Abstract
This paper examines the contraversy surrounding the minimum wage which was implemented in 1938 when Theodore Roosevelt enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to protect those who were being abused by the system. It provides a breakdown of the arguments for and against minimum wage increases such as that raising the minimum wage simply cuts off and eliminates low-paying jobs. It concludes with a discussion of the effect of the minimum wage on the economy and labor markets and a look to the future.

From the Paper
"As stated in an earlier statistic, a person working full time does not make enough to live. Indeed full-time wages fall well below the poverty line. This issue correlate with welfare. The question often arises among those who are on welfare as to why they should work when working equates to a cut in pay. When people make more money on welfare which is designed to help those who are at the bottom of the economic barrel, it's obvious that minimum wage increases are not only important, but essential to the well being of the nation and the nation's economy."

Tags:labor, markets, roosevelt, jobs

Abstract
The writer explains that the emergence of Islamic banking is an example of how religion has become subservient to economic needs, and more specifically, how Islam has become subservient to capitalism. The paper explains that although advocates claim that Islamic banking is distinctive from interest rate banking, such methods are merely window dressing - a way for the banks to legitimize themselves. The writer explains that in Shariah, Islamic law, people are prohibited from charging and receiving interest. The paper draws parallels between conventional banking systems and the new modes of so-called interest-free banking. The paper states that Islamic banks have been mimicking conventional banks, pushing for short-term, low-risk investments that are similar in quantity and risk to those obtained by other conventional banks. The writer explains that the methods used to evade interest prohibition include mislabeling interest under the false pretense of administrative costs and delegating puppet banks to alleviate responsibility from Islamic institutions. The writer challenges the advocates of this system who claim that it is Shariah-compliant. In summation, the writer states that it is evident that in the current Islamic system, Islamic beliefs have taken a second place to the capitalist system. Table of Contents: Introduction Lack of Sources for Islamic Banking Same Method, Different Name Murabaha is Not Profit Sharing Using Puppet Banks The Ulama Power Vacuum Advocates Conclusion Bibliography

From the Paper
"During the 80s, Muslim countries such as Sudan, Iran and Pakistan underwent the growth of Islamic banking due to an oil boom and the need for Muslim communities to establish a unique economic presence in the new international economic order (Pipes, 1982:45; cf. ICO: 1982). By 1995, 144 public and private banking institutions had been established claiming to practice "Islamic banking" (Shaik, 1997:118). However, this paper will argue that Islamic banking is conventional banking in disguise. Islamists have merely used the former to bypass religious restrictions to meet their capitalistic needs in a manner that is compliant, and sometimes even not compliant, to interpretations of the Shariah. Such assertions can be supported by examining characteristics of the current Islamic banking system. Nazih N. Ayubi has written about religion being subservient to the state. In this particular case, the evolution of Islamic banking has become an example of Islam being subservient to capitalism."

Tags:capitalism, conventional, koran, shariah

Abstract
A study into why certain Asia-Pacific countries such as Cambodia fail to reach long-term economic growth and an explanation of the conditions and policies needed in an economic climate to achieve this growth.
The paper covers the following topics:
Preconditions for faster economic growth
Policies for faster economic growth
Asia Pacific LDCs (Least Developed Countries) & Cambodia
The paper is filled with examples and recent statistics of countries including USA, Australia, Taiwan, Europe, Japan, Cambodia, and Asia-Pacific LDCs in general.

From the Paper
"According to McTaggart et al, there are several pre-conditions for economic growth. One of which is the existence of an institutional framework that is crucial to the creation of incentives. This institutional framework included markets (supply and demand), property rights, facilities for monetary exchange, as well as simple and transparent regulatory systems (1999: 32.7). Market prices send signals to buys and sellers that create incentives to increase or decrease the quantities demanded and supplied. Markets also enable people to specialize and trade and to save and invest. Property rights are the social arrangements that govern the ownership, use and disposal of factors of production and goods and services (McTaggart et al, 1999:32.17). They include the rights to physical property, to financial property and to intellectual property. The existence of property rights and their enforcement by the law provide people with certainty in their business dealings and hence they help provide macroeconomic stability and a pre-condition for growth."

Tags:deficit, economy, europe, exchange, export, foreign, free, import, market, policy, price, regulatory, system, taiwan, trade, world

Abstract
This essay analyzes the economic reforms carried out during the 1980's and 1990's in Australia. The essay looks at the reasons for the changes as well as the impacts of such reforms. Finally, the essay questions whether such reforms worked to benefit the Australian economy and people. During the 1980's and 1990's, the institutions of economic governance changed in response to poor economic performance, globalization, and technological developments. The major change was a shift from Keynesian economic policy to microeconomic policy. The purpose of this essay is to examine the impacts of liberal reforms and to address any continuing questions.

From the Paper
"During the 1980's and 1990's, there were various changes carried out. One such change was a decline in tariff protection. In 1974, the Whitlam Government announced a 25% across the board tariff cut (Quiggin, 1996), followed by the Hawke labor government further reducing tariffs to 5% over a period ending in 1992 (Quiggin, 1996). In 1993, Paul Keating effectively enacted a zero tariff campaign. Apart from several troubled sectors such as textiles and car manufacturing, the zero tariff result was achieved under the Howard government in the last years of the century (Brennan & Pincus, 2002). Following the recommendations of the Campbell and Martin Committees of Inquiry, another microeconomic reform occurred in October 1983, with the floating of the Australian dollar."

Tags:deregulation, financial, globalisation, privatisation, protection, reform, tariff

Abstract
This paper deals with examination of the four types of unemployment - frictional, structural, cyclical, and seasonal. It also examines the issues of full employment and natural rate of employment. This is then followed by an explanation of the causes and effects of demand-pull inflation.

From the Paper
"Unemployment rate is one of the indicators of the labor market and economic condition of a country. According to McTaggart et al, one is considered unemployed if they are job losers, job leavers, or labor force entrants and re-entrants (1999: 31.7). There are four types of unemployment, including frictional, structural, cyclical, as well as seasonal. Two of the many factors that lead to unemployment include the processes of job matching (a two-sided process of linking the right worker with the right job) and job rationing (the practice of paying employed people a wage that creates an excess supply of labor and a shortage of jobs ) (McTaggart et al, 1999: 31.10). Employers take time for their search process because this process is influenced by employment protection laws, which induce employers to more carefully consider any hire."

Tags:aggregate, cost, economic, force, gdp, indicator, labour, level, population, supply, wage, workforce

Abstract
Following the collapse of Enron and WorldCom and the flow on effects to Arthur Anderson, legislatures world wide are recognizing the need to reform the exposure of auditors and their firms to claims of negligence. This paper examines the merits of limiting the legal liability of auditors. The paper considers the measures recommended in Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (CLERP 9) and explores other practices adopted around the world.

From the Paper
"Many of the principles setting out the legal liability of auditors are found in the common law. In the case Re: London & General Bank Ltd (No. 2) , the court held that an auditor must exercise reasonable care and skill, the level of which was dependant on the circumstances. These findings were confirmed in Re: Kingston Cotton Mill Company (No. 2) , where Lopes stated that the auditor was "...a watch-dog, but not a bloodhound" and that he was only required to investigate matters which aroused suspicion. These standards of reasonable care and skill are not static, they change with time, per the findings of Pennycuick J in Re: Thomas Gerrard & Son Ltd."

Tags:clerp9, incorporation, proportionate

Abstract
This paper evaluates both the short and long term significance of the New Deal. It concerns not only the New Deal's immediate recovery efforts but its wider influence on the development of capitalism itself. The writer shows how Roosevelt's plan totally changed the economic governing to date and took America and ultimately the world economy out of the depression of the 1930's. The paper includes a number of quotes from politicians and analysts of the time.

From the Paper
"There can be no doubting the significance of the New Deal. In addition to its critical immediate effects, the New Deal set a remarkably different economic trend for the twentieth century. Gauged by the program's two distinct phases of influence " its short and long term impacts " the New Deal's monumental significance is clear. In the short term the program led to a recovery of the United States economy and the comprehensive reform of American industry, agriculture and commerce."

Tags:capitalism, democratic, economic, history, recovery

Abstract
This paper explains the theory of oligopoly and discusses how Australia's airline industry provides a solid example of an oligopoly market. It uses case studies of Qantas, Virgin and Tiger airlines to demonstrate how all need to employ profit-maximising strategies that take into account the likely response to the strategies of other firms.

Outline:
Introduction
Case Study

From the Paper
"The combined profits of firms in an oligopoly can be maximised if they act together as a monopolist. Under "normal" conditions it is expected that firms in an oligopoly will collaborate to produce the optimal conditions for themselves. This leads to a practice known as price-fixing, whereby business competitors agree to sell a virtually homogenous product at the same price. The agreement itself is known as a cartel. Since the practice is anti-competitive, and economically inefficient according to neo-classical economics, it is illegal under the Trade Practices Act and has been the subject of a recent scandal in the airline industry worldwide."

Tags:Game, theory, monopoly

Abstract
An analysis of the current budget deficit and its causes--a slow economy, tremendous spending on the Iraq war and tax cuts. The paper also addresses the economic effect of a deficit on the economy and the desirable and adverse effects caused by a deficit. This essay concludes that spending would be more productive if directed to structural elements of the economy.

From the Paper
"Budget deficits occur when government expenditure is greater than revenue, forcing the government to borrow to meet its requirements. There are many potential economic effects of a deficit; the most apparent is an expansionary effect on the economy caused by injections of money being greater than withdrawals. Fiscal policy, among many other mechanisms is used to manipulate the economy. However, budget deficits should be used as to not adversely affect the economy. The federal budget deficit set the new record of $374 billion in 2003, doubling last year's efforts (Fram). The record deficit has been caused by the slow economy, tremendous spending on the Iraq war and tax cuts for the rich. This indicates that the great America does not know how to balance the checkbook, and certainly does not know how to spend wisely."

Tags:bush, debt, fiscal, iraq, monetary, spending, surplus, tax, tax, trade, war

Abstract
This essay examines the economic causes of the Great Depression and evaluates why it was such a significant event in world history. The Great Depression was one of the darkest periods of the 20th Century, the entire capitalist world economy came precariously close to collapse. It affected virtually every civilian of Western civilization from the wealthy bourgeoisie to the poor proletariat. The paper focuses on the Wall Street crash and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff and the role that each played in precipitating the Great Depression and puts forward extensive evidence that suggests that the Wall Street crash actually played a bigger role than the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.

From the Paper
"As a fundamental principle of economics is that voluntary trade makes everyone involved better-off, economists were almost uniformly critical of the Smoot-Hawley tariff, and Hoover received a petition signed by more than 1,000 economists urging him to veto the bill. Ultimately, he signed the Smoot-Hawley bill into law on June 17, 1930. Once enacted, it established the highest average tariff level in American history. As Kenneth Davidson said: "The Smoot-Hawley tariff was part of the general "beggar thy neighbour" polices adopted worldwide during the early 1930s." While the Wall Street crash had a clear and direct impact on the American economy, the effect of the Smoot-Hawley tariff on precipitating the Great Depression is plagued with ambiguity as it had more of a vague indirect global impact."

Tags:crash, hawley, smoot, street, tariff, wall