Balance of Payments and Exchange Rates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Balance of Payments and Exchange Rates - Essay Example The balance of payments comprises all of the economic transactions between members of one country and members of all other countries. This includes any trade of goods and services, investments, payments and loans. The balance of payments is made up of several accounts. The current account includes goods trade, services trade, income and transfers of ownership. The capital account includes transfers of assets and acquisitions. The financial account is made up of direct investments into the country, portfolio investments, and various investments. In order to balance out the current and financial accounts should offset each other (Moffett, Stonehill, Eiteman 2006, 73). When there is more money coming in than going out balance of payments will be in surplus, and when more money has gone out than come in there will be a deficit. This is what can affect exchange rates as we will see below. Exchange rates are the value of one country's currency in relation to that of another country's currency. In other words how much is your unit of currency worth in another country's unit of currency. Exchange rates reflect the supply and demand for a country's currency in the world market. However some governments, depending on their monetary policy, may seek to ensure their currency has a certain value in the market. A country with a fixed exchange rate policy maintains a set level for their currency by using reserves to either buy up excess currency so flood the market with currency when there is a demand. Floating exchange rate countries let the market determine their exchange rate; this is normally done by a country with a strong economy. A country operating on a managed float uses factors such as interest rates in order to influence the price or their currency in the market and keep it around a certain level. A government's monetary policy can influence the effect that balance of payments has on exchange rates. Linkages There are significant links between a country's balance of payments and exchange rates. As Layton, Robinson and Tucker (2005, 56) point out "Each transaction recorded in the balance of payments requires an exchange of one country's currency for that of another." The level of a country's exchange rate has an impact on the balance of payments and vice versa. Surplus in the balance of payments usually means that the demand for a country's currency is greater than supply; on the other hand a deficit in balance of payments indicates there is too much of a country's currency in the market. How significant an impact depends on a country's exchange rate regime (Moffett, Stonehill, Eiteman 2006,

Euthanasia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Euthanasia - Essay Example In passive euthanasia, no action is taken to prolong life, and death occurs naturally. In Great Britain, Lord Joffe has introduced a bill which would legalize assisted dying. Although this bill was introduced in 2004, it has not had a chance of passing until recently. The reasons for this is that society has changed with respect to the issues surrounding euthanasia. This paper will examine the arguments against euthanasia, and the arguments in favor of it, and make a conclusion about whether or not euthanasia should be legalized in Great Britain. Arguments against Euthanasia There is not a doubt that Christianity, as a religion, has profoundly influenced the debate surrounding the right to die. However, before Christianity was established, the practice was condoned, even honored. In Ancient Greece, one could apply to a tribunal for the right to die, and, if successful, would be given hemlock to ingest. The practice was even the subject of parties – the elderly and the infirm would ingest their poison at a banquet that honored their lives . This changed with the beginning of Christianity, and Christianity, as a religion, was the basis of outlawing the practice. Early Christian thinkers, such as St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine were influential, describing euthanasia as a grave sin. The church continued to influence the debate, even during a period of time during the Renaissance and the Enlightenment of the 18th Century, in which the practices resurged, yet were kept in abeyance by the Church. 7 The Church’s reasoning on the rejection of euthanasia is that the act is inherently wrong. Therefore, because of the fundamental objection to the practice, the Church remains opposed, no matter how much good may come out of it.8   Christianity also believes that it is a sin because life is a gift from God, and, unless one is defending one’s own life, or defending others, life is not to be taken away.   According to this view, man is made in God’s image, so it is not for man to end his own life.9   This is not to say that the Church advocates for keeping someone alive by any means possible. In fact, the official Christian perspective on heroic measures to sustain life is that these measures should not be taken. Denying or withdrawing heroic measures is differentiated from euthanasia because one, euthanasia, is actively ending life and the other, denying heroic measures, is simply letting somebody die. Also, one is intended, and the other is unintended.10   Because the official Christian perspective on h eroic measures is clear, this principle would encompass â€Å"Do Not Resuscitate Orders† and removing patients from ventilators.11   Therefore, the official Christian stance on euthanasia is that it is forbidden. According to Lin (2003), another reason why the Church has taken this stance is because of the Sixth Commandment, which is â€Å"Thou Shalt Not Kill.†   This Commandment, in turn, is based on the view that only God has the power of life and death, and euthanasia effectively usurps this authority.12 St. Thomas Aquinas based his objections to the practice on this view, citing Deuteronomy 32:39, which states that God â€Å"will kill†¦and will make to live.†13 Hatzinikolaou (2003) bases his objections on the respect for the dying process. According to him, death is sacred and the last moments of a person’s life are the moments which should be respected.   It is during these moments, according to Hatzinikolaou (2003) that man has the chance to repent and prepare for his soul to be