text:
User:Visorstuff

"To tell the truth, there was something about him they could not understand; some way he knew more than they did, and it made them mad."

"Now I don't believe like he did; but every man has a right to his religious opinions, and to advocate his views, too; if people don't like it, let them come out and meet him on the stand, and shew his error. [He] was always ready to exchange views with the best men they had."

-The Saints' Herald (Plano, Ill.), Volume 28, Number 11, (June 1, 1881) Page 167.

Wikiholiday: Due largely to threats made to me and my family because of my work on Wikipedia, I have become very selective in my editing and discussions I participate in on Wikipedia.

Please leave a message.

Use of Visorstuff's Contributions
I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages and photographic and graphic contributions, as described below:

About me
Most of myedits focus on corporate pages, technology, the Latter Day Saint movement and Mormonism-related topics within the WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement and within the technology sector. I seek NPOV, but do not tolerate errors in Latter-day Saint history and doctrine. Most of my time is spent correcting and providing context on discussion pages, or updating out of date pages. I am the second-longest continuing LDS editor on Wikipedia, and one of the first 200 Wikipedia administrators.

I've been an active Wikipedian since July 2003, and an unregistered editor for a few months prior. I created List of articles about Mormonism, which was a forerunner of the above-mentioned project. As an Admin (as of 12 March 2004), I am against broken links to empty articles - don't create a link without creating a stub. I am a part of the Welcoming committee. Lately, I like to review corporate pages and clean them up.

I am a believer that when it comes to matters of faith, multiple coincidences add up to be evidence. I have hands-on training in archaeology and some of my historical research and other writings have been published. My educational background includes: religion, communications (primary degree), United States history, business management, American literature, multimedia and architecture.

I am not an apologist, but a seeker of truth. I am a student of history, and align to faith-based topics (from all religions) from a faith-based standpoint - I have no reason to doubt the Joseph Smith, Jr. story, the Fatima story, the Joan of Arc story, the Moses account or some Gnostic writings. I try to not judge supernatural experiences for any more than what they claimed to see/experience. While I do not understand how all of these fit into my own world view, I treat them all as historical events, rather than taking a naturalistic point of view.

I may be emailed at visorstuff@yahoo.com

Editing philosophy
Each Wikipedia editor has a great deal to contribute. I am enjoy differing opinions and realize we are all on different levels on our various spiritual paths. And although I may come across as a know-it-all, I try to err on the side of what is known, rather than speculation and cultural viewpoints. I sometimes come across as part of a snobby religious intelligentsia, that has a condescending tone and rambling-answer/response tendencies, but I want to make sure that my responses are thorough, when possible.

I'm not perfect, and I fear many editors follow my condescending and blunt example, which is unfortunate. I definitely don't know everything, nor do I claim to. There is just simply have too much we don't know. The few things I do know deal with matters of faith. I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ, Mormonism, and continuous revelation.

It is tiresome to hear the same arguments over and over again, especially when most debate are unfounded and overly-simplistic or absolutist in nature. Many arguments are not educated and seem to draw on the same five or so secondary or tertiary sources again and again. I try to spend most of my time reading the primary sources, and therefore probably have a different view than the analysis that others read.

I guess I’m saying I'm just glad to be a part of this.

Some Favorite Quotes

 * "If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; If he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties." -Francis Bacon

 * "First doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

 * "It is true intelligence for a man to take a subject that is mysterious and great in itself, and to unfold and simplify it so that a child can understand it." -John Taylor

 * "The doctrines of the gospel are revealed through the Spirit to prophets, not through the intellect to scholars." -Boyd K. Packer

 * "To Know; To Dare; To Will; To Keep Silent" - Supposed inscription from inside the Great Sphinx (Context from a historical perspective, not modern magical use).

 * "It has been said that the gate of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's lives. The choices we make determine our destiny...some choices may seem more important than others, but no choice is insignificant." -Thomas S. Monson

 * "[I]t is not always wise to relate all the truth. Even Jesus, the Son of God, had to refrain from doing so, and had to restrain His feelings many times for the safety of Himself and His followers, and had to conceal the righteous purposes of His heart in relation to many things pertaining to His Father's kingdom." - Joseph Smith, Jr.

 * "Watch yourselves, and think. As I heard observed... 'think, brethren, think,' but do not think so far that you cannot think back again." - Brigham Young

 * "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation" - Senator Robert F. Kennedy

 * "Whatever you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it" - Attributed to Ghandi

 * "In our time, the only restraint left is self-restraint" - Jeffrey R. Holland

 * "Is there anyone more to be feared or hated than an iconoclast, one who tears down, and bombs and destroys rather than builds and beautifies?" - Spencer W. Kimball

 * "The righteousness of God [is] revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. 1:17-18.)

 * "You find the spirit of contention [among] apostates and those who have denied the faith, those who have turned away from the truth and have become enemies to God and his work. There you will find the spirit of contention, the spirit of strife. There you will find them wanting to 'argue the question,' and to dispute with you all the time. Their food, their meat, and their drink is contention...." Joseph F. Smith

 * "Have you ever thought that what was contrary to the order of heaven in 1840 might not be contrary to the order of heaven in 1960?" Harold B. Lee

 * "The first rule of historical criticism in dealing with ancient text[s] is, never oversimplify. For all its simple and straightforward narrative style, this history is packed as few others are with a staggering wealth of detail that completely escapes the casual reader.... Only laziness and vanity lead the student to the early conviction that he has the final answers on what the [texts] contains. - Hugh Nibley

 * "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught." Oscar Wilde

 * "The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil. It is not for you to choose what he shall know, what he shall do. It is chosen and foreordained and he only holds the key to his own secret." Ralph Waldo Emerson

 * "Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in" Alan Alda

 * "It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mostly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty." Albert Einstein

 * "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." - Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

 * "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." Fictional J.K. Rowling character, Albus Dumbledore

 * "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up" Attributed to Pablo Picasso

Useful/Interesting Links

 * MediaWiki_custom_messages
 * Policy_Library
 * Community_Information_Directory
 * Administrators' reading list
 * Administrators%27_how-to_guide
 * MediaWiki custom elements
 * Article_series message info
 * Administrator%27s_noticeboard
 * Dealing_with_vandalism
 * ,  (some tools on user edits)
 * Copyright myths
 * Vacuous truth
 * Invictus
 * Was the transgression in the Garden of Eden a Consenual crime or Victimless crime? Was it malum prohibitum ("bad because prohibited"), or malum in se ("inherently bad")

 * Decide what to do with my list missing wikilinks in Mormonism articles.
 * Welcome tags - ex:, found at Template:LDSWelcome.
 * Talk page responses.

title: User:Visorstuff


text:
Public finance

Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achieve desirable effects and avoid undesirable ones. The purview of public finance is considered to be threefold, consisting of governmental effects on:
 * 1) The efficient allocation of available resources;
 * 2) The distribution of income among citizens; and
 * 3) The stability of the economy.

Economist Jonathan Gruber has put forth a framework to assess the broad field of public finance. Gruber suggests public finance should be thought of in terms of four central questions:
 * 1) When should the government intervene in the economy? To which there are two central motivations for government intervention, Market failure and redistribution of income and wealth.
 * 2) How might the government intervene? Once the decision is made to intervene the government must choose the specific tool or policy choice to carry out the intervention (for example public provision, taxation, or subsidization).
 * 3) What is the effect of those interventions on economic outcomes? A question to assess the empirical direct and indirect effects of specific government intervention.
 * 4) And finally, why do governments choose to intervene in the way that they do? This question is centrally concerned with the study of political economy, theorizing how governments make public policy.

Overview
One of the more traditional subfields of economics, public finance emphasizes the function and role of government in the economy. A region's inhabitants established a formal or informal entity known as the government to carry out a variety of tasks, including providing for social requirements like education and healthcare as well as protecting the populace's private property from outside threats. The proper role of government provides a starting point for the analysis of public finance. In theory, under certain circumstances, private markets will allocate goods and services among individuals efficiently (in the sense that no waste occurs and that individual tastes are matching with the economy's productive abilities). If private markets were able to provide efficient outcomes and if the distribution of income were socially acceptable, then there would be little or no scope for government. In many cases, however, conditions for private market efficiency are violated. For example, if many people can enjoy the same good (the moment that good was produced and sold, it starts to give its utility to every one for free) at the same time (non-rival, non-excludable consumption), then private markets may supply too little of that good. National defense is one example of non-rival consumption, or of a public good.

"Market failure" occurs when private markets do not allocate goods or services efficiently. The existence of market failure provides an efficiency-based rationale for collective or governmental provision of goods and services. Externalities, public goods, informational advantages, strong economies of scale, and network effects can cause market failures. Public provision via a government or a voluntary association, however, is subject to other inefficiencies, termed "government failure."

Under broad assumptions, government decisions about the efficient scope and level of activities can be efficiently separated from decisions about the design of taxation systems (Diamond-Mirrlees separation). In this view, public sector programs should be designed to maximize social benefits minus costs (cost-benefit analysis), and then revenues needed to pay for those expenditures should be raised through a taxation system that creates the fewest efficiency losses caused by distortion of economic activity as possible. In practice, government budgeting or public budgeting is substantially more complicated and often results in inefficient practices. Government can pay for spending by borrowing (for example, with government bonds), although borrowing is a method of distributing tax burdens through time rather than a replacement for taxes. A deficit is the difference between government spending and revenues. The accumulation of deficits over time is the total public debt. Deficit finance allows governments to smooth tax burdens over time and gives governments an important fiscal policy tool. Deficits can also narrow the options of successor governments. There is also a difference between public and private finance, in public finance the source of income is indirect, e.g., various taxes (specific taxes, value added taxes), but in private finance sources of income is direct.

History
Although public finance only began to be viewed as a body of knowledge no more than a century and a half ago, there is evidence of principles common to public finance as early as the bible with discussions of Sunday-trade, slavery regulations, and compassion for the poor. Public finance, although not explicitly named, is often the subject of much of political philosophy.

These concepts can be seen in ancient greece as well, although it was split into two categories there: on one hand the government was to provide for a theater in every city and works of art in the country side. On the other hand, the government was to provide financing for war. Unemployment in ancient Greece was virtually non-existent as Greek economic rule equated heavily to slavery. Greek economic development as per the governmental duties extended to growth, equity, and employment.

The Romans later popularized systemic bodies of law. They guaranteed freedom of contract and property, as well as reasonable price and value. They also developed a well-maintained system of roads and colonies which led to one of the first real tax systems. Their system was tbased on two types of taxes: tributa and vectigalia. The former included the land tax and a poll tax, while the latter was made up of another poll tax, an inheritance tax, a sales tax, and a postage tax. Other taxes depended entirely on the city and were usually temporary. These taxes were used among other things to fund the military, establish trade routes, and fund the cursus publicum. Each region had a set amount to pay which would be collected by aristocrats. Who paid taxes was determined by local officials. The romans employed a regressive tax system wherein the lower income levels paid higher taxes and the wealthier enjoyed reduced taxation.

During feudalism lacking communication led to issues with pre-existing tax systems. Taxation was organized based on what "men spend" in hopes of encouraging investment and savings. Since the government was meant to take care of those who would otherwise turn to charity or crime by means of an allowance provided by a public tax, it is one of the first concepts of what could be considered a negative income tax. Additionally, in England at the time, the main taxes paid were land taxes, a tax that was collected in order to pay for mercenaries. The first mention of a tax in Anglo-Saxon England dates back to the 7th century where it’s specified that fines resulting from judicial cases should be paid to the king. Later something known as food rent was introduced, wherein regions would pay a certain amount of their foodstuffs to the king periodically.

This food rent was not too dissimilar from the taxes imposed on serfs in Russia in the middle ages wherein they were to pay most of their produce and goods to the local lord. In 1550 serfs were instructed to pay another tax called za povoz, which was imposed on those who refused to deliver the harvest from their fields to their master. Later in the eighteenth and nineteenth century lords began having to pay a per capita tax for each of their peasants and were responsible for their well-being during times of famine.

Toward this time, public finance and interest in how governments were to utilize the money earned from taxes as well as how to provide for their state became increasingly common.

The laissez-faire approach first became popular toward the middle of the 17th century, popularized especially by Charles Davenant. The laissez-faire attitude was especially common with Physiocrats in France (as opposed to the classical school in Britain). They maintained a "laissez-faire, laisser-passer" attitude, with one of the central ideas being that the government’s central role should be to guarantee private property, and the maintenance of one single tax, namely the produit net, which encompassed the farmer’s surplus.

Adam Smith also advocated for the laissez-faire attitude, but also claimed that the government would need to take a more proactive role in protection, justice, and public works. He first proposed the idea of a public good, as he believed that a good could provide a value to society as whole that would exceed the value it would provide to only one individual. Adam Smith also maintained that a government should maintain a properly regulated money flow and banking system, patents as well as copyrights,  and provide public education and transport. For him public projects always needed to yield a profit that would be greater to society than the individual. One of the most pivotal works on taxation, Adam Smith’s Canons of Taxation gave further criteria for taxation, namely equality, certainty, convenience, and economy.

Following Adam Smith, several economists expanded on his ideas, or transformed them as in the case of Thomas Robert Malthus, who believed that tax-financed public works would be most effective, so long as it created greater demand for labor and commodities.

Public finance as a field began becoming more well-known and independently recognized around this time, with John Ramsay McCulloch writing many pivotal works in the field.

Public finance management
Collection of sufficient resources from the economy in an appropriate manner along with allocating and use of these resources efficiently and effectively constitute good financial management. Resource generation, resource allocation, and expenditure management (resource utilization) are the essential components of a public financial management system.

The following subdivisions form the subject matter of public finance.

 * 1) Public expenditure
 * 2) Public revenue
 * 3) Public debt
 * 4) Financial administration
 * 5) Federal finance
 * 6) Fiscal policy

Government expenditures
Economists classify government expenditures into three main types. Government purchases of goods and services for current use are classed as government consumption. Government purchases of goods and services intended to create future benefits – such as infrastructure investment or research spending – are classed as government investment. Government expenditures that are not purchases of goods and services, and instead just represent transfers of money – such as social security payments – are called transfer payments.

Government operations
Government operations are those activities involved in the running of a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements) for the purpose of producing value for the citizens. Government operations have the power to make, and the authority to enforce rules and laws within a civil, corporate, religious, academic, or other organization or group.

Income distribution

 * Income distribution – Some forms of government expenditure are specifically intended to transfer income from some groups to others. For example, governments sometimes transfer income to people that have suffered a loss due to natural disaster. Likewise, public pension programs transfer wealth from the young to the old. Other forms of government expenditure that represent purchases of goods and services also have the effect of changing the income distribution. For example, engaging in a war may transfer wealth to certain sectors of society. Public education transfers wealth to families with children in these schools. Public road construction transfers wealth from people that do not use the roads to those people that do (and to those that build the roads).
 * Income Security
 * Employment insurance
 * Health Care
 * Public financing of campaigns

Financing of government expenditures

Government expenditures are financed primarily in three ways:
 * Government revenue
 * Taxes
 * Non-tax revenue (revenue from government-owned corporations, sovereign wealth funds, sales of assets, or seigniorage)
 * Government borrowing
 * Money creation

How a government chooses to finance its activities can have important effects on the distribution of income and wealth (income redistribution) and on the efficiency of markets (effect of taxes on market prices and efficiency). The issue of how taxes affect income distribution is closely related to tax incidence, which examines the distribution of tax burdens after market adjustments are taken into account. Public finance research also analyzes effects of the various types of taxes and types of borrowing as well as administrative concerns, such as tax enforcement.

Taxes
Taxation is the central part of modern public finance. Its significance arises not only from the fact that it is by far the most important of all revenues but also because of the gravity of the problems created by the present day tax burden. The main objective of taxation is raising revenue. A high level of taxation is necessary in a welfare State to fulfill its obligations. Taxation is used as an instrument of attaining certain social objectives, i.e., as a means of redistribution of wealth and thereby reducing inequalities. Taxation in a modern government is thus needed not merely to raise the revenue required to meet its expenditure on administration and social services, but also to reduce the inequalities of income and wealth. Taxation might also be needed to draw away money that would otherwise go into consumption and cause inflation to rise.

A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity. Taxes consist of direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as corvée labor. A tax may be defined as a "pecuniary burden laid upon individuals or property to support the government [ . . .] a payment exacted by legislative authority." A tax "is not a voluntary payment or donation, but an enforced contribution, exacted pursuant to legislative authority" and is "any contribution imposed by government [ . . .] whether under the name of toll, tribute, tallage, gabel, impost, duty, custom, excise, subsidy, aid, supply, or other name."
 * There are various types of taxes, broadly divided into two heads – direct (which is proportional) and indirect tax (which is differential in nature):
 * Stamp duty, levied on documents
 * Excise tax (tax levied on production for sale, or sale, of a certain good)
 * Sales tax (tax on business transactions, especially the sale of goods and services)
 * Value added tax (VAT) is a type of sales tax
 * Services taxes on specific services
 * Road tax; Vehicle excise duty (UK), Registration Fee (US), Regco (Australia), Vehicle Licensing Fee (Brazil) etc.
 * Gift tax
 * Duties (taxes on importation, levied at customs)
 * Corporate income tax on corporations (incorporated entities)
 * Wealth tax
 * Personal income tax (may be levied on individuals, families such as the Hindu joint family in India, unincorporated associations, etc.)

Debt
Governments, like any other legal entity, can take out loans, issue bonds, and make financial investments. Government debt (also known as public debt or national debt) is money (or credit) owed by any level of government; either central or federal government, municipal government, or local government. Some local governments issue bonds based on their taxing authority, such as tax increment bonds or revenue bonds.

As the government represents the people, government debt can be seen as an indirect debt of the taxpayers. Government debt can be categorized as internal debt, owed to lenders within the country, and external debt, owed to foreign lenders. Governments usually borrow by issuing securities such as government bonds and bills. Less creditworthy countries sometimes borrow directly from commercial banks or international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.

Most government budgets are calculated on a cash basis, meaning that revenues are recognized when collected and outlays are recognized when paid. Some consider all government liabilities, including future pension payments and payments for goods and services the government has contracted for but not yet paid, as government debt. This approach is called accrual accounting, meaning that obligations are recognized when they are acquired, or accrued, rather than when they are paid. This constitutes public debt.

Seigniorage
Seigniorage is the net revenue derived from the issuing of currency. It arises from the difference between the face value of a coin or banknote and the cost of producing, distributing and eventually retiring it from circulation. Seigniorage is an important source of revenue for some national banks, although it provides a very small proportion of revenue for advanced industrial countries.

Public finance through state enterprise
Public finance in centrally planned economies has differed in fundamental ways from that in market economies. Some state-owned enterprises generated profits that helped finance government activities.. In various mixed economies, the revenue generated by state-owned enterprises is used for various state endeavors; typically the revenue generated by state and government agencies.

Government finance statistics and methodology
Macroeconomic data to support public finance economics are generally referred to as fiscal or government finance statistics (GFS). The Government Finance Statistics Manual 2001 (GFSM 2001) is the internationally accepted methodology for compiling fiscal data. It is consistent with regionally accepted methodologies such as the European System of Accounts 1995 and consistent with the methodology of the System of National Accounts (SNA1993) and broadly in line with its most recent update, the SNA2008.

Measuring the public sector
The size of governments, their institutional composition and complexity, their ability to carry out large and sophisticated operations, and their impact on the other sectors of the economy warrant a well-articulated system to measure government economic operations.

The GFSM 2001 addresses the institutional complexity of government by defining various levels of government. The main focus of the GFSM 2001 is the general government sector defined as the group of entities capable of implementing public policy through the provision of primarily non market goods and services and the redistribution of income and wealth, with both activities supported mainly by compulsory levies on other sectors. The GFSM 2001 disaggregates the general government into subsectors: central government, state government, and local government (See Figure 1). The concept of general government does not include public corporations. The general government plus the public corporations comprise the public sector (See Figure 2).

The general government sector of a nation includes all non-private sector institutions, organisations and activities. The general government sector, by convention, includes all the public corporations that are not able to cover at least 50% of their costs by sales, and, therefore, are considered non-market producers.

In the European System of Accounts, the sector "general government" has been defined as containing:
 * "All institutional units which are other non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and mainly financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and/or all institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth".

Therefore, the main functions of general government units are :
 * to organize or redirect the flows of money, goods and services, or other assets among corporations, among households, and between corporations and households; in the purpose of social justice, increased efficiency or other aims legitimized by the citizens—examples are the redistribution of national income and wealth, the corporate income tax paid by companies to finance unemployment benefits, the social contributions paid by employees to finance the pension systems;
 * to produce goods and services to satisfy households' needs (e.g., state health care) or to collectively meet the needs of the whole community (e.g. defense, public order, and safety).

The general government sector, in the European System of Accounts, has four sub-sectors:

 * 1) central government
 * 2) state government
 * 3) local government
 * 4) social security funds

"Central government" consists of all administrative departments of the state and other central agencies whose responsibilities cover the whole economic territory of a country, except for the administration of social security funds.

"State government" is defined as the separate institutional units that exercise some government functions below those units at central government level and above those units at local government level, excluding the administration of social security funds.

"Local government" consists of all types of public administration whose responsibility covers only a local part of the economic territory, apart from local agencies of social security funds.

"Social security fund" is a central, state or local institutional unit whose main activity is to provide social benefits. It fulfils the two following criteria:
 * by law or regulation (except those about government employees), certain population groups must take part in the scheme and have to pay contributions;
 * general government is responsible for the management of the institutional unit, for the payment or approval of the level of the contributions and of the benefits, independent of its role as a supervisory body or employer.

The GFSM 2001 framework is similar to the financial accounting of businesses. For example, it recommends that governments produce a full set of financial statements including the statement of government operations (akin to the income statement), the balance sheet, and a cash flow statement. Two other similarities between the GFSM 2001 and business financial accounting are the recommended use of accrual accounting as the basis of recording and the presentations of stocks of assets and liabilities at market value. It is an improvement on the prior methodology – Government Finance Statistics Manual 1986 – based on cash flows and without a balance sheet statement.

Users of GFS
The GFSM 2001 recommends standard tables including standard fiscal indicators that meet a broad group of users including policy makers, researchers, and investors in sovereign debt. Government finance statistics should offer data for topics such as the fiscal architecture, the measurement of the efficiency and effectiveness of government expenditures, the economics of taxation, and the structure of public financing. The GFSM 2001 provides a blueprint for the compilation, recording, and presentation of revenues, expenditures, stocks of assets, and stocks of liabilities. The GFSM 2001 also defines some indicators of effectiveness in government's expenditures, for example the compensation of employees as a percentage of expense. The GFSM 2001 includes a functional classification of expense as defined by the Classification of Functions of Government (COFOG).

This functional classification allows policy makers to analyze expenditures on categories such as health, education, social protection, and environmental protection. The financial statements can provide investors with the necessary information to assess the capacity of a government to service and repay its debt, a key element determining sovereign risk, and risk premia. Like the risk of default of a private corporation, sovereign risk is a function of the level of debt, its ratio to liquid assets, revenues and expenditures, the expected growth and volatility of these revenues and expenditures, and the cost of servicing the debt. The government's financial statements contain the relevant information for this analysis.

The government's balance sheet presents the level of the debt; that is the government's liabilities. The memorandum items of the balance sheet provide additional information on the debt including its maturity and whether it is owed to domestic or external residents. The balance sheet also presents a disaggregated classification of financial and non-financial assets.

These data help estimate the resources a government can potentially access to repay its debt. The statement of operations ("income statement") contains the revenue and expense accounts of the government. The revenue accounts are divided into subaccounts, including the different types of taxes, social contributions, dividends from the public sector, and royalties from natural resources. Finally, the interest expense account is one of the necessary inputs to estimate the cost of servicing the debt.

Fiscal data using the GFSM 2001 methodology
GFS can be accessible through several sources. The International Monetary Fund publishes GFS in two publications: International Financial Statistics and the Government Finance Statistics Yearbook. The World Bank gathers information on external debt. On a regional level, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Dibidami ) compiles general government account data for its members, and Eurostat, following a methodology compatible with the GFSM 2001, compiles GFS for the members of the European Union.

Public finance and social equality
Social equality is the equivalent treatment of and opportunity for members of different groups within society regardless of individual distinctions of race, ethnicity, gender, age, social class, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or other characteristics or circumstances.

Social fairness includes the equal access of the various groups forming society to the financial resources and opportunities in all areas. This concept is ensuring that every individual, despite their socioeconomic condition, race, gender, and other qualities, get equal opportunities to benefit from public services that relate to health, education, and social welfare.

Principles of social equality in public finance
The core tenets of promoting social equality through public finance include:

 * Equitable taxation: The taxing system is set to be equitable and not to burden the poor while providing enough revenue to fund the government expenditures. Mostly, this will involve progressive taxations in which higher earners pay a higher rate.
 * Uniform resource distribution: It ensures that public services across regions are of high quality and equal, including those from the less wealthy areas. This approach helps to mitigate regional disparities in access to government services.
 * Universal access to services: These policies are put in place to make sure that all citizens have access to some of the essential public services. For example, among the services ensuring the well-being and economic productivity of people are primary education, healthcare, and public safety.
 * Anti-discrimination measures: To enforce policies meant for the prevention of discrimination in the distribution of services and employment within the government sector. That is necessary in a society where people have an equal chance to succeed.

Implementation strategies
To achieve social equality, governments employ a variety of strategies, including:

 * Policy evaluation and adjustment: Evaluation of the influence behind fiscal policies on the different demographic groups. Implemented to guarantee that said policies are effective.
 * Public engagement: In this way, the process includes diverse community stakeholders to ensure they contribute and their needs are also addressed in the policies.
 * Legislative reforms: Laws that support equitable access to resources and protect against discrimination in public service delivery.

Challenges and considerations
The challenges of a political nature and budget constraints are among many, which could prevent integration of social equality into public finance. There has to be constant review and fine-tuning of the policies with full commitment to fairness in the distribution of public finance.

These principles and strategies might very well make public finance one of the strongest allies for social equality—one where everyone has, under any circumstance, fair chances for success and participation in the benefits provided by society.

Public finance and social equity
Social equity is the fair, just and equitable management of all institutions serving the public directly or by contract; and the fair and equitable distribution of public services, and implementation of public policy; and the commitment to promote fairness, justice and equity in the formation of public policy.

Social equity in public finance underlies the principles and practices that work toward fair distribution of public resources, especially geared towards reducing inequalities between different social groups. This idea is very relevant for designing and implementing public policies, notably towards issues such as taxation, budget allocations, and public spending.

Concepts and implementation
Social equity requires formulating fiscal policies that are not only fair but also inclusive across all groups of society. In more cases than not, this calls for a progressive tax system, where people of higher income bring in a higher percentage of their incomes, which helps in redistributing the resources toward communities that are under-served.

This underpins the importance for local governments to consider social equity in their strategic planning and budgeting process. This achieved through techniques such as the "veil of ignorance," which would be applied to make sure that policy makers design systems without any bias based on their personal characteristics, such as race, income, or place of residence. Under this experiment, decision-makers would ideally create systems that they would deem fair regardless of their status in society.

Focus areas
In practice, successful involvement of social equity in public finance often requires a focus on specific demographic groups most affected by disparities, such as those differentiated by race, socio-economic status, or geographic location. Local governments may, in this way, bring equity by being able to customize public services and even distribution of resources to those groups, effectively dealing with the systemic inequalities.

Achieving social equity is challenged by limited resources, political resistance, and economic disparities, respectively. Overcoming them calls for transparent policymaking, antidiscrimination laws, and region-specific policies. Success, on the other hand, calls for involvement from the stakeholders and effective governance that takes into account long-term planning and sustainability.

Measuring Social Equity
Clear goals have to be set with regard to measuring social equity and also relevant metrics. Common measures include accessibility to quality education, health outcomes from healthcare, and walkability of neighborhoods. Local governments can measure through such indicators the efficiency of their efforts and performance in the allocation of resources from the budget to take care of the social disparities.

In so doing, public finance may appear as a very strong lever that guarantees social equity based on the ability of all members of the community to gain respective fair access to the opportunities required for their well-being and success.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Public finance


text:
Incoterms

The Incoterms or International Commercial Terms are a series of pre-defined commercial terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) relating to international commercial law. Incoterms define the responsibilities of exporters and importers in the arrangement of shipments and the transfer of liability involved at various stages of the transaction. They are widely used in international commercial transactions or procurement processes and their use is encouraged by trade councils, courts and international lawyers. A series of three-letter trade terms related to common contractual sales practices, the Incoterms rules are intended primarily to clearly communicate the tasks, costs, and risks associated with the global or international transportation and delivery of goods. Incoterms inform sales contracts defining respective obligations, costs, and risks involved in the delivery of goods from the seller to the buyer, but they do not themselves conclude a contract, determine the price payable, currency or credit terms, govern contract law or define where title to goods transfers.

The Incoterms rules are accepted by governments, legal authorities, and practitioners worldwide for the interpretation of most commonly used terms in international trade. They are intended to reduce or remove altogether uncertainties arising from the differing interpretations of the rules in different countries. As such they are regularly incorporated into sales contracts worldwide.

"Incoterms" is a registered trademark of the ICC.

The first work published by the ICC on international trade terms was issued in 1923, with the first edition known as Incoterms published in 1936. The Incoterms rules were amended in 1953, 1967, 1976, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010, with the ninth version — Incoterms 2020 — having been published on September 10, 2019.

Incoterms 2020
Incoterms 2020 is the ninth set of international contract terms published by the International Chamber of Commerce, with the first set having been published in 1936. Incoterms 2020 defines 11 rules, the same number as defined by Incoterms 2010. One rule of the 2010 version ("Delivered at Terminal"; DAT) was removed, and is replaced by a new rule ("Delivered at Place Unloaded"; DPU) in the 2020 rules.

The insurance to be provided under terms CIF and CIP has also changed, increasing from Institute Cargo Clauses(C) to Institute Cargo Clauses(A). Under the CIF Incoterms rule, which is reserved for use in maritime trade and is often used in commodity trading, the Institute Cargo Clauses (C) remains the default level of coverage, giving parties the option to agree to a higher level of insurance cover. Taking into account feedback from global users, the CIP Incoterms® rule now requires a higher level of cover, compliant with the Institute Cargo Clauses (A) or similar clauses.

In prior versions, the rules were divided into four categories, but the 11 pre-defined terms of Incoterms 2020 are subdivided into two categories based only on method of delivery. The larger group of seven rules may be used regardless of the method of transport, with the smaller group of four being applicable only to sales that solely involve transportation by water where the condition of the goods can be verified at the point of loading on board ship. They are therefore not to be used for containerized freight, other combined transport methods, or for transport by road, air or rail.

Incoterms 2020 also formally defines delivery. Previously, the term had been defined informally but it is now defined as the point in the transaction where "the risk of loss or damage [to the goods] passes from the seller to the buyer".

Incoterms in government regulations
In some jurisdictions, the duty costs of the goods may be calculated against a specific Incoterm: for example in India, duty is calculated against the CIF value of the goods, and in South Africa the duty is calculated against the FOB value of the goods. Because of this it is common for contracts for exports to these countries to use these Incoterms, even when they are not suitable for the chosen mode of transport. If this is the case then great care must be exercised to ensure that the points at which costs and risks pass are clarified with the customer.

Defined terms in Incoterms
There are certain terms that have special meaning within Incoterms, and some of the more important ones are defined below:
 * Delivery: The point in the transaction where the risk of loss or damage to the goods is transferred from the seller to the buyer
 * Arrival: The point named in the Incoterm to which carriage has been paid
 * Free: Seller has an obligation to deliver the goods to a named place for transfer to a carrier
 * Carrier: Any person who, in a contract of carriage, undertakes to perform or to procure the performance of transport by rail, road, air, sea, inland waterway or by a combination of such modes
 * Freight forwarder: A firm that makes or assists in the making of shipping arrangements;
 * Terminal: Any place, whether covered or not, such as a dock, warehouse, container yard or road, rail or air cargo terminal
 * To clear for export: To file Shipper’s Export Declaration and get export permit

Variation of Incoterms
Parties adopting Incoterms should be wary about their intention and variations. The desire of the parties should be expressed clearly and casual adoption should be refrained. Also, making additions or variations to the meaning of a certain term should be carefully done as parties' failure to use any trade term at all can produce unexpected results.

EXW – Ex Works (named place of delivery)
The seller makes the goods available at their premises, or at another named place. This term places the maximum obligation on the buyer and minimum obligations on the seller. The Ex Works term is often used while making an initial quotation for the sale of goods without any costs included.

EXW means that a buyer incurs the risks of bringing the goods to their final destination. Either the seller does not load the goods on collecting vehicles and does not clear them for export, or if the seller does load the goods, they do so at buyer's risk and cost. If the parties agree that the seller should be responsible for the loading of the goods on departure and to bear the risk and all costs of such loading, this must be made clear by adding explicit wording to this effect in the contract of sale.

There is no obligation for the seller to make a contract of carriage, but there is also no obligation for the buyer to arrange one either - the buyer may sell the goods on to their own customer for collection from the original seller's warehouse. However, in common practice the buyer arranges the collection of the freight from the designated location, and is responsible for clearing the goods through Customs. The buyer is also responsible for completing all the export documentation, although the seller does have an obligation to obtain information and documents at the buyer's request and cost.

These documentary requirements may result in two principal issues. Firstly, the stipulation for the buyer to complete the export declaration can be an issue in certain jurisdictions (not least the European Union) where the customs regulations require the declarant to be either an individual or corporation resident within the jurisdiction. If the buyer is based outside of the customs jurisdiction, they will be unable to clear the goods for export, meaning that the goods may be declared in the name of the seller by the buyer, even though the export formalities are the buyer's responsibility under the EXW term.

Secondly, most jurisdictions require companies to provide proof of export for tax purposes. In an EXW shipment, the buyer is under no obligation to provide such proof to the seller, or indeed to even export the goods. In a customs jurisdiction such as the European Union, this would leave the seller liable to a sales tax bill as if the goods were sold to a domestic customer. It is therefore of utmost importance that these matters are discussed with the buyer before the contract is agreed. It may well be that another Incoterm, such as FCA seller's premises, may be more suitable, since this puts the onus for declaring the goods for export onto the seller, which provides for more control over the export process.

FCA – Free Carrier (named place of delivery)
The seller delivers the goods, cleared for export, at a named place (possibly including the seller's own premises). The goods can be delivered to a carrier nominated by the buyer, or to another party nominated by the buyer.

In many respects this Incoterm has replaced FOB in modern usage, although the critical point at which the risk passes moves from loading aboard the vessel to the named place. The chosen place of delivery affects the obligations of loading and unloading the goods at that place.

If delivery occurs at the seller's premises, or at any other location that is under the seller's control, the seller is responsible for loading the goods on to the buyer's carrier. However, if delivery occurs at any other place, the seller is deemed to have delivered the goods once their transport has arrived at the named place; the buyer is responsible for both unloading the goods and loading them onto their own carrier.

CPT – Carriage Paid To (named place of destination)
CPT replaces the C&F (cost and freight) and CFR terms for all shipping modes outside of non-containerized seafreight.

The seller pays for the carriage of the goods up to the named place of destination. However, the goods are considered to be delivered when the goods have been handed over to the first or main carrier, so that the risk transfers to buyer upon handing goods over to that carrier at the place of shipment in the country of Export.

The seller is responsible for origin costs including export clearance and freight costs for carriage to the named place of destination (either the final destination such as the buyer's facilities or a port of destination. This has to be agreed to by seller and buyer, however).

If the buyer requires the seller to obtain insurance, the Incoterm CIP should be considered instead.

CIP – Carriage and Insurance Paid to (named place of destination)
This term is broadly similar to the above CPT term, with the exception that the seller is required to obtain insurance for the goods while in transit. CIP requires the seller to insure the goods for 110% of the contract value under Institute Cargo Clauses (A) of the Institute of London Underwriters (which is a change from Incoterms 2010 where the minimum was Institute Cargo Clauses (C)), or any similar set of clauses, unless specifically agreed by both parties. The policy should be in the same currency as the contract, and should allow the buyer, the seller, and anyone else with an insurable interest in the goods to be able to make a claim.

CIP can be used for all modes of transport, whereas the Incoterm CIF should only be used for non-containerized sea-freight.

DPU – Delivered At Place Unloaded (named place of destination)
This Incoterm requires that the seller delivers the goods, unloaded, at the named place of destination. The seller covers all the costs of transport (export fees, carriage, unloading from main carrier at destination port and destination port charges) and assumes all risk until arrival at the destination port or terminal.

The terminal can be a port, airport, or inland freight interchange, but must be a facility with the capability to receive the shipment. If the seller is not able to organize unloading, they should consider shipping under DAP terms instead. All charges after unloading (for example, import duty, taxes, customs and on-carriage) are to be borne by buyer. However, any delay or demurrage charges at the terminal will generally be for the seller's account.

Some uncertainty has emerged since Incoterms 2020 were adopted as to the meaning of "unloaded" when goods are delivered in a container, usually by sea, as the removal of the container from the incoming vessel may suggest that it has been "unloaded", but the goods themselves are not yet "unloaded" while they remain in the container.

DAP – Delivered At Place (named place of destination)
Incoterms 2010 defines DAP as 'Delivered at Place' – the seller delivers when the goods are placed at the disposal of the buyer on the arriving means of transport ready for unloading at the named place of destination. Under DAP terms, the risk passes from seller to buyer from the point of destination mentioned in the contract of delivery.

Once goods are ready for shipment, the necessary packing is carried out by the seller at their own cost, so that the goods reach their final destination safely. All necessary legal formalities in the exporting country are completed by the seller at their own cost and risk to clear the goods for export.

After arrival of the goods in the country of destination, the customs clearance in the importing country needs to be completed by the buyer, e.g. import permit, documents required by customs, etc., including all customs duties and taxes.

Under DAP terms, all carriage expenses with any terminal expenses are paid by seller up to the agreed destination point. The necessary unloading cost at final destination has to be borne by buyer under DAP terms.

DDP – Delivered Duty Paid (named place of destination)
Seller is responsible for delivering the goods to the named place in the country of the buyer, and pays all costs in bringing the goods to the destination including import duties and taxes. The seller is not responsible for unloading. This term is often used in place of the non-Incoterm "Free In Store (FIS)". This term places the maximum obligations on the seller and minimum obligations on the buyer. No risk or responsibility is transferred to the buyer until delivery of the goods at the named place of destination.

The most important consideration for DDP terms is that the seller is responsible for clearing the goods through customs in the buyer's country, including both paying the duties and taxes, and obtaining the necessary authorizations and registrations from the authorities in that country. Unless the rules and regulations in the buyer's country are very well understood, DDP terms can be a very big risk both in terms of delays and in unforeseen extra costs, and should be used with caution.

Rules for sea and inland waterway transport
To determine if a location qualifies for these four rules, please refer to 'United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations (UN/LOCODE)'.

The four rules defined by Incoterms 2020 for international trade where transportation is entirely conducted by water are as per the below. It is important to note that these terms are generally not suitable for shipments in shipping containers; the point at which risk and responsibility for the goods passes is when the goods are loaded on board the ship, and if the goods are sealed into a shipping container it is impossible to verify the condition of the goods at this point.

Also of note is that the point at which risk passes under these terms has shifted from previous editions of Incoterms, where the risk passed at the ship's rail.

FAS – Free Alongside Ship (named port of shipment)
The seller delivers when the goods are placed alongside the buyer's vessel at the named port of shipment. This means that the buyer has to bear all costs and risks of loss of or damage to the goods from that moment. The FAS term requires the seller to clear the goods for export, which is a reversal from previous Incoterms versions that required the buyer to arrange for export clearance. However, if the parties wish the buyer to clear the goods for export, this should be made clear by adding explicit wording to this effect in the contract of sale. This term should be used only for non-containerized seafreight and inland waterway transport.

FOB – Free on Board (named port of shipment)
Under FOB terms the seller bears all costs and risks up to the point the goods are loaded on board the vessel. The seller's responsibility does not end at that point unless the goods are "appropriated to the contract" that is, they are "clearly set aside or otherwise identified as the contract goods". Therefore, FOB contract requires a seller to deliver goods on board a vessel that is to be designated by the buyer in a manner customary at the particular port. In this case, the seller must also arrange for export clearance. On the other hand, the buyer pays cost of marine freight transportation, bill of lading fees, insurance, unloading and transportation cost from the arrival port to destination. Since Incoterms 1980 introduced the Incoterm FCA, FOB should only be used for non-containerized seafreight and inland waterway transport. However, FOB is commonly used incorrectly for all modes of transport despite the contractual risks that this can introduce. In some common law countries such as the United States of America, FOB is not only connected with the carriage of goods by sea but also used for inland carriage aboard any "vessel, car or other vehicle."

CFR – Cost and Freight (named port of destination)
The seller pays for the carriage of the goods up to the named port of destination. Risk transfers to buyer when the goods have been loaded on board the ship in the country of Export. The seller is responsible for origin costs including export clearance and freight costs for carriage to the named port. The shipper is not responsible for delivery to the final destination from the port (generally the buyer's facilities), or for buying insurance. If the buyer requires the seller to obtain insurance, the Incoterm CIF should be considered. CFR should only be used for non-containerized seafreight and inland waterway transport; for all other modes of transport it should be replaced with CPT.

Use preceding Incoterms
The term "cost, insurance, freight" or "c.i.f." predates the introduction of Incoterms. Craighill noted in a 1919 article that in "earlier times" the initials were usually written "C. F. & I.": he quotes the phrase "C. F. & I. by steamer to N.Y." used in a shipping contract addressed in the New York State case of Mee v. McNider (1886).

The first English court case which referred to c.i.f. was Tregelles v. Sewell (1862), where the court established that under c.i.f. terms, risk passes to the buyer on shipment. In the case of E. Clemens Horst Co. v. Biddell Brothers, the UK House of Lords ruled in 1911 that "the sellers in a c.i.f. contract were entitled to payment of the price upon tender of the bill of lading and insurance policy. The purchasers' intent to wait for satisfactory delivery and inspection was overruled. Shortly afterwards in 1915-16, the case of Arnhold Karberg & Co. v. Blythe, Green, Jourdain & Co. in the High Court and Court of Appeal showcased judicial debate about whether a c.i.f. bill of lading could evidence a sale of goods, Scrutton J ruling in the High Court that it did not, because a c.i.f. sale is "not a sale of goods, but a sale of documents relating to goods". The Court of Appeal upheld his decision, although Bankes LJ and Warrington LJ argued that "a c.i.f. contract is a contract for the sale of goods to be performed by the delivery of the documents". In a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case referencing the Arnhold Karberg case and also Manbre Saccharine v Corn Products (1919), it was explained that "under a c. i. f. contract the obligation of the seller is to deliver documents rather than goods, to transfer symbols rather than physical property". In the Manbre Saccharine case the seller was unable to enforce the c.i.f. contract where the goods had been lost at sea, but McCardie J emphasised that this was because no insurance policy was tendered, only a letter confirming insurance, and also because the goods did not match the contracted description: had these matters been otherwise, the contract would have been enforced.

Incoterms usage
As an Incoterm, CIF is broadly similar to the term CFR, with the exception that the seller is required to obtain insurance for the goods while in transit. CIF requires the seller to insure the goods for 110% of the contract value under Institute Cargo Clauses (A) of the Institute of London Underwriters (which is a change from Incoterms 2010 where the minimum was Institute Cargo Clauses (C)), or any similar set of clauses, unless specifically agreed by both parties. The policy should be in the same currency as the contract. The seller must also turn over documents necessary, to obtain the goods from the carrier or to assert claim against an insurer to the buyer. The documents include (as a minimum) the invoice, the insurance policy, and the bill of lading. These three documents represent the cost, insurance, and freight of CIF. The seller's obligation ends when the documents are handed over to the buyer. Then, the buyer has to pay at the agreed price. Another point to consider is that CIF should only be used for non-containerized sea freight; for all other modes of transport it should be replaced with CIP.

Allocations of costs to buyer/seller according to Incoterms 2020
With all Incoterms beginning with D there is no obligation to provide insurance, however the insurable risk is for the seller's account.

Allocations of risks to buyer/seller according to Incoterms 2020
The risk and the cost is not always the same for Incoterms. In many cases, the risk and cost usually goes together but it is not always the case. The below represents the transfer of risk.

Rules for sea and inland waterway transport

Rules for any modes of transport

Previous Incoterms
While these terms do not feature in the current version of Incoterms it is possible that they may be seen in sales order contracts. Care must be taken to ensure that both parties agree on their obligations in this case.

DAF – Delivered at Frontier (named place of delivery)
This term can be used when the goods are transported by rail and road. The seller pays for transportation to the named place of delivery at the frontier. The buyer arranges for customs clearance and pays for transportation from the frontier to their factory. The passing of risk occurs at the frontier.

DAT – Delivered at Terminal
This term means that the seller delivers the goods to the buyer to the named terminal in the contract of sale, unloaded from the main carriage vehicle. The seller is responsible for making a safe delivery of goods to the named terminal, paying all transportation and export and transit customs clearance expenses. The seller bears the risks and costs associated with supplying the goods to the delivery terminal and unloading them, where the buyer becomes responsible for paying the duty and taxes, as well as any further carriage to a destination.

DES – Delivered Ex Ship
Where goods are delivered ex ship, the passing of risk does not occur until the ship has arrived at the named port of destination and the goods made available for unloading to the buyer. The seller pays the same freight and insurance costs as they would under a CIF arrangement. Unlike CFR and CIF terms, the seller has agreed to bear not just cost, but also Risk and Title up to the arrival of the vessel at the named port. Costs for unloading the goods and any duties, taxes, etc. are for the Buyer. Until 2011, DES was a commonly used term in shipping bulk commodities, such as coal, grain, dry chemicals; and where the seller either owned or had chartered their own vessel.

DEQ – Delivered Ex Quay (named port of delivery)
This is similar to DES, but the passing of risk does not occur until the goods have been unloaded at the port of discharge.

DDU – Delivered Duty Unpaid (named place of destination)
This term means that the seller delivers the goods to the buyer to the named place of destination in the contract of sale. A transaction in international trade where the seller is responsible for making a safe delivery of goods to a named destination, paying all transportation and export and transit customs clearance expenses. The seller bears the risks and costs associated with supplying the goods to the delivery location, where the buyer becomes responsible for paying the duty and taxes.

FOR - Free on rail and FOT - Free on truck
These two terms were both included in Incoterms 1953, in each case specifying a named departure point.

title: Incoterms


text:
Ship of Theseus

The Ship of Theseus, also known as Theseus's Paradox, is a thought experiment and paradox about whether an object is the same object after having had all of its original components replaced over time, typically one after the other.

In Greek mythology, Theseus, mythical king of the city Athens, rescued the children of Athens from King Minos after slaying the minotaur and then escaped onto a ship going to Delos. Each year, the Athenians would commemorate this by taking the ship on a pilgrimage to Delos to honour Apollo. A question was raised by ancient philosophers: After several hundreds of years of maintenance, if each individual piece of the Ship of Theseus was replaced, one after the other, was it still the same ship?

In contemporary philosophy, this thought experiment has applications to the philosophical study of identity over time, and has inspired a variety of proposed solutions and concepts in contemporary philosophy of mind concerned with the persistence of personal identity.

History

In its original formulation, the "Ship of Theseus" paradox concerns a debate over whether or not a ship that had all of its components replaced one by one would remain the same ship. The account of the problem has been preserved by Plutarch in his Life of Theseus:

"The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned from Crete had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their places, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same."

Over a millennium later, the philosopher Thomas Hobbes extended the thought experiment by supposing that a ship custodian gathered up all of the decayed parts of the ship as they were disposed of and replaced by the Athenians, and used those decaying planks to build a second ship. Hobbes posed the question of which of the two resulting ships, the custodian's or the Athenians', was the same ship as the "original" ship.

"For if that Ship of Theseus (concerning the Difference whereof, made by continual reparation, in taking out the old Planks, and putting in new, the sophisters of Athens were wont to dispute) were, after all the Planks were changed, the same Numerical Ship it was at the beginning; and if some Man had kept the Old Planks as they were taken out, and by putting them afterward together in the same order, had again made a Ship of them, this, without doubt, had also been the same Numerical Ship with that which was at the beginnings and so there would have been two Ships Numerically the same, which is absurd... But we must consider by what name anything is called when we inquire concerning the Identity of it... so that a Ship, which signifies Matter so figured, will be the same, as long as the Matter remains the same; but if no part of the Matter is the same, then it is Numerically another Ship; and if part of the Matter remains, and part is changed, then the Ship will be partly the same, and partly not the same."

Hobbes considers the two resulting ships as illustrating two definitions of "Identity" or sameness that are being compared to the original ship:

 * 1) the ship that maintains the same "Form" as the original, that which persists through complete replacement of material and;
 * 2) the ship made of the same "Matter", that which stops being 100 per cent the same ship when the first part is replaced.

Proposed resolutions
The Ship of Theseus paradox can be thought of as an example of a puzzle of material constitution — that is, a problem with determining the relationship between an object and the material of which it is made.

Constitution is not identity
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the most popular solution is to accept the conclusion that the material out of which the ship is made is not the same object as the ship, but that the two objects simply occupy the same space at the same time.

Temporal parts
Another common theory put forth by David Lewis, is to divide up all objects into three-dimensional time-slices which are temporally distinct, which avoids the issue that the two different ships exist in the same space at one time and a different space at another time by considering the objects to be distinct from each other at all points in time.

Cognitive science
According to other scientists, the thought puzzle arises because of extreme externalism: the assumption that what is true in our minds is true in the world. Noam Chomsky says that this is not an unassailable assumption, from the perspective of the natural sciences, because human intuition is often mistaken. Cognitive science would treat this thought puzzle as the subject of an investigation of the human mind. Studying this human confusion can reveal much about the brain's operation, but little about the nature of the human-independent external world.

Following on from this observation, a significant strand in cognitive science would consider the ship not as a thing, nor even a collection of objectively existing thing parts, but rather as an organisational structure that has perceptual continuity.

Deflationism
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the deflationist view is that the facts of the thought experiment are undisputed; the only dispute is over the meaning of the term "ship" and is thus merely verbal. American philosopher Hilary Putnam asserts that "the logical primitives themselves, and in particular the notions of object and existence, have a multitude of different uses rather than one absolute 'meaning'." This thesis—that there are many meanings for the existential quantifier that are equally natural and equally adequate for describing all the facts—is often referred to as "the doctrine of quantifier variance."

Continued identity theory
This solution (proposed by Kate, Ernest et al.) sees an object as staying the same as long as it continuously exists under the same identity without being fully transformed at one time. For instance, a house that has its front wall destroyed and replaced at year 1, the ceiling replaced at year 2, and so on, until every part of the house has been replaced will still be understood as the same house. However, if every wall, the floor, and the roof are destroyed and replaced at the same time, it will be known as a new house.

Alternative forms
In Europe, several independent tales and stories feature knives of which the blades and handles had been replaced several times but are still used and represent the same knife. France has Jeannot's knife, Spain uses Jeannot's knife as a proverb, though it is referred to simply as "the family knife", and Hungary has "Lajos Kossuth's pocket knife". Several variants or alternative statements of the underlying problem are known, including the grandfather's axe and Trigger's broom, where an old axe or broom has had both its head and its handle replaced, leaving no original components.

The Tin Woodman, a character in the fictional Land of Oz, was originally a man of flesh and blood, but all his body parts were replaced one by one by metal parts. Nevertheless, his identity is retained.

The ancient Buddhist text Da zhidu lun contains a similar philosophical puzzle: a story of a traveller who encountered two demons in the night. As one demon ripped off all parts of the traveler's body one by one, the other demon replaced them with those of a corpse, and the traveller was confused about who he was.

The French critic and essayist Roland Barthes refers at least twice to a ship that is entirely rebuilt, in the preface to his Essais Critiques (1971) and later in his Roland Barthes par Roland Barthes (1975); in the latter, the persistence of the form of the ship is seen as a key structuralist principle. He calls this ship the Argo, on which Theseus was said to have sailed with Jason; he may have confused the Argo (referred to in passing in Plutarch's Theseus at 19.4) with the ship that sailed from Crete (Theseus, 23.1).

In Japan, the Ise Grand Shrine is rebuilt every twenty years with entirely "new wood". The continuity over the centuries is considered spiritual and comes from the source of the wood, which is harvested from an adjoining forest that is considered sacred.

title: Ship of Theseus


text:
Ivy Lee

Ivy Ledbetter Lee (July 16, 1877 – November 9, 1934) was an American publicity expert and a founder of modern public relations. Lee is best known for his public relations work with the Rockefeller Family.

His first major client was the Pennsylvania Railroad, followed by numerous major railroads such as the New York Central, the Baltimore and Ohio, and the Harriman lines such as the Union Pacific. He established the Association of Railroad Executives, which included providing public relations services to the industry. Lee advised major industrial corporations, including steel, automobile, tobacco, meat packing and rubber, as well as public utilities, banks and foreign governments.

Lee pioneered the use of internal magazines to maintain employee morale, as well as management newsletters, stockholder reports and news releases to the media. He did a great deal of pro bono work, which he knew was important to his own public image. During WWI, he became the publicity director for the American Red Cross.

Early life and career

Lee was born near Cedartown, Georgia, the son of a Methodist minister, James Wideman Lee, author of several books and a contributor to John L. Brandt's Anglo-Saxon Supremacy, or, Race Contributions to Civilization (1915), who founded a prominent Atlanta family. Ivy Lee studied at Emory College and then graduated from Princeton. He worked as a newspaper reporter and stringer. He was a journalist at the New York American, the New York Times, and the New York World.

Lee got his first job in 1903 as a publicity manager for the Citizens Union. He authored the book The Best Administration New York City Ever Had (1903). He later took a job with the Democratic National Committee. Lee married Cornelia Bartlett Bigalow in 1901. They had three children: Alice Lee in 1902, James Wideman Lee II in 1906, and Ivy Lee, Jr. in 1909.

Together with George Parker, he established the nation's third public relations firm, Parker and Lee, in 1905. The agency boasted of "Accuracy, Authenticity, and Interest." It made this partnership after working together in the Democratic Party headquarters, handling publicity for Judge Alton Parker's unsuccessful presidential race against Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.

The Parker and Lee firm lasted less than four years, but the junior partner, Lee, was to become one of the most influential pioneers in public relations. He evolved his philosophy in 1906 into the Declaration of Principles, the first articulation of the concept that public relations practitioners have a public responsibility that extends beyond obligations to the client. In the same year, after the 1906 Atlantic City train wreck, Lee issued what is often considered to be the first press release, after persuading the company to disclose information to journalists before they could hear it elsewhere.

When Lee was hired full-time by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1912, he was considered to be the first public relations person placed in an executive-level position. In fact, his archives reveal that he drafted one of the first job descriptions of a VP-level corporate public relations position.

In 1919, he founded a public relations counseling office, Ivy Lee & Associates.

During World War I, Lee served as a publicity director, and later as Assistant to the Chairman of the American Red Cross.

Through his sister Laura, Lee was an uncle to novelist William S. Burroughs.

Ivy Lee died of a brain tumor in New York City at age 57.

Effect on public relations
Many historians credit Lee with being the originator of modern crisis communications. His principal competitor in the new public relations industry was Edward Bernays, and he has been credited with influencing Pendleton Dudley to enter the then-nascent field.

In 1914, he was to enter public relations on a much larger scale when he was retained by John D. Rockefeller Jr to represent his family and Standard Oil ("to burnish the family image"), after their bloody repression of the coal mining strike in Colorado known as the "Ludlow Massacre." Lee warned that the Rockefellers were losing public support due to ordering the massacre of striking workers and their families (and the burning of their homes). He developed a strategy that Junior followed to repair it. It was necessary for Junior to overcome his shyness, go personally to Colorado to meet with the miners and their families, inspect the conditions of the homes and the factories, attend social events and listen to the grievances (all the while being photographed for press releases). This was novel advice which attracted widespread media attention, and opened the way to wallpaper over the conflict and present a more humanized version of the wealthy Rockefellers.

Lee guided public relations of Rockefellers and their corporate interests, including a strong involvement in the construction of the Rockefeller Center, even after he moved on to establish his own consulting firm. He was the person who brought the original, unfunded plan for Metropolitan Opera's expansion to Junior's attention, and he convinced Junior to rename the center after the family against the latter's wishes.

Lee became an inaugural member of the Council on Foreign Relations in the US when it was established in New York in 1921. In the early 1920s, he promoted friendly relations with Soviet Russia. In 1926, Lee wrote a famous letter to the president of the US Chamber of Commerce in which he presented a convincing argument for the need to normalize US-Soviet political and economic relations.

His supposed instruction to the son of the Standard Oil fortune was to echo in public relations henceforth: "Tell the truth, because sooner or later the public will find out anyway. And if the public doesn't like what you are doing, change your policies and bring them into line with what people want." The context of the quote was said to be apocryphal, being spread by Lee as self-promotion, making it both famous and infamous.

Lee is considered to be the father of the modern public relations campaign when, from 1913 to 1914, he successfully lobbied for a railroad rate increase from a reluctant federal government.

Lee espoused a philosophy consistent with what has sometimes been called the "two-way street" approach to public relations, in which PR consists of helping clients listen as well as communicate messages to their publics.

Lee advised foreign governments and provided public relations counsel to a German company during the early days of the Nazi government, work that put him in communication with the party leaders, possibly including Adolf Hitler. Shortly before his death in 1934, the US Congress had been investigating his work in Germany on behalf of the company IG Farben. During his work with the dye trust, Lee protested the group's use of Nazi propaganda and fascist messages. But in doing so, he may have been unaware that his advice was being transmitted directly to the Nazi government and that the Dye Trust had quickly become nationalized under the regime.

Lee also worked for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, in which capacity he famously advised managers to list and number their top priorities every day, and work on tasks in the order of their importance until daily time allows, not proceeding until a task was completed. For this suggestion company head Charles M. Schwab later paid him $25,000 (the equivalent of $400,000 in 2016 dollars), saying it had been the most profitable advice he had received. . Related references: Radio and television broadcaster Earl Nightingale (1921–1989) popularized in 1960 this often told Ivy Lee's priority task list story, often attributed  to Nightingale's friend and mentor  Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) who, according to Hill's book How To Sell Your Way Through Life, knew both Charles M. Schwab (1862–1939) and Ivy Lee (1877–1934). Earl Nightingale appears in the book A Lifetime of Riches: The Biography of Napoleon Hill, by Michael J. Ritt, Jr. and Kirk Landers, because of Nightingale's relationship with Napoleon Hill. Over his career he also was a public relations advisor to George Westinghouse, Charles Lindbergh, John W. Davis, Otto Kahn and Walter Chrysler.

Effect on Productivity Studies
Productivity experts and platforms have cited the "Ivy Lee Method" for improving individuals' efficiency in managing tasks and getting things done. This was the method that Lee reportedly taught Charles M. Schwab and his employees at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. It works on the principle of listing six important tasks for each day – setting clear priorities the night before – and focusing on completing them the next day before adding more. By emphasizing focus and recognizing limits on a person's time and energy, the method runs counter to the idea of multitasking.

In popular culture
Ivy Lee is name checked by the British indie rock band Sea Power on their 2017 album Let the Dancers Inherit the Party with a song titled The Voice of Ivy Lee.

title: Ivy Lee


text:
Talk:Dating creation

Ogygos section
Africanus places the Greek Flood of Ogygos as Hamurabi's acension of 1793bc (1445years) after Noah's global Flood 3238bc which is 280 years before Greek Noah's Flood 2958bc. Thus Ogygos is not a Noah's Flood, or reborn creation of Greece. It is a reborn Greece from a global disaster that those historians fixed to Jewish exodus from Egypt with the explosion of Atlantis Thera causing a tsunami that wiped out Greece and so looked upon as the return of Noahs Flood. Chinese Flood is published as 2953bc and is 1440 years to 1513bc. Mayan Flood is 3114bc and is 1600 years to 1513bc, though Egyptian Septuagint is 1577 Julian years which is 1600 tun (x360 days) from 3090bc to 1513bc... which becomes 1537bc as Mayan 1600 tun (1577 Julian). Thus 1513bc would be both Exodus and Ogygos, though altered to 1793bc by Africanus and 1537bc by Maya, and incidently the 48-year shift of 12th dynasty 1943bc back to 1991bc allows that exodus and Ogygos to be 1561bc. POINT IS OGYGOS is not creation by Flood (Noah), but rather creation by exodus comet disasters as Newton, Halley, Whiston proclaimed. (Note Africanus 600 years from Flood 3238bc is (3237-2637bc Chinese calendar.)

Mythical Period Section
This Wiki-article conjectures "original material" when it claims 2376bc is 1600-year Mythical Period before 776BC. If 1600 is of 360 days then it is exactly 1577 Julian years (2353BC; 600 years after Chinese Flood 2953bc which is also accepted by Roman Era 753bc). These are Mayan 1600 tun (Mayan 4 ba'aktun) used as 3114bc to 1537bc versus Mayan 1600 Julian from 3113-1513bc. Likewise Egyptian Septuagint is 1577 Julian to 1513bc but this is exactly 1600 years of 360 days. SO IT IS WRONG FOR THE WIKI-PEDIA WRITER to presume 1600 years before 776bc is his claim as 2376bc. Yet administrator DougWeller allows the whole article to have those favored speculations-conjectures of original material. Click link to go to Google-News archived post on DougWeller. Notice he changes the title from ERRORS to saying GRIPES OF OUR IP FRIEND. Sorry not friend, but in America's next civil war, as I pass his enemies slaughtering his family before his eyes, I flee as the Bible says knowing he brought upon himself what they do to him. Christians were not told to stay in Jerusalem to help the world be brothers or friends during Roman slaughter-attack. His behavior is an attck on me.

Chronologies from Adam to Flood
These are known spans from Adam to Flood (unlike others who post in the main article claimed creations without those spans). It doesnt matter if so much as one book claims Eusebius is 5228bc, they do not have the figures to back it up. So easy to list claimed creation dates without the figures. At least even I searched out Harold Camping to see where he got 6023 years between Adam and Flood. (390 years to Abrams birth by 100 years before Flood moved after Flood as Arpaxad 135 or Peleg 130 living 339) ( states 5227 to Christ but ends 70 years in 540bc & 517bc	(7 orbits of 575-year to 1682ad proven 76-year Halley’s comet in 1758ad)
 * Ramses 1290bc	as 5346bc	+2256	= 3090bc Flood
 * Assyrian	1170bc	5226bc	+2256	= 2970bc Flood
 * Greek 778bc	5200bc	+2242	= 2958bc Flood
 * NeoBabylon 747bc as 5200bc	+2256th	= 2945bc Arpaxad (Flood 2947bc)
 * Samaritan		4266bc	+1307	= 2960bc Flood
 * Hindu 700bc as	5500bc	+2400	= 3100bc Arpaxad (Flood 3102bc)
 * Japan 660bc as	5300bc	+2256	= 3060bc Flood
 * Egypt LXXII 280bc as 5346bc	+2256	= 3090bc Flood (Ramses 1290bc)
 * Greek LXXII 280bc as 5200bc	+2242	= 2958bc Flood (Greek 778bc)
 * Demetrius 158bc as 5307bc	+2264	= 3043bc Flood
 * Eupolemus		5307bc	+1662	= 2645bc Flood
 * Josephus 78ad as 5716bc	+2256	= 3460bc Flood
 * Josephus 78ad as 5716bc	+2656	= 3060bc Flood (Japan 660bc)
 * Josephus 94ad as4116bc	+1556	= 2560bc Flood
 * Seder		3761bc	+1656	= 2105bc Flood
 * Eusebius	5200bc	+2242	= 2958bc Flood
 * Hippolytus	5500bc	+2242	= 3258bc Flood
 * Africanus	5500bc	+2262	= 3238bc Flood
 * Moslem	622ad as 5378bc	+2256	= 3122bc Flood
 * Mayan	630ad as 5370bc	+2256	= 3114bc Flood
 * Beatus	786ad as 5200bc	+2242	= 2958bc Flood
 * Origen		4830bc	+1656th	= 3176bc Flood (Parasurama 1076bc)
 * Ussher	1650ad as 4004bc	+1656	= 2348bc Flood
 * Whiston original	4000bc	+1656	= 2345bc Flood
 * Whiston		4485bc	+1556	= 2929bc Flood
 * Whiston		4236bc	+1307	= 2929bc Flood
 * Adventist 1844ad as 4128bc	+1656	= 2472bc Flood
 * Rutherford		4028bc	+1656	= 2372bc Flood
 * WatchTower 1955ad as 4025bc	+1656th	= 2370bc Flood

Sumerian PreFlood section
This is also true of the Sumerian kinglist which does not say the world was CREATED when the kings came down from heaven for 241,200 years or days. To the contrary this is 670 years which Genesis says Enoch was taken 670 years before the this Sumerian Flood. Thus the presumption is not days for years, nor the debate of if this is 670 years or not, but rather the audacity and arrogance that the writer could claim which year these 241,200 years start and end. How can they say it is not 670 years from 3040bc to 2370bc Flood, yet they can pick their choice of Sumerian Flood year and then just add 241,200 years before it.

Eusebius section
Eusebius says 5200bc not 5228bc. This 5228bc is not eusebius at all but from Beatus of Liébana (quote 5227 years from Adam to Christ his figures total 5227 years.) not Eusebius who says it is 5200 years from Adam to Christ and total as follows 5200 (Jack Finegan and all other sources say) Adam 5200bc to 2958bc Flood +942 to Abram 2016bc +75 to calling 1941bc +430th to Exodus 1512(-1511)bc +480th to temple 1033bc (Solomon 1036-996bc) +442 years to Zedekiah's last year 591-590bc and 70 years to 2nd year of Darius in 521-520bc with 4 years thru 516bc. But Beatus says 446 years (not 442) to 588-587bc (which is used by Ussher), and 70 to 517bc +4 thru 513bc. AND then says restoration was 540 years to Jesus. This overlap of 27 years from 540-513bc thus contradicts the 5200 years before Christ. Scholars are wrong if they think Beatus was pushed back to 5228bc. The 3600 years as 5200-1600bc is vital, though appears more suitable to Amizaduga as 5227-1627bc. But it is clear that the holy sainting of Beatus to promote the 800AD kingdom as year 6000 had to cover up the 27 years in math error which must honor Adam as 5200bc to be year 6000 in 800 AD, and so claimed it to be to his baptism in 27AD thus keeping his death in 30AD (formerly the reborn Osiris at age 30), but now bending to the claim that he was age 33 at death (in 30 AD). This is evident by the source saying from Spanish Era 38bc, it is Spanish year 824 in 786AD and so in 14 years it will be Spanish year 838 in 800AD as year 6000. Thus the 27-year error is 24 years of 539-515bc, plus the 4 additional years of Judean kings and a year of Darius the Mede before restoration began in his 2nd year. -source for Beatus totals is VISIONS OF THE END http://books.google.com/books?id=ZoNNVZ7MG5cC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA77&dq=visions+of+the+end+beatus&source=bl&ots=8xTioO3US2&sig=MeVAHze2WCpytGV2pbGEbyuuzZo&hl=en&ei=x_A1TvbyFY7EgAfKwqGQDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Suggested improvements
Hello. Do others agree that the order should be 1) Sumerian and Babylonian 2) Egyptian 3) Greek and Roman such that they better reflect chronology?  Also, that "the scientific consensus" would be more appropriate than "scientific estimates" in the lead?  Thanks, 76.10.128.192 (talk) 22:13, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

 * Yes check.svg Done — Paleo  Neonate  — 19:42, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

Hindu Cosmology
"The Hindu cosmology and timeline is the closest to modern scientific timelines[49] and even more which might indicate that the Big Bang is not the beginning of everything,[50] but just the start of the present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes.[51]" this is a ridiculous, subjective opinion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.194.210.143 (talk) 03:23, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

 * Yes, I've removed the obvious speculative part of that sentence. More could probably be done. HiLo48 (talk) 03:38, 10 July 2014 (UTC)

Assessment
I doubt that if reassessed this article would still be considered start-class. Thanks, — Paleo  Neonate  — 20:07, 15 May 2017 (UTC)

First sentence
I think the first sentence could use a little love:

"'Dating creation is the attempt to provide an estimate of the age of Earth or the age of the universe as understood through the origin myths of various religious traditions...'"

This sentence says that dating creation is an attempt. An attempt to do what? To date the creation of the Earth. So the sentence could be paraphrased, "Dating creation is attempting to date creation." This has obviously gotten sticky. If "attempting to do X" is the same thing as "doing X" then it is the same thing as "attempting to attempt to do X", "attempting to attempt to attempt to do X", and so on.

Wikipedia has a good convention for how to divide a topic into how it is seen from different points of view. For example, there is Madonna (entertainer) and there is Madonna as a gay icon; there is Church of Scientology and there is Scientology as a business. Perhaps this article could be retitled along those lines. Omphaloscope talk 17:26, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

 * Disambiguating "Age of the Earth" between scientific and religious/traditional-belief methods could be a trap. "Age of the earth" and creation beliefs are two different things. They seem to be giving the same "information" but they aren't. Implying the scientific method is a point of view on the same footing as traditional belief as to "Age of the earth" is to misconstrue science. As to "attempt": because all methods including scientific are estimates, and because there are so many of them, and are open in many cases to further revision, the word seems to be appropriate. 106.69.190.248 (talk) 23:57, 23 April 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Dating creation