists, is at least partly to blame for the rising prices. At Salon. com Scott Rosenberg argues that: Even more than the artists, the victims of this system are music fans who end up paying exorbitant prices for CDs to fund bloated recording-company marketing budgets. That money gets spent manufacturing a handful of superstars, leaving serious music lovers to fend for themselves in ferreting out unusual new music that the business considers too niche-y to be worth promoting (para. 6). In this view, the pricing system set by the majors is inherently unfair to both fans and the majority of artists who aren’t â€Å"superstars†. Rather than setting minimum pricing restraints for discount stores, major labels could lower wholesale prices to ensure that independent record stores could stay in business. This would largely be to the labels’ benefit; over the last five years, their reliance on big-name stars to sell huge amounts of records has been a losing proposition. Titles from unknown artists and back catalogs are often nowhere to be seen at discount stores. The personal service and deep selection at independent stores creates an opportunity to sell these types of titles. The $9. 99 price point set by discount stores and iTunes has surely contributed to declining album sales, but the burden of maintaining that price point has been shouldered almost entirely by independent music retailers, while the major labels continue to raise list prices (Christman, Why Labels). Majors are contributing to declining sales while preserving their own profit margins. Mike Dreese, quoted in Billboard, also points a finger at discount stores that lure customers in with low CD prices: Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy have succeeded in almost destroying the specialty-music account base and are now setting the rules for the industry. If minimum pricing were implemented, it would keep the discounters from finishing the job. Those discounters, which have limited selection, have such dominance that labels now spend more money on supporting low retail prices and much less advertising the availability of the product (Christman, Why Labels). The tide of public opinion seems to be turning toward the use of minimum pricing restraints. When price-fixing in the music industry was first being investigated, still-new stores like Best Buy maintained a relatively deep catalog of music, knowing that it was competing directly with independent music stores. Now that discounters have succeeded in putting many small stores out of business, their catalog consists largely of the Billboard Top 100. What seemed revolutionary in 2000 – music priced at a reasonable amount over cost – has had unforeseen consequences. The prominence of discount stores in the music industry has contributed to the lack of choice and variety so unappealing to music fans. Wal-mart has surpassed Apple to become the number one music retailer in this country. The driving down of CD price points to $9. 99 has been salutary for customers, but may have longer-lasting effects by eliminating space for new artists and broad selection. Furthermore, even the $9. 99 price point has been artificially constructed by discounters hoping to entice customers and labels hoping to propel all-important first week sales (Deutsch). Noting the possible risks of this new low price point in Billboard, Ed Christman points out that â€Å"After all, at $9.99 the U. S. music industry currently has the lowest CD pricing at retail since the format was introduced here in 1983. † It is unclear whether imposing minimum advertised pricing at this point would even make a difference in terms of independent music stores. Many have already closed, and those that have stayed open have diversified or moved to a location free of big box discounters. The music industry may impose mandatory minimum pricing again, but low CD price points and the decreasing number of brick and mortar music stores will likely continue unabated. The internet has changed the distribution of music in ways we are only just beginning to imagine. The old models – for promotion, distribution, and sales – aren’t working in the age of the mp3. Clearly, continuing to hold on to past business models and attempting to fit new trends and technology into it has not worked out well for the major labels. A fear of competition and new technology accounts for the manner in which the industry attempted to deal with Napster. Afraid of lost profits, music industry executives from the top five record labels chose to batten down the hatches and lock away any possibility of negotiation with Napster. According to Joseph Menn, the author of All the Rave: the Rise and Fall of Shawn Manning’s Napster, this is partially due to a generational divide within the individual labels. Top-level executives are often â€Å"old-school leaders who turn purple with rage at the very idea of an MP3† (Menn 153), while younger up-and-comers saw the possibilities of this new technology. With the advent of webcasting and podcasting, along with XM and Sirius radio networks, traditional radio doesn’t have the same hold on the music buying public’s imagination that it once did. Increasingly, new artists are discovered by getting their songs played on television shows like The Hills and Grey’s Anatomy. The music industry is attempting to do to webcasting what it did to Napster, which is to essentially strangle it through lawsuits in the hopes of being able to squeeze money out of the webcasters. Instead of viewing web-based radio as a unique promotional opportunity, the mainstream music industry only sees profits being taken out of its pocket. At the same time artists are realizing which way the wind is blowing. Touring, merchandising, and publishing remain large chunks of income for both individual artists and music labels. The traditional record industry has become increasingly outdated and unable to keep pace with the digitized, connected world of the 21st century. Music downloading is hugely popular around the world, but particularly in places as diverse as Ghana and Brazil, where poverty is widespread and cheap mp3s have spread like wildfire. Maintaining the expensive overhead of a bloated recording industry through high price points for CDs means that music is only available to a certain class of consumer. Peer-to-peer file sharing has made music more widely available, and helped raise the profile of independent and unsigned bands. Clearly these benefits have to be taken into account while also denouncing outright piracy as clearly illegal. It is up to the music industry to come up with easy to use, innovative ways to incorporate the changes mp3s have made to their business, with successful ventures like iTunes leading the way. The specter of music piracy and lost profits have led the music industry into a premature grave, when they should be welcoming the opportunity to promote music in new ways and to new communities. WORKS CITED Christman, Ed. â€Å"Pricing Perils for Record Labels. † Billboard 26 May 2007. Lexis-Nexis. 15 May 2008 http://www. lexisnexis. com. Christman, Ed. â€Å"Why Labels Should Set Minimum Price Restraints. † Billboard 1 September 2007. Lexis-Nexis. 15 May 2008 http://www. lexisnexis. com. Deutsch, Claudia. â€Å"Suit Settled Over Pricing of Music CDs at Three Music Chains. † New York Times: NYtimes. com. 1 October 2002. 11 May 2008 http://query. nytimes. com/gst/ fullpage. html? res=9C05E5D91238F932A35753C1A9649C8B63.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Summary and Analysis of The Summoners Tale :: Canterbury Tales The Summoners Tale Essays

Summary and Analysis of The Summoner's Tale (The Canterbury Tales) Prologue to the Summoner's Tale: The Summoner was enraged by the tale that the Friar told. He claims in response to the Friar that friars and fiends are one and the same. He tells that a friar once was brought to hell by an angel and remarked that he saw no friars there. However, Satan lifted his tail and thousands of friars came out from his ass and swarmed around hell. Analysis The Summoner becomes insane with anger upon hearing the Friar's Tale, which, although it was told with great vitriol against summoners, had a measured manner and refrained from personal attacks. Where the Friar was intensely contemptuous yet civil, the Summoner becomes a brutish and ill-tempered barbarian. Rather than combating the image that Friar's Tale had given of his profession, the Summoner confirms the worst about the low qualities of his kind. The Summoner's Tale: A friar went to preach and beg in a marshy region of Yorkshire called Holderness. In his sermons he begged for donations for the church and afterward he begged for charity from the local residents. He went to the house of Thomas, a local resident who normally indulged him, and found him ill. The friar speaks of the sermon he gave and essentially orders a meal from Thomas's wife. She tells the friar that her child died not more than two weeks before. The friar claimed that he had a revelation that her child had died and entered heaven. He claims that his fellow friars had a similar vision, for they are more privy to God's messages than laymen, who live richly on earth, as compared to richly spiritually. He speaks about how, among the clergy, only friars remain impoverished and thus close to God, and tells Thomas that his illness persists because he has given so little to the church. When Thomas remarks that his wife is angry, the friar launches into a tirade about the ill effects of i re in men of high degree. He tells the tale of an angry king who sentenced a knight to death because he returned without his partner and automatically assumed that he had murdered him. When a third knight lead the condemned knight to his death, they found the knight that he had supposedly murdered. When the third knight returned to the king to have the sentenced reversed, the king sentenced all three to death: the first because he had originally declared it so, the second because he was the cause of the first's death, and the third because he did not obey the king.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Effects of Countries of Transition Economies Essay

Centrally planned economy is an economic system in which the government makes almost all the decisions of a country’s economic activities (â€Å"Definition of ‘Centrally Planned Economy’†, 2014). For instance, government takes control on what goods and services is produced and how the resources are disseminated. The purpose of centrally planned economy is to enhance the productivity and management by allowing the planners to take advantage of better information accomplished through a combination of economic resources while making decisions on the topic of investment and also the distributions of economic inputs (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). On the other hand, a market economy is an economic system in which the consumers and businesses who take control on making the economic decisions of a country (â€Å"Definition of ‘Market Economy’†, 2014). For instance, consumers and businesses decide the price of goods and services and how m uch to supply. However, there is little government involvement. In the late 1980s, the decline of the centrally planned economies has downgraded the living standards of the people (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). Hence, some of the centrally planned countries such as Poland, Hungary, and Yugoslavia intended to move towards a market economy because this is the only way to conquer the gap between these socialist economies and the western-like market economies (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)† , 2014). The transformation from a centrally planned economy to a market based economy has never been easy (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). There is only one process of transition is considered as successful which is the People’s Republic of China (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). On the  other hand, the Soviet Union’s transition was much more challenging (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). This is because of the creation of price ceilings which is under the soviet’s planning (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). This has caused the serious problem which is shortages (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). A program of shock therapy has created which is to implement the transition process in a short period of time (â€Å"Command economy†, 2014). Hence, a big-scale privatization, budget cuts and liberalization of economy and finance policies. The fundamental economic problem is linked to the concern of scarcity (â€Å"The fundamental economic problem†, 2014). Scarcity happens when societies do not have enough resources to satisfy their unlimited needs and wants which is also call demand (â€Å"The fundamental economic problem†, 2014). Due to the limited resources and the unlimited demands, producers and consumers have to make a wise decision between competing alternatives (â€Å"The fundamental economic problem†, 2014). By making a wise economic decision, the alternatives must be sacrificed which also call the opportunity cost. This is because that they believe that the economic decision they made has a greater benefits than the opportunity cost (â€Å"The fundamental economic problem†, 2014). Thus, firms and households are the components from the circular flow diagram play an important role to deal with the problem of scarcity. However, government may involve in the market and thus government must also need to know which way is the best to use taxpayer’s money in order to enhance the country’s development. According to the America’s first Nobel Prize winner for economics, Paul Samuelson said that in order to solve the problem of scarcity facing by all of the societies, three basic questions must be answered which are what to produce, how to produce and whom to produce (â€Å"Samuelson’s three questions†, n.d.). The economic system performs similar function despite the differences in each system. First and foremost, one of the functions stated by College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (n.d), the basic functions of the economic are to determine what and how much to produce. To produce goods and services, firms should analyse on what are th e demands and the needs of the society and then produce goods that are highly values by the society. Therefore, consumers are willing to pay more to satisfy their needs and wants, which also benefits firms where they are able to maximize their supply and also income. Firms also could produce a number of goods depending on the market  size. Therefore, there won’t be wastage. Secondly is how are firms going to produce goods? The production of goods and services can be from different type of aspect. For example, firm uses labour production technology to produce their goods. It is because hiring labour from other countries like Bangladesh is cheap. Besides that is by using capital production technology. With the advance of technology, machines or robots are able to help in production by maximizing the use of resources and also maximize production with the resources available. Lastly is for whom the production of goods and services are for? Goods and services are normally produced for everybody as some firms may want to maximize their profits by targeting everybody. However, som e firms may want to segment their products to certain segments only. For instance, a firm which produces baby diapers only target for the baby segment. Some other firms also may target other segments according to race, culture and also age. By this, it will help to maintain the economy and also promote economic progress. Planned economies basically give the government autocracy type dominate over the resources of the nation (â€Å"planned economy†, 2014). They mitigate the need of private firms and permits the government to decide everything from allocation to pricing (â€Å"Economy system†, n.d.). Planned economies can offer stability, but also can restrict the progress and development of the nation if the government does not distribute resources to the innovative companies (â€Å"Economy system†, n.d.). The system rely on partial or total government control of the factors of production. All sources of production are owned and operated by the government (â€Å"Economy system†, n.d.). Individuals are not allowed to possess whichever property. The government programs, arranges, and coordinates the entire production procedure in many industries. Lastly, the government, make the most economic resolution with those on top of the hierarchy (â€Å"Economy system†, n.d.). Market Based economy is a free market economy where economic decisions are made. In other words, the production of the goods and services are control by the laws of supply and demand (Amadeo, 2014). Private firms or individuals take control of the allocation resources. Firms sell their goods and services at the highest probable price to maximize profit which consumers are capable and ready to pay (Amadeo, 2014). In a market economy, most goods and services are own privately. These enable private firms and individuals to make decision and choices freely.  Owners, consumers and workman are free to trade, purchase, generate resources in the free market (Amadeo, 2014). According to the law of demand, when the demand of an item increases, the prices will eventually increase (Amadeo, 2014). Besides, the forces of supply and demand are free from the involvement of the government. The duty of the government in market based economy is to simply insure that the market is set up and processing (â€Å"market economy†, n.d.) The standard of economic development in centrally planned system is low. It has a bigger agricultural sector as proportion of total productivity, despite on low priority of agriculture in resource distribution. It also has a high standard of forced saving and development was a high priority of centralized distribution. Furthermore, the system has a smaller service sector. Socialist countries less diverse because of not specializing conform to comparative advantage. Prices are also more stable. They inclined to display greater stability after most of the post-war era (economy system, n.d.). A centrally planned economy can lower unemployment rate, centralize resources on significant objective such as speedy economic growth and prevent wasteful reproduction of economic activities (â€Å"the pros of command economy†, 2014). A planned economy is essential at mobilizing economic resources. Firms have the capability to implement big projects, achieve their target and build industrial strength (â€Å"the pros of command economy†, 2014). Besides, it can avoid monopoly force misuse (â€Å"the pros of command economy†, 2014). Planned economies have the capability to refrain the lavish of monopoly force. It also permits the government to validly conquer market failure, inequality and set up a community that will maximize the welfare of people despite maximizing earnings. The country produces a planning scope of power so as to effectively implement long term goals (â€Å"the pros of command economy†, 2014). There is also more fair distribution of income and wealth (economy system, n.d.). On the other hand, planned economies mostly suffer from strict bureaucracy, responsibility problems, deficient decision-making, communication issues, self-serving action and incapable conformity (Chavez III, n.d.). These issues lead to excessive of shortages and surpluses of goods and services. Unsatisfactory allocation mostly leads to black market economies. The people in this system have a poor level of living and are poorly motivated (Chavez III, n.d.). There are pros and cons in every economy system. Centrally planned economy is fully  controlled by the government. Therefore, mentioned by Engrade (n.d), the relative merits for centrally planned economy is whereby the welfare of all citizens is the primary goal. In are other words, the citizen are put as the main priority to any situations. For example, goods are being produced based on the demand from the citizens. Next is prices of goods are being under control by the government so that citizens will be able to afford to consume goods and services. For instance, government provides petrol subsidies to citizens. Other than that is also said by Engrade (n.d), there will be no industrial unrest such as striking or riots as the governments c ontrols it in a systematic manner. For example, the wages of employee or the rights of citizens. Lastly is whereby government possess information to direct resources. The government have the information to where needs resources and where do not need. By this everything will be under control and there won’t be wastage. Compare to centrally planned economy, market based economy has more freedom as the government do not interfere with citizens doings. With private sector, the country is becoming more powerful. The relative merits of the market based economy is where with the boost of private sector, the country of state will be more updated and have more economic power. Private sector would be also able to bring in advance technology to increase the performance and the productivity of goods produced. Besides that, the prices of goods are determined by the market mechanism which is the types of goods and services of products being produced. Lastly but not least are competition among firms may help to improve the quality of goods produces (Engraded, n.d). For example, in order to attract more customers, private sector would upgrade the quality and also control the pricing in other to compete with other private sector. By this, I would benefit a lot to consumers and they will be willing to pay for it. Throughout the complete process of economic transformation which began in 1970s and accelerate in the 1980s as the economic conditions worsened (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). In 1989, the political systems in some of the socialist countries started their unexpected collapses which lead to the neglect of the centrally planned system and slowly transform into a market based economy system (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). Thus, it has brought some significant effects on the world undeveloped markets and on  global trading patterns of countries (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). In the first stage of the transformation, a number of fundamental economic improvements had to be executing in all these countries (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). These modifications were related to liberalization of prices, trade and also foreign exchange (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). Moreover, the transformation of the economy system also brings macro-economic stabilization to the countries (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). It helps to deal with the essential external and internal disparities of the national economies which are high or hyper-inflation (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). Additionally, transition to market based economy also facilitate in the aspect of restoration of private assets, positioning the conditions, legal and organizational structure required for an economy based in personal enterprises and economic activities (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)† , 2014). Other than this, it also enabling the reimbursement or re-compromise of the accumulated foreign debt and, overall, it helps to take the advantages of national economy which include the development of the banking and financial segment and the attraction of foreign capitals and investments (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). The other effect is that it helps the countries to set up a standardized exchange rate (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)†, 2014). Lastly, the transition towards the market-based economy system had aid the countries in the elimination of state control over foreign trade and established legal regulations in order to stimulate the entrepreneurship development (â€Å"Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy)† , 2014). In the past decades, millions of countries and people think that planned economy was the best method to operate their economies. There are still some other countries currently under planned system, like North Korea. However, planned system tends to lose out from major inefficiencies and it work out not as successful as other systems. Market and command countries incline to place distinct preference on the part of government in the economy. The essential economic problem is scarcity and choice. Because of scarcity, choices have to be made. The transformation had improved the development of the economy  and brings stabilization to the nation. With reinforced globalization, we became more acutely conscious of the mutuality of all countries in our world economy (â€Å"COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC SYSTEM†, n.d.). References Amadeo.K, (2014). Market Economy. Retrieved from http://useconomy.about.com/od/US-Economy-Theory/a/Market-Economy.htm. ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMICS Blog, (2014). Command economy pros and cons. Retrieved from http://apecsec.org/command-economy-pros-and-cons/ Centrally planned economy. (2014). Definition of ‘Centrally Planned Economy’. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/centrally-planned-economy.asp. Command economy. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/planned-economy. Chavez III.F, (n.d). What Is a Centrally Planned Economic System?. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7703633_centrally-planned-economic-system.htm. College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. (n.d). The Functions of An Economic System. Retrieved from http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/are012/lecturepdf/lectur7.pdf. Economic Education. (n.d.). COMPARATIVE ECONOMIC SYSTEM. Retrieved from http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/EconEdLink-print-lesson.php?lid=322&type=student. Economy System, (n.d). Planned economy. Retrieved from http://www.ssag.sk/SSAG%20study/EKO/Economic%20Systems.pdf. Engraded. (n.d). Economis Systems. Retrieved from https://wikis.engrade.com/economicsystems. European Commission. (2014). Economic reforms (transition to a market-based economy). Retrieved from https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/multisite/etc/en/content/economic-reforms-transition-market-based-economy. Investor Words, (2014). Planned Economy. Retrieved from http://www.investorwords.com/8175/planned_economy.html#ixzz34n1pNDUu. Market economy, (2014). Definition of ‘Market Economy’. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketeconomy.asp. The economic problem, Samuelson’s three questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Competitive_markets/The_economic_problem.html. The fundamental economic problem. (2007). Retrieved from http://econ.economicshelp.org/2007/09/fundamental-economic-problem.html. .

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Using Marxist Theory in the Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen...

â€Å"Greed is the root of all evil.† A quote from the Bible that describes many plays and stories. The Marxist theory uses a similar outlook on that saying, but it does not convey the message that the quote does. Using the Marxist theory, good can still be done though it typically isn’t. â€Å"A Doll’s House† is the perfect example of this theory, and the quote. Its narrative is almost wholly centered on economic status and money. The characters like Nora, Ms. Linde, and Krogstad are primarily main characters because of the money issues they have got themselves stuck into. It leads their actions till the very end of the play up until some of the characters realized that money was controlling their thoughts and actions. Nora Helmer, the†¦show more content†¦At this point in the play a loan has turned into a life threating debt that cannot be paid. Money continues to drive the plot but in a less narrow minded way than before. The string of debt has now been strung into a web that can’t be undone. Later in the play Nora realizes that money has only been swaying her of her ignorance involving Torvald. She understands that money isn’t the only reason to be with someone and then her story ends. Money has had control over the entire plot up until the very end when she denied the Marxist Theory. Marrying someone for their money is a huge sign of the Marxists Theory. The character known as Kristine or Mrs. Linde is guilty of this notion. Her family was in need and she had no way to provide for them, this led to her marrying a businessman to obtain an economic gain for all those that she cared about. She also is lunged into the plot because she is looking for a job which brings along with it money. She only did this because her two previous sources of income had fallen right under her. The businessman she was married to and her business that she had both collapsed. She would not have been in the plot if she wasnâ€℠¢t controlled by her limited economic situation that she was in. Before the play’s plot it was shown that she had left Krogstad because of his â€Å"hopeless prospects†. This quote could be taken in many ways but the most relevant idea to the plot would be that he simply had no goals, future, or a stableShow MoreRelatedCriticle Analysis of a Dolls House2519 Words   |  11 PagesCritical Analysis of A Dolls House by Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House was a controversial play for its time because it questioned societys basic rules and norms. Multiple interpretations can be applied to the drama, which allows the reader to appreciate many different aspects of the play. This paper examines how both Feminist and Marxist analyses can be applied as literary theories in discussing Ibsens play because both center on two important subject matters in the literary work: