Chinese Economic Reform Essays - Chinese Communists,

Chinese Economic Reform Two years after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, it became apparent to many of China's leaders that economic reform was necessary. During his tenure as China's premier, Mao had encouraged social movements such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution which had had as their bases ideologies such as serving the people and maintaining the class struggle. By 1978 "Chinese leaders were searching for a solution to serious economic problems produced by Hua Guofeng, the man who had succeeded Mao Zedong as CCP leader after Mao's death" (Shirk 35). Hua had demonstrated a desire to continue the ideologically based movements of Mao. Unfortunately, these movements had left China in a state where "agriculture was stagnant, industrial production was low, and the people's living standards had not increased in twenty years" (Nathan 200). This last area was particularly troubling. While "the gross output value of industry and agriculture increased by 810 percent and national income grew by 420 percent [between 1952 and 1980] ... average individual income increased by only 100 percent" (Ma Hong quoted in Shirk 28). However, attempts at economic reform in China were introduced not only due to some kind of generosity on the part of the Chinese Communist Party to increase the populace's living standards. It had become clear to members of the CCP that economic reform would fulfill a political purpose as well since the party felt, properly it would seem, that it had suffered a loss of support. As Susan L. Shirk describes the situation in The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China, restoring the CCP's prestige required improving economic performance and raising living standards. The traumatic experience of the Cultural Revolution had eroded popular trust in the moral and political virtue of the CCP. The party's leaders decided to shift the base of party legitimacy from virtue to competence, and to do that they had to demonstrate that they could deliver the goods. (23) This movement "from virtue to competence" seemed to mark a serious departure from orthodox Chinese political theory. Confucius himself had posited in the fifth century BCE that those individuals who best demonstrated what he referred to as moral force should lead the nation. Using this principle as a guide, China had for centuries attempted to choose at least its bureaucratic leaders by administering a test to determine their moral force. After the Communist takeover of the country, Mao continued this emphasis on moral force by demanding that Chinese citizens demonstrate what he referred to as "correct consciousness." This correct consciousness could be exhibited, Mao believed, by the way people lived. Needless to say, that which constituted correct consciousness was often determined and assessed by Mao. Nevertheless, the ideal of moral force was still a potent one in China even after the Communist takeover. It is noteworthy that Shirk feels that the Chinese Communist Party leaders saw economic reform as a way to regain their and their party's moral virtue even after Mao's death. Thus, paradoxically, by demonstrating their expertise in a more practical area of competence, the leaders of the CCP felt they could demonstrate how they were serving the people. To be sure, the move toward economic reform came about as a result of a "changed domestic and international environment, which altered the leadership's perception of the factors that affect China's national security and social stability" (Xu 247). But Shirk feels that, in those pre-Tienenmen days, such a move came about also as a result of an attempt by CCP leaders to demonstrate, in a more practical and thus less obviously ideological manner than Mao had done, their moral force. This is not to say that the idea of economic reform was embraced enthusiastically by all members of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in 1978. To a great extent, the issue of economic reform became politicized as the issue was used as a means by Deng Xiaoping to attain the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao's successor, Hua Guofeng, had "tried to prove himself a worthy successor to Mao by draping himself in the mantle of Maoist tradition. His approach to economic development was orthodox Maoism with an up-to-date, international

Key Historical Figures in Statistics

Key Historical Figures in Statistics Free Online Research Papers Some of the key statisticians, in history, are John Graunt, Jacques Bernoulli, Ronald Fisher, Galileo, Blaise Pascal, and Pierre de Fermat. They each had their own theories, inputs, and contributions which aided in the development of statistics. Early applications of statistical came from the needs of states to base their policies on demographic and economic data. London, England was suffering from plague outbreaks and the King wanted some sort of an early warning system of the threat of fresh outbreaks. Weekly records were kept of mortality and the causes of death in the capital. John Graunt made an estimate of the population of London. This is thought to be the first example of the interpretation of passive data and the real beginning of statistics. The important fact about this was that John Graunt checked his calculations of total population by going to the evidence. John Graunt was the pioneer of demography and produced the first life table (Who Invented Statistics, 2010). He wrote a book called Natural and Political Observations upon the Bills of Mortality in 1662. This book refers to the collections of mortality figures in London and he is regarded as the author of the first book on statistics (Statisticians T hrough History, 2001 2010). Mathematical foundations were not added or used until the 17th century, with the development of the Probability Theory, by Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fermat, strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science (Answers.com, 2010). The Probability Theory came about from the study of games of chance. An example of this theory would be if you had a deck of 52 playing cards and you wanted to find the probability of picking one card from the deck and it being a heart. There are 13 cards in the deck that are heart, so the solution would be 13/52 or 1/4. So the probability is 25% you will pick a heart on the first try from the deck. Most of the graphical methods and other significance tests come from the 20th century. In today’s society, statistics are widely used by state, local, and federal government, various businesses, social sciences, etc. to name a few. With the use of modern technology, statistical computation has risen to new levels that would be take too much time to try and perform manually. ? References Answers.com. (2010). Retrieved July 2010, from Who was Blaise Pascal and what did he invent: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_was_blaise_pascal_and_what_did_he_invent John Aldrich, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. (2010, July). Retrieved July 2010, from Figures from the History of Probability and Statistica: economics.soton.ac.uk/staff/aldrich/Figures.htm Statisticians Through History. (2001 2010). Retrieved July 2010, from bized.co.uk/timeweb/reference/statisticians.htm Who Invented Statistics. (2010). Retrieved July 2010, from Ask Answers: http://answers.ask.com/Science/Mathematics/who_invented_statistics Research Papers on Key Historical Figures in StatisticsInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesResearch Process Part OneIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalCapital PunishmentThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseQuebec and CanadaBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XBringing Democracy to AfricaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaEffects of Television Violence on Children

Ethics in Financial Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Ethics in Financial Management - Essay Example In the article discussed in this paper we see how a person in power takes advantage of his position for personal gain. Henry M. Paulson was the Treasury secretary during the Bush Administration. He was also a major shareholder of Goldman Sachs. Mr. Paulson wanted to make it seem as if his ethical standards were implacable. He sold all his shares of Goldman Sachs and vowed not to get involved in any issues associated with the investment banking sector since he had many friends and colleagues in the industry. Getting involved in issues associated with the investment banking sector would constitute a conflict of interest ethical violation. A conflict of interest occurs when a person has a conflict between his private interest and the individual public obligations (Answers, 2009). The Treasury secretary was in the middle of the entire bailout package scandal. When the government allocated $85 million dollar of the bailout money to the American International Group (AIG), Mr. Paulson’s former employer, Goldman Sachs, received millions of dollars in debt collection from AIG as a consequence of the b ailout package deal. Even though Henry Paulson claims he did nothing wrong and that his actions were not unethical in any way because he was simply doing his job as secretary of treasury, many Wall Street experts believed Goldman Sachs received preferential treatment during the entire process. During the AIG bailout package took place Mr. Paulson spoke the CEO of Goldman Sachs over two dozen times (Morgenson & Van Natta, 2009). The amount of phone calls exceeds by a lot the conversations the governmental official had with any other Wall Street executive. Mr. Paulson claimed he received an ethics waiver. To me this waiver seems like a cheap excuse because the treasury secretary’s actions were clearly an ethical violation since his former employer was receiving preferential