Battle of Fort Sumter in the American Civil War

The Battle of Fort Sumter was fought April 12-14, 1861, and was the opening engagement of the American Civil War. In the wake of President Abraham Lincolns election in November 1860, the state of South Carolina began debating secession. On December 20, a vote was taken in which the state decided to leave the Union. Over the next several weeks, South Carolinas lead was followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. As each state left, local forces began seizing federal installations and property. Among those military installations to hold out were Forts Sumter and Pickens in Charleston, SC and Pensacola, FL. Concerned that aggressive action could lead the remaining slave states to secede, President James Buchanan elected not to resist the seizures.   Situation in Charleston In Charleston, the Union garrison was led by Major Robert Anderson. A capable officer, Anderson was a protà ©gà © of General Winfield Scott, the noted Mexican-American War commander. Placed in command of the Charleston defenses on November 15,1860, Anderson was a native of Kentucky who had formerly owned slaves. In addition to his even temperament and skills as an officer, the administration hoped his appointment would be viewed as a diplomatic gesture. Arriving as his new post, Anderson immediately faced heavy pressure from the local community as he attempted to improve the Charleston fortifications. Based at Fort Moultrie on Sullivans Island, Anderson was dissatisfied with its landward defenses which had been compromised by sand dunes.   Nearly as tall as the forts walls, the dunes could have facilitated any potential attack on the post. Moving to have the dunes cleared away, Anderson quickly came under fire from the Charleston newspapers and was criticized by city leaders. Forces and Commanders Union Major Robert Anderson85 men Confederate Brigadier General P.G.T. BeauregardAbout 500 men A Near Siege As the final weeks of the fall progressed, tensions in Charleston continued to rise and the garrison of the harbor forts was increasingly isolated. Additionally, the South Carolina authorities placed picket boats in the harbor to observe the activities of the soldiers. With the secession of South Carolina on December 20, the situation facing Anderson grew more grave. On December 26, feeling that his men would not be safe if they remained at Fort Moultrie, Anderson ordered them to spike its guns and burn the carriages. This done, he embarked his men in boats and directed them to sail out to Fort Sumter. Located on a sand bar at the mouth of the harbor, Fort Sumter was believed to be one of the strongest fortresses in the world. Designed to house 650 men and 135 guns, construction of Fort Sumter had begun 1827 and was still not complete. Andersons actions enraged Governor Francis W. Pickens who believed that Buchanan had promised that Fort Sumter would not be occupied. In actuality, Buchanan had made no such promise and had always carefully crafted his correspondence with Pickens to allow maximum flexibility of action in regard to the Charleston harbor forts. From Andersons standpoint, he was simply following orders from Secretary of War John B. Floyd which instructed him to shift his garrison to whichever fort you may deem most proper to increase its power of resistance should fighting commence. Despite this, the leadership of South Carolina viewed Andersons actions to be a breach of faith and demanded that he turn over the fort. Refusing, Anderson and his garrison settled in for what essentially became a siege. Resupply Attempts Fail In an effort to resupply Fort Sumter, Buchanan ordered the ship Star of the West to proceed to Charleston. On January 9, 1861, the ship was fired upon by Confederate batteries, manned by cadets from the Citadel, as it attempted to enter the harbor. Turning to depart, it was hit by two shells from Fort Moultrie before escaping. As Andersons men held the fort through February and March, the new Confederate government in Montgomery, AL debated how to handle the situation. In March, newly elected Confederate President Jefferson Davis placed Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard in charge of the siege. Working to improve his forces, Beauregard conducted drills and training to teach the South Carolina militia how to operate the guns in the other harbor forts. On April 4, having learned that Anderson only had food to last until the fifteenth, Lincoln ordered a relief expedition assembled with an escort provided by the US Navy. In an attempt to ease tensions, Lincoln contacted South Carolina Governor Francis W. Pickens two days later and informed him of the effort. Lincoln stressed that as long as the relief expedition was allowed to proceed, only food would be delivered, however, if attacked, efforts would be made to reinforce the fort. In response, the Confederate government decided to open fire on the fort with the goal of forcing its surrender before the Union fleet could arrive. Alerting Beauregard, he dispatched a delegation to the fort on April 11 to again demand its surrender. Refused, further discussions after midnight failed to resolve the situation. Around 3:20 a.m. on April 12, Confederate authorities alerted Anderson that they would open fire in one hour. The Civil War Begins At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, a single mortar round fired by Lieutenant Henry S. Farley burst over Fort Sumter signaling the other harbor forts to open fire. Anderson did not reply until 7:00 when Captain Abner Doubleday fired the first shot for the Union. Low on food and ammunition, Anderson endeavored to protect his men and minimize their exposure to danger. As a result, he restricted them to only using the forts lower, casemated guns which were not situated to effectively damage the other harbor forts. Bombarded for thirty-four hours, Fort Sumters officers quarters caught on fire and its main flag pole was felled. While Union troops were rigging a new pole, the Confederates dispatched a delegation to inquire if the fort was surrendering. With his ammunition almost exhausted, Anderson agreed to a truce at 2:00 PM on April 13. Prior to evacuating, Anderson was permitted to fire a 100-gun salute to the US flag. During this salute a pile of cartridges caught fire and exploded, killing Private Daniel Hough and mortally wounding Private Edward Galloway. The two men were the only fatalities to occur during the bombardment. Surrendering the fort at 2:30 p.m. on April 14, Andersons men were later transported to the relief squadron, then offshore, and placed aboard the steamer Baltic. Aftermath of the Battle Union losses in the battle numbered two killed and the loss of the fort while the Confederates reported four wounded. The bombardment of Fort Sumter was the opening battle of the Civil War and launched the nation into four years of bloody fighting. Anderson returned north and toured as a national hero. During the war, several attempts were made to recapture the fort with no success. Union forces finally took possession of the fort after Major General William T. Shermans troops captured Charleston in February 1865. On April 14, 1865, Anderson returned to the fort to re-hoist the flag he had been forced to lower four years earlier.

Internship Reflection - 1969 Words

As I approached the end of the school year and the start of the summer I had to decide if I was going to go back to my old job at a pool company or find a new job that could help me expand my knowledge and give me experience in the accounting field. When I really thought about it the decision was obvious and I began looking for places I could work as an intern. After two weeks I found the Law Office of Jerri Ann Cirino and the small office with a family like work environment really attracted me to this job. I also found it interesting to work in a law office that focuses on tax cases because I never thought to become a tax attorney. At this internship I was able to do basic accounting tasks like balancing checkbooks, booking to general†¦show more content†¦Throughout the course of my internship I was able to use the knowledge that I gained from not only my accounting classes, but also some of my other business classes to do whatever task needed to be done. The first course t hat really helped me understand the goals I was trying to accomplish at my internship was Business Law. While it is the obvious first choice because I was working at a tax attorney’s office, I was still surprised to see how much of the topics covered in class came up over the course of this internship. The main topic that kept reoccurring was which type of business was best for a client. Many different clients came in wanting to either start a business with other people or were inheriting a business and had to equally split shares of the business up. There was a lot of aspects to consider like how much liability does the client want to hold, if the other partners are just investors or do they want to be apart of the decision making process, and also what was the best business structure to use to save money. During this internship I was also exposed to many different contract and overheard the creation of a lot of these contracts. While it did not have anything to do directly with what I was doing, I was able to sit in and see how the process was done. My business law course really helped me understand some of the terminology that was being used and also understand why certain things were included that should have justShow MoreRelatedReflections On My Plant Engineering Summer Internship At United Parcel Service2475 Words   |  10 PagesReflections on my Plant Engineering Summer Internship at United Parcel Service Introduction My Plant Engineering (PE) internship experience at United Parcel Service (UPS) allowed me to utilize all that I have learned at Florida Polytechnic University and apply it to real-world work experience. Thus expanding upon my previous knowledge while simultaneously allowing me to grow in new ways that cannot be taught in the classroom. 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Investment Patterns in India Free Essays

Changing Trend of Investment Pattern in India and Emergence of Mutual Fund Industry ABSTRACT: This project is about how the Investor’s Behavior is changing and they are now leaving behind the sacred investment options like the fixed deposits, company deposits, gold etc. Investors are now looking towards equity linked investment options. Like most developed and developing countries the mutual fund cult has been catching on in India. We will write a custom essay sample on Investment Patterns in India or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are various reasons for this. Mutual Fund makes it easy and less costly for investors to satisfy their need for capital growth, income preservation. And in addition to this a mutual fund brings the benefit of diversification and money management to the individual investor, providing an opportunity for financial success that was once available only to a select few. In this project I have given a brief about economy, inflation, and equity and debt market. Then it is explained how to cope with the inflation and how mutual fund is one of the best investment options today. A brief about mutual fund industry and the some information about HDFC Mutual Fund and its various products are given INTRODUCTION: Many individuals find investments to be fascinating because they can participate in the decision making process and see the results of their choices. Not all investments will be profitable, as investor wills not always make the correct investment decisions over the period of years; however, you should earn a positive return on a diversified portfolio. In addition, there is a thrill from the major success, along with the agony associated with the stock that dramatically rose after you sold or did not buy. Both the big fish you catch and the fish that get away can make wonderful stories. Investing is not a game but a serious subject that can have a major impact on investor’s future well being. Virtually everyone makes investments. Even if the individual does not select specific assets such as stock, investments are still made through participation in pension plan, and employee saving programme or through purchase of life insurance or a home. Each of this investment has common characteristics such as potential return and the risk you must bear. The future is uncertain, and you must determine how much risk you are willing to bear since higher return is associated with accepting more risk. In 1986, Microsoft Corporation first offered its stock to the public. Nine years later, the stock’s value had increased over 5,000 percent- a $ 10,000 investment was worth over $ 5,00,000 in the same year, worlds of wonder also offered its stocks to the public. Nine years later the company was defunct- a $ 10,000 was worth nothing. These are two examples of emerging firms that could do exceedingly well or fail. Would investing in large, well establish firms generate more consistent returns? The answer depends, of course, on which firms were invested in. Over the years some investments have generated extraordinary gains, while others have produced only mediocre returns, and still others have resulted in substantial losses. The individual should start by specifying investment goals. Once these goals are established, the individual should be aware of the mechanics of investing and the environment in which investment decisions are made. These include the process by which securities are issued and subsequently bought and sold, the regulations and tax laws that have been enacted by various levels of government, and the sources of information concerning investment that are available to the individual. An understanding if this financial background leads to three important general financial concepts that apply to investing. Toady the field of investment is even more dynamic than it was only a decade ago. World event rapidly-events that alter the values of specific assets the individual has so many assets to choose from, and the amount of information available to the investors is staggering and continually growing. Furthermore, inflation has served to increased awareness of the importance of financial planning and wise investing. In this project I will first talk about economy, inflation, equity markets and debt markets to understand investments behavior. INFLATION: Inflation is a situation where there is ‘ too much money chasing too few goods’. In such times buyers bid up prices of scarce products/services The scarcity could be caused by supply issues or a faster than expected rise in demand. Irrespective of what causes inflation, the impact is the same. The value of the currency you are holding declines. Let’s explain this with the help of an example. Suppose the Indian Rupee was freely exchangeable with only one commodity- crude oil. Let’s assume the conversion rate is Re 1= 1 barrel of crude (wish it were true! ). Now there is tension in the Gulf region resulting in reduced supply. Due to the subsequent rise in price of crude oil in international markets, we would now have to pay more Rupees for every barrel of oil. Suppose crude prices rise by 10%. The new exchange rate will be Rs. 1. 1 = 1 barrel of declined from 1 barrel of crude per Rupee to only 0. 91 barrel of crude per Rupee this is the erosion in the value of the currency that we are talking about. Also note that while the Indian Rupee may be appreciating vis-a-vis other currencies, in the ‘ real sense’ there is erosion in value. Another important fallout one can expect due to rising inflation is higher interest rates. The central banks aim to reduce demand in the economy by rising the cost of money. When making fresh investments or evaluating your existing holdings in potentially inflationary times you need to keep two things in mind: The possibility of higher interest rates The erosion in the value of the currency CONCEPT OF MUTUAL FUND: A mutual fund is a pool of money, collected from investors, and is invested according to certain investment objectives. A mutual fund is created when investors put their money tighter. It is therefore a pool of the investor’s funds The most important characteristic of a mutual fund is that the contributors and the beneficiaries of the fund are the same class of people, namely the investors. The term mutual means that investors contribute to the pool, and also benefit from the pool. There are no other claimants to the funds. The pool of fund mutually by investors is the mutual fund. A mutual fund’s business is to invest the funds thus collected, according to the wishes of the investors who created the pool. In many markets these wishes are articulated as  Ã‚   â€Å"investment mandates†. Usually, the investors appoint professional investment managers, to manage their â€Å"product†, and offer it for investment to the investor. This product represents a share in the pool, and pre-states investment objectives. For example, a mutual fund, which sells a † money market mutual fund â€Å", is actually seeking investors willing to invest in a pool that would invest predominantly in money market instruments. IMPORTANT CHARACTERSTICS: A Mutual fund belongs to the investors who have pooled their funds. The ownership of the mutual fund in the hands of the investors Investment professional and other service providers, who earn a fee for their services, from the fund, manage the mutual fund. The pool of funds is invested in a portfolio of marketable investments. The value of the portfolio is updated every day. The investor’s share in the fund is denominated by â€Å"units†. The value of the units changes with change in the portfolio’s value, every day. The value of one unit of investors is called as the Net Asset Value or NAV. The investment portfolio of the mutual fund is created according to the stated investment objectives of the fund. PHASES IN THE HISTORY OF MUTUAL FUND: The history of mutual fund in India can be divided into 5 important phases: A 1963-1987: The Unit Trust of India was the sole player in the industry. Created by an Act of Parliament in 1963, UTI launched its first product, the unit scheme 1964, which is even today the single largest mutual fund scheme. UTI created a number products such as monthly income plans, children’s plans, equity-Oriented schemes and offshore funds during this period. UTI managed assets of Rs 6700 crore at the end of this phase. B 1987-1993: In 1987 public sector banks and financial institutions entered the mutual fund industry. SBI mutual fund was the first non-UTI fund to be set up in 1987. Significant shift of investors from deposits to mutual fund industry happened during this period. Most funds were growth oriented closed ended funds. By the end of this period, assets under UTI’s management grew to Rs 38247 crore and public sector funds managed Rs 8750 crore. C 1993-1996: In 1993, the mutual fund industry was open to private sector players, both Indian and foreign. SEBI’s first set of regulations for the industry was formulated in 1993 and, substantially revised in 1996. Significant innovations in servicing, product design and information disclosure happened in the phase, mostly initiated by private sector players. D 1996-1999: The implementation of the new SEBI regulation and the restructuring of the mutual fund industry led to rapid asset growth. Bank mutual fund was re-cast according to the SEBI recommended structure, and UTI came under voluntary SEBI supervision. E 1999-2003: very rapid growth in the industry and significant increase in market shares of private sector player marked this phase. Assets crossed Rs. 100,0000 crore. The tax break offered to mutual funds in 1999 created arbitrage opportunities for a number of institutional players. Bond funds and liquid funds registered the highest growth in this period, accounting for nearly 60% of the assets. UTI’s share of the industry dropped below 50%. 2. 3 ADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUND: The following are the important advantages of mutual funds to investors: Portfolio diversification Professional management Reduction in risk Reduction of transaction costs Liquidity Convenience and flexibility DISADVANTAGES OF MUTUAL FUND, The following are important disadvantages of investing through mutual fund: No control over costs: Since investors do not directly monitor the fund’s operations they cannot control the costs effectively. Regulators therefore usually limit the expenses of mutual funds. No tailor- made portfolio: Mutual fund portfolio is created and marketed by AMCs, into which investors invest. They cannot create tailor made portfolios. Managing a portfolio of funds: As the number of mutual funds increase, in order to tailor a portfolio for himself, an investors may be holding a portfolio of funds, with the costs Of monitoring them and using them, being incurred by him. NEED FOR INVESTMENT: Increasing household expense. Creation of wealth Increasing cost of living. Financial needs according to life stages. Regular income Combination of all above INVESTMENT OPTION AVAILABLE: Physical and Financial assets. Equity and Debt Govt. securities and non-govt. securities Other option Public provident fund RBI Relief Fund. Mutual Fund Others like Indira Vikas Patra, Kisan Vikas Patra CP FD, and Debenture.    |FDs |FI BONDS |Mutual Fund | |Accessibility |Low |Low |Low | |Tenor |Fixed (medium) |Fixed (Long) |No lock in period | |Tax Benefit |None  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |Under section 80C |None | |Liquidity |Low |Very Low |none | |Convince |Medium |Tedious |Very high | |Transparency |None |None |Very high | CONCLUSION: The unique investment strategy of letting the maturity of the debt investment run down with time and targeting equity investments to capture dividends is targeted to deliver positive returns over medium time frame. The investment strategy of the fixed income portfolio is designed to remove the impact of interest rate movements over the medium term. The strategy of targeting dividends in equities over a period is expected to improve the yield of the fund. The above investment strategy expects to minimize capital loss in adverse market condition and deliver moderate returns in stable/positive market conditions. So, if you are looking for an investment product that offers you low risk of capital loss and the potential to earn reasonable returns in the uncertain environment of today, HDFC Multiple Yield Fund might be the right fund for you. How to cite Investment Patterns in India, Papers

European origins of economic development - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the European origins of economic development. Answer: Introduction Australia is well known for its mixed economic structure and highly developed nature. It is one of wealthier nations of world. Both in terms of nominal GDP and PPP-adjusted GDP Australia is ahead of several nations. When compared with per capita GDP, Australia ranks ahead of Canada, Germany, UK and France. Agriculture in Australia constitutes 3% of GDP. The large stock of natural resources especially minerals helps to build a strong mining sector. Despite having several industries, the contribution of manufacturing in economic growth has declined in recent years. This gap is filled with growth of service sectors especially financial services. Four largest banks in Australia are listed among 50 safest banks of world. Australia has a comparative advantage over a range of goods and services including products with high technology like scientific and medical equipment, processed food and high quality wine. The service exports of Australia include tourism and education, financial and prof essional services. Along with domestic sectors, trade has made significant contribution to economic growth of Australia. In the current research paper, performance trend of Australia is evaluate using some of the basic indicators. Economic growth is captured from the movement of real GDP which in turn affects employment and price level. Cash rate controlled by monetary authority influences investment and growth. The performance of external sector depends on the trend exchange rate and balance of trade. Performance Analysis Evaluation of economic relation between GDP and other important variables Gross Domestic product of a nation is measure of the value of goods and services of a nation in money terms. All the produced goods and services are evaluated in terms of their market price. Now, there are two approaches for computing GDP. One is to use market price for the accounting year and other is to consider prices of a fixed based year. The former is called nominal GDP while the latter is known as real GDP (Baumol and Blinder, 2016). Real GDP being adjusted for inflation is a more accurate measure of economic output and hence growth. For this, while evaluating economic growth of Australia real GDP is used. Figure 1: Trend in real GDP (Data source: data.worldbank.org, 2018) The figure above shows trend in real GDP for the chosen sample period. Mean growth rate in Australia for the period is 3.1%. The growth rate has constituted a fluctuating trend flowing crisis in domestic and international economies. A steep fall in the growth rate is experienced during 1991. The growth becomes negative. The tight monetary policy undertaken by Reserve bank of Australia is one major contributor of negative economic growth during this time. However, the economy gradually recovered and attained a maximum growth rate of 5.1% in 1999. Beyond 1999, the growth rate though fluctuates and undergone with some upturn and downturn but remain positive and around its average trend. Australia being closely related with United States was supposed to be affected from mortgage crisis occurred in US during 2008 (Easterly and Levine, 2016). However, the support from Australian government in the form of a stimulatory package of $11.8 billion and a relatively strong banking and financial s ector has helped to minimize the recession risk. Growth rate though fell after 2008 but remain positive and close to 2%. GDP is the sum of expenditure incurred in an economy in the given year. It includes consumption expenditure, investment expenditure, government spending and net export. Therefore, each component has direct relation with GDP (Acemoglu, Laibson and List, 2017). After analyzing trend growth rate now the relation between GDP and other macro variables are examined. Correlation matrix Correlation is a statistical tool to find out a general relation between two or more variables. The correlation between GDP and chosen variables is computed using general the historical data of twenty-six years. Table 1: Correlation between GDP and five indicators Real GDP growth rate Interest rate (Cash rate) Unemployment rate Inflation rate Exchange rate (AUD/US) Net export Real GDP growth rate 1 Interest rate (Cash rate) -0.08 1 Unemployment rate -0.13 0.28 1 Inflation rate -0.03 0.64 -0.23 1 Exchange rate (AUD/US) 0.20 0.04 0.26 0.08 1 Net export 0.23 0.26 0.55 -0.02 0.85 1 The correlation matrix shows GDP has a positive relation with some variables and negative relation with some others. The variables with which GDP is positive related include exchange rate and net export. The variables such as interest rate, inflation and unemployment rate constitute a negative relation with GDP. There are economic explanations behind the statistical relationship obtained from the collected data. The first variable considered is the interest rate. The interest rate that is taken here is the cash rate or the rate charged by RBA on loan borrowed by commercial banks from the reserve bank. When RBA charges a high interest rate then this means a high cost for commercial banks for borrowed capital. This high cost is reflected from the interest rate charged by these banks on borrowed fund for investment. The investors when experience a high interest rate then they reduce their investment (Agnor and Montiel, 2015). This by contracting productive activities reduces GDP. Opposite is the case in times of a low cash rate. This explains the inverse relationship between the two variables. The unemployment rate in the economy is negatively related with GDP growth. The economic rationale behind this is quite simple. A growing trend in GDP means expansion of output. Expansion of in production of goods and services means a greater demand for labor force and hence a reduced unemployment rate (Madsen and Olesen, 2016). Inflation is both a cause and effect of higher GDP. When GDP grows, average income of people rises, demand enhances and push prices up. From the other end, when price level rises because of increased demand then more goods and services are produced and hence bring economic growth. However, for Australia inflation has resulted from increasing production cost and hence raises debt of household and business (tradingeconomics.com, 2018). Therefore, in case of Australia an opposite relation between inflation and GDP growth is found. The exchange rate represents the cost of purchasing some other countrys currency in terms of its domestic currency. The unit price of US dollar in terms of Australian dollar is considered for analysis. A rise in exchange rate means Australia now have to pay a higher amount to have one unit of US dollar than earlier. This deprecates Australian currency while appreciate US dollar. People in US now can demand a larger amount of Australian goods and service. This stimulates export demand and brings economic growth (Horwich and Samuelson, 2014). Therefore, a positive relation exits between exchange rate and GDP. Net export implies the balance of trade of a nation. A rising net export mean the country is earning more from export than its import spending and hence GDP rises. This therefore supports the positive correlation obtained between net export and GDP growth. Cash rate Figure 2: Trend in interest rate (Data Source: rba.gov.au, 2018) There is a gradual downfall in the cash rate. The cash varied for the time period varied in the range of 15.23% to 2.13%. The high cash rate during 1990 signifies a tight monetary policy of Australian government. However, economic recession in 1991 causes RBA to switch from a tight monetary policy to a monetary easing (Muffels, 2014). After recession year, cash rate though fluctuates but in mostly remain close to an average rate of 5.63%. In recent years, in order to achieve a targeted inflation of 2-3% RBA significantly reduces interest rate. This is indicated from a continuous fall in interest from 2012. The cash rate is now at a fairly stable rate of 1-2%. Inflation rate Figure 3: Price level trend in Australia (Data Source: data.worldbank.org, 2018) The consumer price inflation reflects change in average prices to maintain a certain standard of living between two different periods. In Australia, the mean inflation rate is 2.73%. RBA plays an important role in maintain stability in the price level (Lin and Cheng, 2016). The price level sharply fell in 1991 to 3.22% from 7.27% in the previous year. In times of Asian financial crisis price level reached to its lowest level of 0.25%. In order to recover the economy from recessionary trap stimulus has given with fiscal and monetary policy tool (Denny and Churchill, 2016). Finally, the economy is successful in achieving a stable price level ranging between 1 to 2 percent. Unemployment rate Figure 4: Trend in unemployment rate (Data Source: rba.gov.au, 2018) With a stable growth and inflation rate, unemployment in the economy has constituted a gradual declining trend. After achieving a maximum level of 10.90 percent in 1993, unemployment continuously fell and attained the lowest level of 4.20 percent in 2008. From 2008, unemployment rate has risen slightly and moves around 5-6%. Most jobs created in recent years are part time in nature (Makin, Robson and Ratnasiri, 2017). There are also mismatch in terms of location and skills of the unemployed people with that of the new jobs created. Therefore, despite increase in labor force participation unemployment rises. Exchange rate Figure 5: Movement of Exchange rate (Data Source: data.worldbank.org, 2018) The movement of exchange rate is not much fluctuating. The average price of US dollar relative to Australian dollar is 1.35. The exchange rate reached an all-time high of 1.93 in 2011 and lowest level of 0.97 during 2011-12. Net export Figure 6: Trade balance in Australia (Data Source: rba.gov.au, 2018) The trend in balance of trade reveals that Australia has enjoyed a trade surplus until 2007. Australia had a maximum trade surplus of 66.706 AUD billion in 2001. The maximum trade balance is associated with the highest exchange rate of 1.93. During 2008, Australia experienced a negative trade balance because of a reduction in export volume to US following the financial crisis originated in the end of 2007.During this time Australian dollar appreciated significantly causing a rise in import (Bhatnagar et al., 2017). The maximum trade deficit was realized in 2012 with net export became -51.198 AUD billion. The exchange rate fell to 0.97 during this time. Relationship between inflation and unemployment The general relationship between inflation and unemployment is explained by the popular macroeconomic concept of Phillips curve. The curve slopes downward implying an inverse relation between unemployment and inflation. In the short run, with increase in inflation unemployment rate falls and vice versa. The rationale behind this is simple. Price level increases from an increases in demand in the economy. The increased demand encourages production of goods and services. Hence, increased demand for goods and services is associated with an increased demand in the factor market. As labor demand increases unemployment decreases (Haas and Sattler, 2017) However, in the long run unemployment rate is fixed at its natural rate of unemployment and the Phillips curve is a vertical line over long run. Figure 7: Short run and long run Phillips curve (Source: Baumol and Blinder, 2016) The theoretical relation between inflation and unemployment is now verified empirically using historical data for Australia. The correlation as estimated from the data is -0.23. Therefore, the proposition of Phillips relation is supported in Australia. That means a small inflation is associated with a high unemployment rate. With increases in inflation unemployment reduces. In the beginning years of the decade 1990, unemployment has a clear opposite relation with inflation. After the hit of recession in 1991, the contraction of the economy reduces price to a considerable low level. This low inflation is then associated with high unemployment of above 10 percent. With gradual recovery of the price level unemployment reduces (Belicka and Saleh, 2014). However, overtime stable price level becomes one of the policy target of reserve bank. The wave of global financial crisis in 2008, inflation fell to 1.82. During this time unemployment rate slightly rose to 5.20 percent. Finally, with inflation targeting policy of RBA the price level stabilized between 1 to 2 percent (Trott, 2015). Despite a very low inflation rate unemployment rate still remains at around 6 percent. Figure 8: unemployment and inflation relation (Data Source: data.worldbank.org, 2018) Tight Monetary Policy in Australia Fiscal and monetary policy are the two stabilizing instrument used by Australian government. Depending on the state of economy, expansionary or contractionary policies are undertaken by the government. A tight monetary policy is one where RBA raises interest rate to a considerable high level. The increased rate increases the cost of borrowing and reduces investment. The reduced investment pulls down demand and inflation (Davig and Gurkaynak, 2015). In Australia, the monetary policy is designed by Reserve Bank of Australia. RBA resorted to a tight monetary policy during 1980. To reduce inflationary pressure, RBA set the cash rate to an exceptionally high level. The cash rate in 1991 was 15.23 and in 1992 it was at 10.64%. For the entire time framework considered, cash rate was never as much as that in these two years. The policy proved to be a failure after the recession occurred in 1991. The economy learned from its recessionary experience and realized the need for monetary easing. M onetary policy slightly tightened from 2004 to 2008 when RBA continuously raised the cash rate but at a relatively slow rate (rba.gov.au, 2018). However, from 2008 till date RBA again shows support to an easy monetary policy and maintains a low cash rate. Economic Outlook In the near future, the economy will continue to grow at a robust pace. With investment stimulus in sectors other than mining and housing aggregate demand will be increased. Additionally, export sector will grow with explored newly explored capacity of new resource sector. The employment growth by increasing average income will increase household consumption. Wages in the economy will grow gradually and price level will remain fairly stable. The sound fiscal position will provide necessary support in future and will maintain a projected growth rate of 3-4% (abc.net.au, 2017). With this, there is least risk future recession and more chance for further prosperity. Conclusion The paper has made close evaluation of economic performance of Australia. Australia has performed quite well in the last few years. The economic growth rate is fairly stable with a stable price level and improvement in employment status. Despite a negative external balance, the export sector has scope for future growth. The Reserve Bank has extended support towards a stable growth by keeping cash rate to a low level. The growth trend is expected to continue in future with overcoming possible shocks of recession. References ABC News. 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