Topic Review
European Single Market
The European Single Market, Internal Market or Common Market is a single market comprising the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) as well as – with certain exceptions – Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway through the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and Switzerland through bilateral treaties. The single market seeks to guarantee the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people, known collectively as the "four freedoms". A number of potential EU accession candidates have Stabilisation and Association Agreements with the EU, which allow for limited participation in selected sectors of the Single Market, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. In addition, through three individual agreements on a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the EU, the post-Soviet countries of Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have also been granted limited access to the Single Market in selected sectors. Turkey has access to the free movement of some goods via its membership in the European Union–Turkey Customs Union. The United Kingdom left the European Single Market on 31 December 2020. An agreement was reached between the UK Government and European Commission to align Northern Ireland on rules for goods with the European Single Market, to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland. The market is intended to increase competition, labour specialisation, and economies of scale, allowing goods and factors of production to move to the area where they are most valued, thus improving the efficiency of the allocation of resources. It is also intended to drive economic integration whereby the once separate economies of the member states become integrated within a single EU-wide economy. The creation of the internal market as a seamless, single market is an ongoing process, with the integration of the service industry still containing gaps. According to a 2019 estimate, because of the single market the GDP of member countries is on average 9 percent higher than it would be if tariff and non-tariff restrictions were in place.
  • 734
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Viral Video
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email. Viral videos may be serious, and some are deeply emotional, but many more are centered on entertainment and humorous content. They may include televised comedy sketches, such as The Lonely Island's "Lazy Sunday" and "Dick in a Box", Numa Numa videos, The Evolution of Dance, Chocolate Rain on YouTube; and web-only productions such as I Got a Crush... on Obama. Some eyewitness events have also been caught on video and have "gone viral" such as the Battle at Kruger. One commentator called the Kony 2012 video the most viral video in history (about 34,000,000 views in three days and 100,000,000 views in six days), but "Gangnam Style" (2012) received one billion views in five months and was the most viewed video on YouTube from 2012 until "Despacito" (2017).
  • 682
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Warrant
In finance, a warrant is a security that entitles the holder to buy or sell stock, typically the stock of the issuing company, at a fixed price called the exercise price. Warrants and options are similar in that the two contractual financial instruments allow the holder special rights to buy securities. Both are discretionary and have expiration dates. They differ mainly in that warrants are only issued by specific authorized institutions (typically the corporation on which the warrant is based) and in certain technical aspects of their trading and exercise. Warrants are frequently attached to bonds or preferred stock as a sweetener, allowing the issuer to pay lower interest rates or dividends. They can be used to enhance the yield of the bond and make them more attractive to potential buyers. Warrants can also be used in private equity deals. Frequently, these warrants are detachable and can be sold independently of the bond or stock. In the case of warrants issued with preferred stocks, stockholders may need to detach and sell the warrant before they can receive dividend payments. Thus, it is sometimes beneficial to detach and sell a warrant as soon as possible so the investor can earn dividends. Warrants are actively traded in some financial markets such as the German and Hong Kong stock exchanges. In the Hong Kong market, warrants accounted for 11.7% of the turnover in the first quarter of 2009, just second to the callable bull/bear contract.
  • 512
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Financial Inclusion Drivers
Usage, digitalization, and FinTech emerged as significant drivers of financial inclusion (FI). Drivers of FI, viz., the usage indicator, digitalization, and FinTech, are positively associated with financial inclusion and with the mediation of financial literacy, and they positively influence sustainable growth. Sustainable growth has been measured through customers’ perceptions regarding the success of FI through the achievement of selected SDGs. Further, there is also a positive relation between financial initiatives and sustainable growth.
  • 551
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
Fear, uncertainty and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a disinformation strategy used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, cults, and propaganda. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information and a manifestation of the appeal to fear. While the phrase dates to at least the early 20th century, the present common usage of disinformation related to software, hardware and technology industries generally appeared in the 1970s to describe disinformation in the computer hardware industry, and has since been used more broadly.
  • 3.2K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Health Star Rating System
The Health Star Rating System (HSR) is an Australian Government initiative that assigns health ratings to packaged foods and beverages. The Health Star Rating System was established in 2014 as a preventative measure in slowing or reversing the rate of overweight Australians. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 63% of Australian adults were classified either overweight or obese at that time. The purpose for the Health Star Rating is to provide a visual comparison of like for like products, to assist consumers into distinguishing and choosing the healthier options. It was designed to target time-deprived working adults as well as parents and children who were less likely to check how healthy each individual product was, through examination of the nutritional facts label on the back of products. Ratings scale by half star increments between half a star up to five stars, with the higher the rating, the healthier the product. These scores are determined through the use of the Health Star Rating Calculator, which was created by the federal and state governments in collaboration with leading health industry consumer groups and expert nutritionists. The calculator uses nutritional information such as total sugar, sodium, energy and other variants to obtain a rating for the product. Points are added for "healthy" nutrients such as fibres, proteins and vegetable matter whilst points are deducted for "unhealthy" nutrients; nutrients that have been scientifically linked to chronic health disease, such as fats and sugars. There are two types of HSR logos that companies can add to their packaging, one which simply displays the rating and another which depicts the rating along with some of the key nutritional categories. The Health Star Rating has received criticism over the effectiveness of the calculator and how some companies have potentially manipulated its use. The system has undergone consistent internal monitoring including a two-year review and is currently undertaking a five-year review. An early preview of the five year report was made available for public viewing from February 2019. The Australian Government has stated that it has closely followed external input and advice from independent journals and papers to continually improve on the system and resolve problems as they arise.
  • 714
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Croquet OS
Croquet OS is a web-based operating system for creating three-dimensional apps with multi-user functionalities that run simultaneously on any device. Croquet can be used for communication, online gaming environments such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), 3D wikis, virtual learning and problem solving environments, privately maintained or interconnected multi-user virtual environments, and more advanced functions such as highly scalable collaborative data visualization, resource sharing, and synchronous computation among multiple users.
  • 263
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Credit CARD Act of 2009
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 is a federal statute passed by the United States Congress and signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on May 22, 2009. It is comprehensive credit card reform legislation that aims "...to establish fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of credit under an open end consumer credit plan, and for other purposes." The bill was passed with bipartisan support by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
  • 577
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Natural Rate of Interest
The natural rate of interest, sometimes called the neutral rate of interest, is the interest rate that supports the economy at full employment/maximum output while keeping inflation constant. It cannot be observed directly. Rather, policy makers and economic researchers aim to estimate the natural rate of interest as a guide to monetary policy, usually using various economic models to help them do so.
  • 314
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Performance Paradox
The performance paradox is a theory set forth by Marshall W. Meyer and Vipin Gupta in 1994, which posits that organizations are able to maintain control by not knowing what exactly performance is. This theory is based on several facts of performance, namely that the number and type of performance measurements that exist are increasing at a rapid rate and that these new metrics tend to be weakly correlated with old ones.
  • 289
  • 20 Oct 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 167
Video Production Service