International Trade Law

Law chosen to govern a transactions is clearly state the legal consequences of their contractual activities for example the right, obligation, and remedies for involve parties, and they can choose the law of particular country or international law to govern their contract. International trade law (CISG) includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between states and it forms part of domestic law if the involve parties are from the contracting state of CISG.With assistance from Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) for filling gap in the coverage of issues by the CISG which is the validity of contract, effect of contract on property and goods, exclusively or non-sale aspects for distribution agreement, and inability of sell for death or personal injury cause by the goods on any person. The domestic law that governs the transactions in Malaysia is the Contract Act 1950 and supplement from Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) 1957 (revised 1989) which is based on the English Sales of Goods Act.As a Malaysian lawyer, I recommend you choose the Contract Act 1950 and SOGA as the governing law because the business you based is on Malaysia home soil and it creates a familiar factor to you. Besides that, Contract Act 1950 and SOGA already govern the basic contract of goods and contract of insurance but they did not cover the contract of carriage. However, because of Malaysia still practices the Hague Rules by virtue of the Carriage of Goods By Sea Act 1950 (Revised 1994), you have to choose the Hague Rules to govern your contract of carriage even though there are prominent weaknesses.For contract of carriage, there is standard term used on trading call as International Commercial Terms (INCOTERMS), and Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) and Free On Board (FOB) are the generally used term in the trade. So, I recommend you to practice FOB even through your product price will slightly lower due to bargain from buyer, but the cost will reflect on save at the transport o f the products. Besides, the main benefit is you do not need to make arrangement on carriage and thus this will reduced the burden to you as a seller’s responsibilities.Policies and regulations have the very close relationship because regulations are come under the policies. The policies and regulations at Malaysia are based on an open and encourage motive, so, normally you can smoothly doing your business on export the product out of Malaysia to foreign countries. This is see through the durian is one of the fruits that identifies by the Third National Agricultural Policy (1998-2010) (NAP3) as important role in creating competitiveness of the Malaysia fruit and vegetable industry in the ASEAN.However, you need to take care about different policies and regulations of your dealing countries which are ASEAN countries and China in order to gain the benefits from all your dealing exporter countries which are actually on the free trade area as ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and also ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Firstly, other than the list of preferential tariffs products that under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme , the 40% rules of origin are also one regulation that need to comply with in able to benefit from preferential market access.So, you need to obtain a different certificate of origin from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to trade at both free trade areas. Besides certificate of origin, there are regulations for the quality of trading goods on AFTA and ACFTA. Start from sign of AFTA and ACFTA, the ASEAN countries and China fruits market move to more open market as can see through the fruits quality control have been replace to which is more harmonize and standardize call as Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measurers (SPS).This is to prevent countries to protect their domestic agricultural producers from imports with stringent phytosanitary measures which are non-science based, discriminatory and non-transpar ent. So, you now can be more efficiently and effectively on export your product to these particular countries. ? Answer 2: International agreement different to domestic contract that only contracting within the familiar home country itself, it is more complicated in contracting with various countries and sometimes may be in unfamiliar countries.So in contracting International agreement, there normally required for more trade documents that covers wider range that classified under four main groups which is Financial, Commercial, official, and Transport and insurance documents. Compared to International agreement, domestic contract normally required fewer types of documents especially only commercial and insurance type. This is because domestic contract only contracting the goods move within country territory and did not cross over he national boarder, so documents like certificated of origin in Official group of documents, bill of landing (BOL) or airway bills (AWB) in Transport grou p of documents are not needed. Term of payment decide on International agreement is more complicated than for domestic contract in reasons of more person involve in the payment process for International agreement. This process can explained though the general example of payment term which is letter of credit (LC) that involve bank parties assistance by act as a middle man in the payment process.The next main difference between both is the risk face by each other. International agreement is exposed to a number of risks such as buyer’s risk, transport risk and transfer risk that may be also faced by domestic contract. However, these similar risks faced by the domestic contract will be lower in term of cost factor and some other risks such as exchange rate risk and country or sovereign risk will exclude to domestic contract that only contracting at local currency and local policies.Besides that, the transportation and delivery aspect must follow the international standard for ex ample the standardized dimensions of shipping pallets for International agreement, but this requirement is not so strict for the domestic contract. Product packaging and labeling aspect is also not so concern by domestic contract because it normally travels across short distance. However, for International agreement that the goods travel at long distance, export packaging must be suitable for the particular mode of transport in order to provide maximum protection.There are four different types of contracting methods available which is negotiating a complete contract, choosing international law to govern the contract, agree on standard form or terms, and standard industry contracts. Negotiating a complete contract is not suitable to you because your business was just at the beginning stages of entering the new market, so there are many ‘unknown’ on the others’ domestic law that will cause unfair situation in the contracting, thus this will also incurred even more time in making the final agreement.For your situation that deals with many countries, standard industry contracts seem more suitable to you but there are still not any single association that published the standard contracts of durian even though there are already mature grow of durian industry in ASEAN. Then, Standard terms contracting method is suitable to you not only because it is a speedy and convenient way of contracting, but it also benefit to you as an fferor that has priority in the ‘last shot doctrine’ in the courts. Besides, the objective of choosing international law to govern the contract is to provide more comfortably for other parties to enter the contracts, rather than selecting particular domestic law. So, as I recommend you to choose the Malaysia law as governing law, this method is clearly not suitable because it controversy to governing law that you chosen.The object clauses can create legal and practical problems to you in term of quality and specif ication of the goods you export. Certificate of origin is basic requirement for export goods to other countries, and as discussed before, you needs to obtain a certificate of origin ‘Form D’ from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for trade on AFTA, and ‘Form E’ for trade on ACFTA in order to fulfill the CEPT scheme.In other simply meaning, you must to obtain the certificate of origin in order to enjoy the benefit of tariff in the free trade area and simply act as a ‘passport’ that show approval to entering particular market. The packing aspect of goods’ specification creates the problem on the transport of durian to other countries by the strong odour of durian leaking out from the poor packaging.So you need to practice the suitable packaging method for your export durian especially your fresh durian that exported by air shipment. Besides that, you must prepare for the future of sustainable packaging that reflect in the designed in a holistic way and be made from responsibly sourced materials that are safe and effective throughout its lifecycle, meet criteria for performance and cost, meet consumers’ choice and expectations and, finally, it has to be recovered efficiently after use.For the price clauses, you better determine the price that can change over time subject to review and modification because there are fluctuate in the currency exchange among all the different countries that will cause huge lost if there are big differences between the current currency and the currency that agree on the fixed price agreement. Payment clauses also need to be aware because the method of payment will affect your receivable ability, and letter of credit seem more suitable for you because it emphasis more on the seller side through the process that provide more insure on receiving of payment for seller side.Penalty for late payment in this clauses will not only provide extra insure to you through the c harges gain for the late payment, but it also help in your financial arrangement due to the on-time payment and assurance of creditability of the buyer through the slightly higher of penalty being set. Delivery and shipment clauses will also raise problem through period time that involve in transport the perishable durian product.So, in order to maintained the product freshness especially when transport at long distance like to China, the date and also time must specify in detail referred to the time of harvest and the available of transportation to prevent any extra days or hours it incurred to transport the product. Besides that, port of shipment is also a critical element in this clause because the distance between the choosing port and the distribution centre determine the product freshness also.For example in China, you can choose the port of Guangzhou because it is considering being a centre for exporting Malaysian durian to China. As I suggest you to choose Malaysian law as t he governing law, you need to state this clearly in the clause of governing law. Besides, after state of the governing law is Malaysian law, follow by the jurisdiction will state Malaysia court is the place to resolve dispute. If this never state in the contract, it will depend on court to decide which law apply.The clause of passing of title and risk is also a vital term to consider when there are accidents happen to the goods on the carrier stage or incident of unpaid seller. ? Bibliography 1. AB Teoh. 2008. Exporting and International Trade [access on 15 July 2010] 2. Essential international trade law by Michelle Sanson. 2002 by Cavendish Publishing (Australia) Pty Limited. Available www. cavendishpublish. com. [access on 15 July 2010]

Critical Criminology

CHAPTER 1 CRIME THEORY: CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY There could be different reasons of increasing crimes. One of the obvious reasons is poverty and social injustice. Most of the people engaged in crime either don’t have proper source of income or they are socially discriminated. So the main reason of crime is poverty and social injustice. Most of the places with high poverty and social injustice have high crime rate (Jerry, 1995). The most important policy implications that would be most successful in reducing crime and/or rehabilitating convicted offenders in long term are critical criminology theories. In critical criminology crimes are defined in terms of domination. That is if some class or group is dominant than they can make social concept lawful and unlawful. Lower class, single parent women, poor people and minorities mainly suffer due to domination factor by others (Hopkin, 2001). 1. 1 Broad Problem Area: â€Å"Importance of Critical Criminology in Reducing Crimes† Justice system around the world is not strong enough to reduce crimes. So we need alternative approach through which criminals can become useful and productive member of the society. It’s not easy to completely change justice system but it’s not difficult to make criminals better citizens as well. Critical criminology is an effective way to reduce social injustice and crimes. Concept of critical criminology came in late sixties and early seventies. It mainly deals with the dominative and differential relation between different groups on the basis of demographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, minorities, cultures, values and social groups. This culture and social diversity was created due to migrations and human nature. Social indifferences are another form of injustice. It’s important to support these peoples who are being discriminated (Bauman and Tester, 2001). According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia, in critical criminology the scope of crimes is defined differently on the basis of social circumstances and time period of their occurrence. Critical criminology is somewhat different from basic study of criminology that deals with criminals and their behaviors. The basic idea of critical criminology is that the social and past trends would define whether some thing is unlawful or not at given time. There could be different things that are considered to be unlawful in past but now they are lawful and same goes with those things which are lawful in past but now they are unlawful. Such as marriage of homosexuals was considered to be unlawful in past but now with the passage of time societies are accepting this and making laws to protect marriages of homosexuals. This is not possible that all the studies on crimes are dealing with modern social life but they are some way connected to the present (Garland, 1999). There could be different theories that could emerges from critical criminology such as conflict theories, feminist theories, & postmodern and peacemaking theories. A conflict theory of criminology is not accepted largely by criminologist because they think conflict theories don’t address the criminal activities in socialist and capitalist societies. Feminist theories define that crime done by males and crimes done by females should be viewed differently. They give new aspect to criminology on the basis of gender. Critical criminologists have different views and way of resolving crimes. These two theories are mainly recognized around the world. Main emphasis is given to relation between criminals and societies. Even feminist criminologists don’t properly represent gender prospective and take back their views after failure of other criminologists (Van, 1997). There is a difference between critical criminology and conventional criminology. Conventional criminology is not dealing with activities which are affecting life of thousands of people such as politicians’ decisions that could affect millions of people, corporate scandals that affected thousands of workers, stock market manipulations that affected thousand of investors and also discriminations of minorities that have no end. Conventional laws do not answer these structural disparities that helps dominate group to take advantage of it. Conventional criminology is dealing with state defined crimes but not the crimes that are harming society ocially (Stephen, 1983). Criminologists working to find ways to resolve or to reduce crimes are not able to identify or not able to provide any authentic procedures to resolve crimes (Braithwaite, 1998). And also they didn’t even give importance to issues or difference created due to power and state (Cunneen and White 1996). This is still a claim that critical craniologist are more inclined towards gaining some pos ition and recognition rather than actually doing some thing for society to protect human rights and to promote justice in society. Since 1960, activists in human rights and social justice are molding progress in critical criminology theory. There is a relation between criminologists and social & human right moments (Braithwaite, 1989). Critical criminologist overstates the crime problem in society. Instead of removing the mystery that crimes are not their and its media created etc. they should accept crimes as a dilemma of powerless. They must not criticize criminal system by keeping this fact in mind that it is created by undue protection given to the privileged class. There is a cause effect relationship between crimes and poverty, racism, discrimination, social injustice, racisms etc. Critical criminoloiges must keep this in mind while evaluating crimes. However, critical criminology and traditional criminology should not work in different ways rather they should work together in the same way. (Cohen, 1998). 1. 2 Problem Statement: â€Å"Is Critical thinking is helpful to reduce crimes and able to reduce social injustice from society†. 1. 3 Purpose & Significance of Study The main purpose of this study is to identify the importance of critical criminology in order to reduce crimes. This study will also identify other ways to reduce crimes and their effectiveness. And it will also explain what factors are responsible for crimes. This study will help policy makers and law enforcing agencies to avoid crimes by using proper critical criminology theories. 1. 4 Research Questions The aim of this research is to study, 1) How do people perceive that critical criminology can reduce crimes? 2) How do people perceive the role of critical criminology in order to reduce injustice from society? ) How do people perceive that critical criminology approach is better way to reduce crime rather than conventional criminology approach? 1. 5 Theoretical Diagram In this diagram crimes reduction is dependent variable which depend on critical criminology that is independent variable. Critical Criminology method that properly identify social injustices that could change offend er future behavior towards crime and society support to accept these people as a useful member of society are intervening variable. These variables can assure the effectiveness of counseling treatment to reduce crimes. Independent Variable Dependent Variable Intervening Variable CHAPTER 2 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the basic methodology and requirement in research. It includes the methods of research, the respondents and their description, sources of data, the sets of research instruments that were used, the treatment of data, and the statistical tools, which were used in this study. 2. 1 Method of the Study: The research utilized the descriptive method in acquiring information for evaluation and analysis. The descriptive survey was the general rocedure employed in a study that has for its chief purposes the description of the phenomena that is importance of critical criminology theory in reducing crimes from society by providing social injustice. 2. 2 Sample, Type of Questionnaire, & Treatment of Data: The population for this research study was the general public. A random sample of 50 was taken from different places and different groups such as law enforcing agencies, c ommunity, criminologist etc. Researcher selected probability sampling, because every person had an equal chance of being selected. The survey questionnaire seeks the perception of the respondents with respect to factors important for crime reduction. In order to analyze the information given in the questionnaires, Likert scale had been applied in question 1 to question 9. The purpose is to evaluate effectiveness of counseling in crime reduction. 2. 3 Validation of the questionnaire: It was deemed necessary to revalidate the questionnaire to find out the clarity of the questions being asked as well as their relevance to the problems formulated. The validation of the questionnaire was done through the comments and suggestion by respondent. And also validation and reliability of research instrument used to get information that is questionnaire is done by implementing it to different places and same results were extracted from every place. 2. 4 Statistical Tools: Researcher used frequency and percentage distribution to determine the relationships of the variables and give clear and reliable analysis and interpretation of the data. The formula is; % = F/N ? 100 % = percentage F = frequency N = number of respondent CHAPTER 3 QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS, FINDINGS & CONCLUSION 3. 1 Questionnaire Analysis: Respondent responded in the following way: Topic Based on Questionnaire |Highly Disagree | Disagree | Moderately | |Highly Agree | | | | | |Agree | | |Critical criminology is providing support to poor, minority |11% |18% |25% |42% |4% | |and low social class group | | | | | | |Critical criminology theory is important to reduce social |0% |0% |14% |57% |29% | |differences | | | | | | |Main reason of increasing crime rate is soci al injustice |3% |10% |21% |40% |26% | |Critical criminology is playing important role in order to |11% |28% |31% |26% |4% | |highlight social injustices | | | | | | |Critical criminology is different from conventional |29% |36% |19% |10% |6% | |criminology | | | | | | |There is a difference of opinion among critical criminologist |18% |24% |21% |30% |7% | |Critical criminologists are criticizing conventional justice |17% |19% |23% |35% |6% | |system that it supports to powerful class | | | | | | Social movement regarding human rights and social justice is |0% |0% |9% |55% |36% | |supporting critical criminologist | | | | | | |Critical criminologists are working for their recognition |26% |37% |21% |10% |6% | |rather than to support social injustice | | | | | | 3. 2 Findings & Conclusion: On the basis of the questionnaire, most of the respondent responded that critical criminology is providing support to poor, minority and low social class group and critical criminology theory is i mportant to reduce social differences †¢ On the basis of the questionnaire, most of the respondent agreed on a statement that main reason of increasing crime rate is social injustice and critical criminology is playing important role in order to highlight social injustices †¢ On the basis of the questionnaire, most of the respondent responded moderately agreed on a statement that critical criminology is different from conventional criminology and there is a difference of opinion among critical criminologist †¢ On the basis of the questionnaire, most of the respondent responded that critical criminologists are criticizing conventional justice system that it supports to powerful class and social movement regarding human rights and social justice is supporting critical criminologist. In these days societies are giving more focus to crime, victimization, regulation, punishment, with respect to human rights, equity, social justice, well being of the community, and globaliz ation. More activists are taking interest in decreasing discrimination and imbalances in societies. They are trying to gather more people to take action for the betterment of society and this will affect both antiestablishment and establishment criminologies. If model of Mutualism develops with the same pace than critical criminologists have to revise their studies and ways to resolve crimes. They have to establish the relation between antiestablishment and establishment criminologies not for individual but for the society. Now societies are moving from equal rights and equal justice to human rights and social justice due to social movement to protect rights. References: Bauman, Z. , & Tester, K. (2001). Conversations with Zygmunt Bauman. Cambridge: Polity Press. Braithwaite, J. 1989. Crime, Shame and Reintegration. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Braithwaite, J. 1998. Reducing the Crime Problem: A Not So Dismal Criminology. The New Criminology Revisited, London: Macmillan. Chan, J. 1996. Crime Prevention and the Lure of Relevance. Australian and New Zealand. Journal of Criminology, 27(1): 25-9. Cunneen, C. , and White, R. 1996. Juvenile Justice: An Australian Perspective. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press Garland, D. (1999). The Commonplace and the Catastrophic. Theoretical Criminology, 3(3), pp. 353-64. Hopkins, B. R. (2001). An Introduction to Criminological Theory. Cullompton: Willan pg. 173 Jerry, B. (1995). Crime Control: We the People. Radio broadcasts. North Coast XPress. Stephen, B. 1983. Power & Crime. Van, S. R. (1997). Critical Criminology: Visions from Europe. London: Sage Wikipedia Encyclopedia. Critical Criminology. 2008. Retrieved on 12 July 2008 from http:// en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Critical_criminology QUESTIONNAIRE: RESEARCH PAPER CRIME THEORY: CRITICAL CRIMINOLOGY Direction: Please indicate the degree of importance as perceived by you, by putting a tick mark opposite to each of the number item showing the degree of perception. Scale |Weights | |Highly Disagree |1 | |Disagree |2 | |Moderately |3 | |Agree |4 | |Highly Agree |5 | 1) At what extent do you think critical criminology is providing support to poor, minority and low social class group? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 2) At what extent do you think critical criminology theory is important to reduce so cial differences? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 3) At what extent do you think main reason of increasing crime rate is social injustice? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 4) At what extent do you think critical criminology is playing important role in order to highlight social injustices? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 5) At what extent do you think critical criminology is different from conventional criminology? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6) At what extent do you think there is a difference of opinion among critical criminologist? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 7) At what extent do you think critical criminologists are criticizing conventional justice system that it supports to powerful class? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 ) At what extent do you think social movement regarding human rights and social justice is supporting critical criminologist? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 9) At what extent do you think critical criminologists are working for their recognition rather than to support social injustice? Highly Disagree Highly Agree 1 2 3 4 5 ———————– Critical Criminology CRIMES REDUCTION Feminist Theory Conflict Theory Postmodern & Peacemaking Theories

The Forest

Forests are precious national resource whim not only play significant role in national condor but help in pollution control and maintaining logical balance. These offer a number of direct indirect advantages which have been realised sin time immemorial. Direct Advantages 1. Forests provide valuable timber for dome tic and commercial use. Industries like paper, matt making, plywood, sports goods, lakh and furniture at directly based on raw materials derived from forest 2.Forests supply a number of minor produce which are utilised in different industries and domes* tic uses. These include lakh, gum and resins, tannin material, medicines, herbs, honey, spices, etc. 3. Forests offer employment to about 4 mil ­lion people to earn their livelihood in forest based occupations, i. e. , lumbering, sawing, furniture mak ­ing, forest produce collecting, etc. 4. Auction of forests for commercial use fetches annual income to state exchequer. 5. Export of forest products earns valuable foreign exchange to the country. 6.Grazing of cattle in the forests helps in dairy farming and cattle rising. 7. Forests are the natural habitat for wild life and birds which attract tourists, holiday makers and hunters. These may be developed as very good picnic or tourist centers in the form of wild life sanctuaries and national parks which have good employment and income generating potential. Indirect Advantages 1. Forests are the moderators of climate. These have effective role in controlling humidity and tem ­perature and precipitation. 2. Forests play dominant role in carbon cycle.These absorb atmospheric carbon-di-oxide and help in maintaining the purity of air and controlling atmospheric pollution. 3. Forests help in controlling soil erosion, soil degradation and floods. That is why these are very helpful in land reclamation and flood control. 4. Forests help in water percolation and thereby maintain underground water table. 5. Decay of plant leaves provides humus to the soils an d increases their fertility. 6. Indian forests are rich in wild life housing about 500 species of animals. 7.Forests help in maintaining natural scenic beauty which every year attract a number of tourists and nature lovers. 8. Forests provide natural habitat to a number of primitive tribes which are part of our rich cultural heritage. Their mode of living, economy and cul ­tural traits are based on forest environment. 9. Forests provide recluse to rashes, saints and hermits who have enriched our religious and cultural thoughts. Mere a visit of such quiet serene environment relieves physical and mental strains and refurbishes new vitality and vigor.

Affirmative Action Debate and Economics

Yuching Lin ECON 395 The Affirmative Action Debate Affirmative Action has recently become the center of a major public debate in the United States, which has led to the emergence of numerous studies on its efficiency, costs, and benefits. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ended wage and employment discrimination based on gender and race, significantly decreasing the gap between minorities and non-minorities. Minorities made major progress from the 1960s up through the early 1970s due to Affirmative Action (Jones, Jr. 1985). However, for the past few decades, the progress that minorities have made in terms of income, employment and education has largely stagnated. California, Michigan, Nebraska, and Washington State have recently banned racial advantage in employment and college admissions, and Proposition 209 of California has disallowed the preferential treatment of minorities, with opponents of Affirmative Action lobbying for more widespread b ans on similar policies while supporters argue fiercely against the removal of Affirmative Action policies.As can be seen, Affirmative Action’s status in the United States now is very dynamic due to shifting court decisions and policy plans. Additionally, returns to education have been increasing in recent decades, and as a result, income inequality has also increased – the growing demand for highly skilled workers (workers with high levels of post-secondary education) and the stagnancy of American education (with the added fact that high quality colleges have become even higher quality and even more selective while lower tier colleges have decreased in quality) has led to ever-increasing wages for the highly skilled.This â€Å"Skill Biased Technological Change† has led to a widening income gap between the rich and the poor. Naturally, this considerably affects black and Hispanic minorities, who are more likely than non-minorities to be part of the working class or below the poverty line, which raises the stakes in the debate on Affirmative Action. Today, both sides on the debate can bolster their arguments with evidence provided by economic and social research on the policies. But there are additional questions to be answered – is Affirmative Action justified on moral grounds? Can we balance economic efficiency with equity?Is Affirmative Action the best policy for addressing racial inequalities? Do policies that increase diversity result in positive externalities such as reduced prejudice and indirect benefits beyond education and career success? One will discover that, after thorough analysis of research concerning Affirmative Action, it is still difficult to form a definitive conclusion on the results of the policies. Nevertheless, there is much to learn from the research that has been conducted as of present, and one can now better steer research in a direction that will uncover the real benefits and shortcomings of Affirmative Action.To begin with, the debate on the efficiency of Affirmative Action policies is still very much unsettled. Opponents claim that they actually result in several negative effects on the minorities the policies are intended to benefit, arguing that minority students admitted into overly competitive programs are more likely to drop out than mismatched non-minority students due to the increased competition, which would actually worsen the income gap since black income has been shown to decrease even more than white income after dropping out of college (Loury, 1995).A proposed â€Å"stigma hypothesis† suggests that â€Å"preferential treatment perpetuates the impression of inferiority† while simultaneously lowering incentives for high academic effort from minorities (Murray, 1994). And yet another underperformance hypothesis by Steele (1990) suggests that blacks’ academic performance suffers when they are aware that normal standards are lowered in order to accomm odate them.However, there exists no research with strong, conclusive results that support these claims – in contrast, the â€Å"race difference in graduation rates is no larger at the most selective institutions,† and blacks have been shown to benefit from the increased admission to selective universities (Holzer and Neumark, 2000). A study by Cortes (2010) on the Texas Top 10% Plan claims that the banning of Affirmative Action actually increases college dropout rates for minorities and finds that the mismatch hypothesis is inaccurate.Because quantifying the economic benefits of Affirmative Action is exceedingly complicated, comparing the total costs and benefits of the policy becomes exceptionally difficult for policy-makers. Holzer and Neumark (2000) note that university admissions policies are not necessarily economically efficient to begin with, which further complicates matters since researchers do not have a definitive point of efficiency to which they can compar e the results of Affirmative Action.Administrative costs and externalities must also be factored into the models, when economists have not yet even managed to create a viable model for the effects of Affirmative Action policies. For example, minority students in medical school are less likely to reach as high a level of expertise as non-minorities, but they are more likely to treat minority patients, generating a positive externality (Holzer and Neumark, 2000). Another point made in the debate on Affirmative Action is that diversity may improve the educational quality of a university.Many educators believe that diversity in colleges is inherently beneficial – students can learn from other students whose experiences and backgrounds give them a whole different set of views and capabilities. Several studies have actually correlated increased diversity in student bodies with improvements in issues such as racial prejudice and bias, although results vary depending on study design, extent and type of diversity, and the issue of interest (Bowman, 2010).Even so, other researchers are likely to reject such evidence since variables such as attitudes, inter-racial relations, and even school quality (as a result of increased diversity) are difficult to define and accurately quantify (Holzer and Neumark, 2000). Research has often demonstrated very unclear results, usually only weakly suggesting a few conclusions while also providing sometimes conflicting conclusions; one study on the effects of diverse student bodies found that there was no effect on post-college earnings, an increase in satisfaction with college experiences, and a decrease in community service (Hinrichs, 2011).Interestingly, a recent study in college admissions based on merit, race, and legacy suggests that the removal of race-preferential treatment may actually decrease the ability of the student body since colleges may be inclined to increase legacy-based admissions due to the current economic cl imate (Li and Weisman, 2011). However, they do also propose that there is a possibility that colleges would need to eliminate all preferences barring merit in order to produce the most-able student body.Overall, it is generally agreed that more accurate methods for measuring school quality and the quality of school inputs are necessary if more conclusive results on education differentials’ effects on unobserved skills, attitudes, and racial income inequality are to be found. While it is without a doubt that Affirmative Action increases admission and employment rates for minorities, there is much speculation as to whether it is the most effective policy. Researchers are not confident yet of how different variables interact to affect income, employment rates, and other indicators of success.As a result, one will often find seemingly conflicting data as exemplified by Card and Krueger’s (1992) findings that â€Å"5-20% of the post 1960 black gains were due to improved sc hool quality† while Smith and Welch (1989) claimed that 20-25% of black gains were a result of improved school quantity, which they asserted should be the focus of educational policies. Moreover, it is well known that employers often discriminate based on race, whether purposefully or unconsciously, and that this significantly impacts labor market outcomes.Affirmative Action can only do so much to address employment discrimination – in some models, the issue of negative racial stereotypes can be exacerbated by the application of such policies (Holzer and Neumark, 2000). In addition, some suggest targeting education inequalities in primary and secondary education as opposed to implementing race-preferential treatment in post-secondary education as a more efficient and equitable policy, although efforts such as NCLB have only slightly improved primary and secondary education inequalities.The primary and secondary education quality in the United States is in dire need of i mprovement already; high school graduation rates have stagnated, and school quality is falling behind when compared to the educational systems of other developed countries. There also exist other complicated variables that need to be addressed in order to close the income gaps between minorities and non-minorities such as the inheritance of learning abilities/behavior, ghetto culture, and the underclass (Jencks, 1993). As one can expect, research concerning controversial issues often suffers from researcher bias.Economic research typically entails numerous variables and methods in order to reach conclusions, and more often than not, results are varied and ambiguous, especially in this particular branch concerning Affirmative Action. It is a simple matter to selectively exclude certain results in order to make it appear as if a research study conclusively supports or rejects Affirmative Action as a beneficial policy, should one wish to do so. Literature searches can quickly turn up v ery obviously biased articles with weak evidence and unreasonable claims.Furthermore, past research has indicated that the types of models used in studies can have a significant impact on the results, further obfuscating the conclusions on the effectiveness of the policies. In fact, as of present, research on the policies has resulted in mostly ambiguous conclusions, although it is of my opinion that studies in general very slightly lean toward suggesting that Affirmative Action is beneficial as a whole – research studies that conclusively reject Affirmative Action as a viable policy are few and far between, and it is even difficult to find studies that demonstrate significant negative effects.In order to obtain more accurate data, researchers would optimally be able to create experimental studies with control and treatment groups, but this is very unlikely to occur due to the unethical properties of such studies. Clearly, it has become even more imperative that researchers i mprove models on the efficiency of Affirmative Action policies in order to obtain more reliable data to demonstrate with greater confidence the effects of the policy. Of course, these topics only cover the economic justifications for Affirmative Action, which is clearly also a matter of social justice.There is an endless cycle of philosophy-based debates on the policy – should we as a society aim for equity or efficiency? If we are willing to sacrifice some efficiency for equity, how much is optimal? There is also the question of whether society has a responsibility to â€Å"[remedy] the present effects of past discrimination,† which begins another entire debate about the responsibility of people today for wrongs committed by ancestors (Jones Jr. , 1985).Some also believe that Affirmative Action devalues the achievements of minorities since credit may be given to race-preferential treatment instead of to the individuals who accomplish those feats; this can lead to furt her racial prejudice and bias, possibly encouraging the continuation of racial discrimination in job employment. There are also suggestions that perhaps policies ought to focus on helping the part of the minority population with low socioeconomic status so as to avoid situations in which wealthy black students may be given preferential treatment over more qualified white students living below the poverty line.The debate over Affirmative Action for women is also just as controversial, for women also suffer from income inequality, but they still receive the same advantages that their male siblings receive. Therefore, one can argue that women are not put at a disadvantage early on in life and that they should not require preferential treatment in admissions or employment. In fact, women who benefit from Affirmative Action are much less likely than racial minorities to be lower-qualified and less-skilled, suggesting that implementing a preferential treatment policy may be inequitable in this case.Even more abstract of an argument is the claim that men and women will never reach perfect equality since they inherently desire different careers and hold differing aspirations for lifetime achievements. As can be seen, there is literally a myriad of issues that factor into the debate on Affirmative Action. The field of research concerning the topic is beset by the typical problems plaguing education and economics research – education quality and educational inputs to schools are difficult to measure, as are the effects on income, employment rates, job characteristics, etc. The lack of experimental data lends no help.The effects of nationally implemented legislation are difficult to track and quantify because of differences over time and across states (Altonji and Blank, 1999). Compiling data at a national level is also vastly time-consuming and challenging. Though neither side has conclusive evidence that supports their argument, studies that reveal tentative con clusions on the effects of Affirmative Action policies are emerging, and models are slowly approaching real-world utility. As research continues, hopefully the accumulation of data and models will allow researchers to uncover the true effects of Affirmative Action.References Altonji, Joseph G. and Rebecca M. Blank. 1999. â€Å"Race and Gender in the Labor Market. † In Handbook of Labor Economics, edited by Orley Ashenfelter and David E. Card, 3143- 3259. San Diego: Elsevier B. V. Bowman, Nicholas A. 2010. â€Å"College Diversity Experiences and Cognitive Development: A Meta Analysis. † Review of Educational Research 80(1):4-33. Card, David and Alan B. Krueger. 1992. â€Å"School quality and black-white relative earnings: a direct assessment. † Quarterly Journal of Economics 107:151-200. Cortes, Kalena E. 2010. â€Å"Do Bans on Affirmative Action Hurt Minority Students?Evidence from the Texas Top 10% Plan. † Economics of Education Review 29(6):1110-1124. D ong, Li and Dennis L. Weisman. â€Å"Why Preferences in College Admissions May Yield a More- Able Student Body. † Economics of Education Review 30(4):724-728. Hinrichs, Peter. 2011. â€Å"The Effects of Attending a Diverse College. † Economics of Education Review 30(2):332-241. Holzer, Harry and David Neumark. 2000. â€Å"Assessing Affirmative Action,† Journal of Economic Literature 38:483-568. Jencks, C. 1993. Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass. New York: HarperPerennial. Jones Jr. , James E. 1985. The Genesis and Present Status of Affirmative Action in Employment: Economic, Legal, and Political Realities. † Iowa Law Review 70:901-923. Loury, Linda D. and David Garman. 1995. â€Å"College Selectivity and Earnings. † Journal of Labor Economics 13:289-208. Murray, Charles. 1994. â€Å"Affirmative Racism,† In Debating Affirmative Action: Race, Gender, Ethnicity, and the Politics of Inclusion, edited by Nicolaus Mills. 1 91-208. New York: Delta. Steele, Shelby. 1990. The Content of Our Character. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Smith, James P. and Finish Welch. 1989. â€Å"Black Economic Progress after Myrdal. † Journal of Economic Literature 27:519-564.

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