For each assignment you must hand in a Literature Review of a minimum of three (if you its

an individual work) to four (if its a group work) texts. Remember that the selection of literature must be valid and consist of articles from a scientific/academic journal or chapters from a specialized book(that either offers empirical studies or a systematic theoretical review) that elaborates about your selected research topic. In this sense, only primary or secondary sources are valid for this type of review. If you are ever unsure on the validity of the source, send me an e-mail and/or bring it to class to assess it (please do this at least a few days before the due date to hand in said reviews). Remember thata relatively good “rule of thumb” is that journals published from renown and respectable universities and research institutions tend to go though rigorous editorial process (and tend to be peer-reviewed) that safe-guard (at least in theory) from spurious, fallacious or wrongly made articles or studies.

Discussion 1

Political Climate

The National Labor Relations Board consists of five members, who serve staggered terms and who are appointed by the president of the United States. How do you think the president’s political outlook plays into who is appointed to sit on the board? How might this impact the decisions made by the board from presidential term to term? Present your views in approximately 250 words in your initial discussion post. Respond to at least two of your peers’ posts. Utilize the course text, weekly lecture, and at least one other scholarly source. Remember to properly cite your sources.

Discussion 2

Public Pensions and Employer/Labor Relations

After reading the Dorfman article, “Public Pensions are Still Marching to Their Death (Links to an external site.)”, respond to the following questions: 

• What are the political reasons public pensions are underfunded?
• If the pension problem is political, what steps would have to occur to remedy the problem? Do you think such a remedy will ever take place?
• If you do not see a remedy for the situation, what do you predict will happen to public pensions in the future?

1. Why might it be important for you to know information about your own personality types?

2. How might this affect your personal and professional interactions?

3. How might your personality affect your professional growth and direction as a healthcare director?

4. Does your personality score change over time or stay the same–use research to help respond to this question.

5. Personality (outcome) link provided. 

https://www.16personalities.com/enfj-personality

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

Assignment:

1. Between the early 1960s and late 2000s, bankers sought to raise and lend out more deposit funds. Today, however, a number of banks have stopped trying to attract more deposits. A few are even actively discouraging deposits by charging customers fees if they deposit “too many” funds. Why have bankers’ views about the desirability of increased deposits shifted so dramatically in recent years?

Low Returns on Lending

One key reason that banks have soured on deposits is that earnings they can anticipate from lending deposit funds are now very low. In today’s dampened U.S. economy, many fewer households and firms are seeking credit than in years past. As a consequence, banks have been competing with one another for a dwindling set of borrowers, and they have bid market interest rates on bank loans downward.

Thus, existing deposits are now yielding lower returns for banks. This fact gives them less incentive to seek out more deposits from current or new customers.

Higher Deposit Insurance Premium

Even as banks’ returns from lending deposit funds have dropped, the costs they must pay for deposits have increased. Since 2006, the premium rate that banks must pay the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has jumped from close to zero to more than $0.30 per $100 of insured deposits—the highest rate since the FDIC’s establishment in 1933.

The net result? Some banks have begun actively discouraging customers from substantially increasing their deposits. Recently, for instance, the Bank of New York Mellon began charging large depositors for the privilege of holding federally insured deposits. The bank now charges an annual interest fee of 0.13 percent to customers with deposit accounts of $50 million or more. Unless market loan rates rise and deposit insurance premiums fall, it appears likely that other banks will follow suit. Some banking experts speculate that eventually banks might begin charging interest fees to customers with small deposits.

a. Why do you suppose that the market clearing interest rates on bank savings and time deposits have fallen as the interest rates on bank loans have dropped?

b. If interest rates earned by banks on their assets fell close to zero, why might all bank customers have to pay interest fees on deposits they hold with banks?

Resources

To take a look at the latest statistics on the status and performance of U.S. commercial banks, go to www.econtoday.com/chap15.

For a look at historical U.S. commercial banking data, go to www.econtoday.com/chap15A.

2. During the late 1970s, prices quoted in terms of the Israeli currency, the shekel, rose so fast that grocery stores listed their prices in terms of the U.S. dollar and provided customers with dollar shekel conversion tables that they updated daily. Although people continued to buy goods and services and make loans using shekels, many Israeli citizens converted shekels to dollars to avoid a reduction in their wealth due to inflation. In what way did the U.S. dollar function as money in Israel during this period?

3. Let’s denote the price of a nonmaturing bond (called a consol) as Pb. The equation that indicates this price is Pb = I/r, where I is the annual net income the bond generates and r is the nominal market interest rate.

a. Suppose that a bond promises the holder $500 per year forever. If the nominal market interest rate is 5 percent, what is the bond’s current price?

b. What happens to the bond’s price if the market interest rate rises to 10 percent?

c. Imagine that initially the market interest rate is 5 percent and at this interest rate you have decided to hold half of your financial wealth as bonds and half as holdings of non-interest-bearing money. You notice that the market interest rate is starting to rise, however, and you become convinced that it will ultimately rise to 10 percent.

d. In what direction do you expect the value of your bond holdings to go when the interest rate rises?

e. If you wish to prevent the value of your financial wealth from declining in the future, how should you adjust the way you split your wealth between bonds and money? What does this imply about the demand for money?

4. Consider the following data: The money supply is $1 trillion, the price level equals 2, and real GDP is $5 trillion in base-year dollars. What is the income velocity of money? Suppose that the money supply increases by $100 billion and real GDP and the income velocity remain unchanged.

a. According to the quantity theory of money and prices, what is the new equilibrium price level after full adjustment to the increase in the money supply?

b. What is the percentage increase in the money supply?

c. What is the percentage change in the price level?

d. How do the percentage changes in the money supply and price level compare?

Week 7

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

Assignment:

1. The natural rate of unemployment depends on factors that affect the behavior of both workers and firms. Make lists of possible factors affecting workers and firms that you believe are likely to influence the natural rate of unemployment.

2. Suppose that people who previously had held jobs become cyclically unemployed at the same time the inflation rate declines. Would the result be a movement along or a shift of the short-run Phillips curve? Explain your reasoning.

Suppose that the greater availability of online job placement services generates a reduction in frictional unemployment during an interval in which the inflation rate remains unchanged. Would the result be a movement along or a shift of the short-run Phillips curve? Explain your reasoning.

3. During the first half of the 1960s, two island countries with nearly identical levels of per capita real GDP—about $2,700—and the same populations—just over 1,700,000 at that time—became independent nations.

One was Jamaica, and the other was Singapore. Since that time, Jamaica’s population has grown to 2,700,000 people. Singapore’s population has grown to 3,500,000. Today, Jamaica’s per capita real GDP is about $4,800. In contrast, Singapore’s per capita real GDP exceeds $31,000.

Why has Jamaica’s per capita real GDP grown so much less than Singapore’s, even though Singapore’s population has increased at a faster pace? The fundamental answer is that people in Jamaica have considerably less economic freedom. In contrast to Singapore, which has business taxation and regulations rated among the least burdensome in the world, tax rates and regulatory rules in Jamaica rank among the most oppressive. As a consequence, rates of growth of saving, investment, and productivity—and, hence, per capita real GDP—in Jamaica have been far below corresponding growth rates in Singapore.

In Jamaica, the cost of registering a business is 13 percent of the value of a firm’s capital, as compared with less than 0.2 percent in Singapore. In which country would you guess that more new companies are started each year?

4. Part A. A nation’s current annual rate of growth of per capita real GDP is 3.0 percent, and its annual rate of population growth is 3.4 percent. What is the nation’s annual rate of growth of real GDP?

Part B: Assume that each $1 billion in net capital investment generates 0.3 percentage point of the average percentage rate of growth of per capita real GDP, given the nation’s labor resources. Firms have been investing exactly $6 billion in capital goods each year, so the annual average rate of growth of per capita real GDP has been 1.8 percent. Now a government that fails to consistently adhere to the rule of law has come to power, and firms must pay $100 million in bribes to gain official approval for every $1 billion in investment in capital goods. In response, companies cut back their total investment spending to $4 billion per year. If other things are equal and companies maintain this rate of investment, what will be the nation’s new average annual rate of growth of per capita real GDP?

Write a 2-3 page paper that examines the moral and ethical considerations of organ conscription policies and theories.
Scarcity of Medical Resources
For this assessment, you will continue your survey of ethical principles in health care. Especially in our contemporary world, where needs for health care outstrip available resources, we regularly face decisions about who should get which resources.
There is a serious shortage of donor organs. Need vastly outstrips supply, due not only to medical advances related to organ transplantation, but also because not enough people consent to be cadaveric donors (an organ donor who has already died). Munson (2014) points out that in the United States, approximately 10,000 patients die each year because an organ donor was not available, which is three times the number of people killed in the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
But what is an efficient and morally sound solution to this problem? The policy of presumed consent, where enacted, has scarcely increased supply, and other alternatives, such as allowing donors to sell their organs, raise strong moral objections. In light of this, some have advocated for a policy of conscription of cadaveric organs (Spital & Erin, 2002). This involves removing organs from the recently deceased without first obtaining consent of the donor or his or her family. Proponents of this policy argue that conscription would not only vastly increase the number of available organs, and hence save many lives, but that it is also more efficient and less costly than policies requiring prior consent. Finally, because with a conscription policy all people would share the burden of providing organs after death and all would stand to benefit should the need arise, the policy is fair and just.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Articulate ethical issues in health care. 
  • Articulate the moral concerns surrounding a policy of organ conscription.
  • Articulate questions about the fairness and justness of organ conscription policy.
  • Explain the relevance and significance of the concept of consent as it pertains to organ donation.
  • Evaluate alternative policies for increasing available donor organs.
• Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and respectful of the diversity, dignity, and integrity of others and is consistent with health care professionals. 
  • Exhibit proficiency in clear and effective academic writing skills.
• References
  Munson, R. (2014). Intervention and reflection: Basic issues in bioethics (concise ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
  Spital, A., & Erin, C. (2002). Conscription of cadaveric organs for transplantation: Let’s at least talk about it. American Journal of Kidney Disease, 39(3), 611–615.
  Instructions
  Do you consider the policy of organ conscription to be morally sound?
  Write a paper that answers this question, defending that answer with cogent moral reasoning and supporting your view with ethical theories or moral principles you take to be most relevant to the issue. In addition to reviewing the suggested resources, you are encouraged to locate additional resources in the school  library, your public library, or authoritative online sites to provide additional support for your viewpoint. Be sure to weave and cite the resources throughout your work.
  In your paper, address the following:
• On what grounds could one argue that consent is not ethically required for conscription of cadaveric organs? And on what grounds could one argue that consent is required?
• Is the policy truly just and fair, as supporters claim? Explain.
• Do you consider one of the alternative policies for increasing available donor organs that Munson discusses to be preferable to conscription? Explain why or why not.
• Submission Requirements
• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.
• Length: 2–3 typed, double-spaced pages.
• Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

5.  Save your assignment in Microsoft Word or Open Office Write. 

Assignment:

1. Create a scratch outline that could serve as a guide if you were to write an essay about your goals for the year ahead. (Approximately 150 words).
2. Refer to Activity #12 on page 73 of the textbook. Read each of the essay statements and select the ones that can be developed into an essay. Write out the central point and topic sentences for each, and summarize in a few words the supporting material that would fit under each topic sentence. (Approximately 50 words each – 250 words total)
3. Refer to Activity #15 “Writing a Thesis Statement” on page 75 of the textbook. Write a thesis for each group of supporting statements.   (Approximately 100 words total) 
4. Explain why writing is described as “a process?” Name the steps in the writing process. (500 words)

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

Assignment:

• What disciplines fall under the broad category of Environment Science? Describe key aspects of each and how they might relate to you.
• Consider the ecosystem(s) that surround(s) your home. How is each affected by human activities?
• What is ecological modeling? Give an example of an ecological model and explain why it is useful.
• What is a biogeochemical cycle? Describe the water cycle and its importance in the other biogeochemical cycles and the environment.

Week 2

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussion and the any insights you gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

Assignment:

• Name two extinct organisms from different geological ages and explain why each probably became extinct.
• Explain how each of the five major population characteristics shapes population dynamics.
• Explain some examples of non-symbiotic and symbiotic mutualisms. What is at least one way that mutualisms affect your daily life?
• What is a keystone species? What types of organisms does this term often apply to? Identify one such keystone species that supports organisms that are important to you and explain why.
• Different types of biomes might form in a particular place on land. What factors most strongly influence which biome forms? In a given location, what factors contribute to the type of aquatic system that may form? Give and explain a concrete example.

 Short Term View or Long Term View?

After reading the first two chapters of your textbook, evaluate the following statement:

Managers should not focus on the current stock value because doing so will lead to overemphasis on short-term profits at the expense of long-term profits.

In your post, explain what is meant by this statement. Describe how management might decide whether to focus on short term or long term goals and how that decision impacts the organization. Next, using the financial balance sheet as displayed in the text, compute an example of how focusing on short term profits can be detrimental to long term profits. Share your opinion regarding whether you feel it’s a better option to focus on short term or long term goals. Use evidence from the text or external sources to support your position. Your post should be 200-250 words in length.