Fan, Ying : Branding the Nation: What Is Being Branded?

Fan, Ying : Branding the nation: What is being branded? Journal of Vacation Marketing Volume 12 Number 1. 2005 p. 4-13 Abstract: The paper by Fan explains what nation branding is. So first the difference between Nation branding and Nation brand is explained. Every Nation has a certain image with or without Nation branding. It examines the concept of nation branding, focusing especially on the question of what is being branded. The paper tries to explain what nation branding is and tries to explain the differences between on the one hand nation branding and product branding and on the other hand nation branding and product- country image. Furthermore it discusses paradoxical issues of nation branding and tries to give a broader context in which nation branding can be applied. But to find out how nation branding could help economic development in a country , more research is needed. It is hard to say how important the role of nation branding really is. Key Words: ation branding, country branding, country-of-origin effect, product- country image, place marketing The author: The paper is written by Ying Fan a senior lecturer at Brunel Business School, Brunel University in London. Dr Fan has held faculty positions at the universities of Lincoln, Hertfordshire and Durham. His research interests surround branding and marketing communications, and cross-cultural management issues. Topic: Branding the nation: What is being branded? The major topic of the paper is what nation branding is and what the purpose of nation branding is. Research question : What is being branded? Is a nation brand a separate entity, or an element in the product brand? What is the direction of the correlation between countries that have produced strong brands and those that are strong brands themselves ? Method : The research method is a literary analysis Material and Structure of the paper: On the first page of his paper contact informations, informations on the author including a photo of Fan are given. An Abstract sums up the Keywords and gives an overview over the article. All in all the paper of Fan is 9 pages long and is structured in the chapters: Introduction What is Nation Branding? What is being branded? Nation branding and product branding Nation brand image and product-country image Paradoxes The broader context For a further understanding Fan gives 3 Tables: Terms used in the literature ; Examples of nation branding where he gives 5 examples and explains what is being branded and a table on Comparison between nation branding and product branding . In his paper Fan makes indirect citations which are listed in the references. Here the references are ordered by appearance in the text not alphabetically. The paper is easy to read and understand, it gives a good overview of the topic nation branding. The structure is easy to follow. The paper is anonymously refereed. Finding of the article : The author points out that there is no single definition on nation branding but gives a working definition for the paper: ‘Nation branding concerns applying branding and marketing communications techniques to promote a nation’s image. Nation branding can be used in different ways: using the nation’s image to promote sales and exports ; place branding which is part of tourism marketing ; political marketing for example the expression â€Å"axis of evil†; Nation branding in it's true sense like Cool Britannia. The author points out that a nation is not a product in the conventional sense . The Nation itself can hardly be changed, the benefits are purely emotional, the Image is complicated and the ownership is unclear. A nation brand is not centered on any specific product, service or cause that can be promoted directly to the customer. But Nation branding concerns a countries whole image, covering political, economic, historical and cultural dimensions. A Nation has not one but multiple images. What image is retrieved depends on the audience , the context and the time. The author finds out that negative national image does not necessarily affect the purchase of products made by that country, by giving the example of Japan and China. The author tries to find out the direction of the correlation between countries that have produced strong brands and those that are strong brands themselves . Nation branding must be distinctive and help the country to position itself against competitors . A difficulty is that an international audience have a different degree of knowledge of a nation and each country has different cultural values, thus decodes the message differently. Nation branding often try to communicate a single image or message to different audiences in different countries . This renders for the author the message meaningless, but to try to be all things to all people will in the opinion of the author inevitably fail . What is the message a nation wants to send, give up a old but unique image in favor of the new image. This can fail like for example â€Å"Cool Britannia† did. Another difficulty in nation branding is that a national identity is very difficult to define. Furthermore in nation branding, an understanding of the customers’ existing perception of the nation is very important. A certain image is made over time. Another important aspect of nation branding is the internal audience. The author points out that Nation branding is just one part of a marketing strategy which is part of the business strategy and that often nation branding is overestimated even if it is a powerful tool. It is for example not sufficient for the country to promote its image enthusiastically to other nations if the economic basis for the nation brand is not there or the political situation is unstable. The image problem of a region or nation most often results from political and socio-economic troubles which must be solved, nation branding will not solve a country’s problems but only serves as the final touch .

College GPA Requirements What Do You Need to Get In

College GPA Requirements What Do You Need to Get In SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips As a high school student, you may bewondering ifyour GPA is high enough to meet the admission standards at your college of choice. Not every college has specific GPA requirements, but it's possible to estimate a cutoff for admission based on statistics from previous classes. In this article, I'll explain howGPA requirements for colleges work and give you the tools to figure out exactly how high your GPA should be to apply successfully to your dream college. Do Many Colleges Have GPA Requirements? There are quite a few colleges that have minimum GPA requirements for applicants. Most of these are suggestions rather than hard limits, but they’re good guidelines to follow if you want to have a strong chance of acceptance. Colleges with minimum GPA requirements tend to be public schools.Since these schools receive larger pools of applicants, it’s much easier for them to sort students by statistics like GPA.The Massachusetts public university system is an example of a group of colleges that imposes minimum GPA requirements on applicants. In this case, students must earn at least a 3.0 weighted GPA for admission. Here are a few additional examples of schools that have minimum GPA requirements: College Name Minimum GPA Requirement University of North Carolina 2.5 (weighted) University of Mississippi 2.0 (unweighted) University of Florida 2.0 (unweighted) Portland State University 3.0 (unweighted) University of Nevada - Reno 3.0 (weighted) Grand Canyon University 3.0 (unweighted) Grand Canyon University Can You Still Get Into a College If You Don't Meet the GPA Requirements? Students who don't meet a college's GPA requirementsare less likely to make it through the initial reviewof applications unless they've done something else outstanding in high school. A college that has minimum GPA requirementsmay admit some students whohave lower grades if they show extreme promise in other areas like athletics, test scores, or extracurricular pursuits. For example, if you're a nationally ranked tennis player and will be a huge asset to the school's team, you could probably get away with a lower GPA than the college requires. This might also apply if you accomplished something unique in high school that not many other students have done, like starting your own successful business. It's possible to circumvent college GPA requirements, but you shouldn’t count on special circumstances to bail you out. Your best bet for admission is to (at the very least) surpass the minimum requirement for admitted students. Don't count on a mutant hybrid of Christian Bale and a hay bale to bail you out either. How High Does Your GPA Have to Be to Get Into College in General? Looking beyond specific schools, you may be wondering how high your GPA should be if you want to end up as a competitive applicant for colleges overall. The national average unweighted GPA for high school students is a 3.0 (a B average), but this is for all students, including those who don’t plan to attend college.Students who do attend college will have slightly higher GPAs on average. If you want a solid chance of getting into a four-year college, the lowest GPA you can get away with is probably around a 2.0 (a C average).Keep in mind that this is only enough for acceptance to the least selective schools in the country, and it’s still risky.For even mildly selective schools (think 60-80 percent acceptance), you should have at least a 3.0 unweighted GPA.Once you start thinking about even more selective colleges (less than 60 percent acceptance), GPA standards are usually around a 3.5 or higher. Notice that I’m specifically talking about unweighted GPAs here.Your school could use weighted GPAs, meaning your GPA would be out of 5.0 instead of 4.0.If this is the case, tread carefully with GPA requirements.A 4.0 weighted GPA and a 4.0 unweighted GPA are not equivalent because a weighted GPA takes course difficulty into account.A 4.0 weighted GPA could mean all Bs in high-level classes or all As in low-level classes while a 4.0 unweighted GPA means all As regardless of class level. If your weighted GPA is higher than a 4.0, that doesn’t mean you’ll be accepted to any college where you apply.Pay attention to your letter grades and your course levels to make sure you’re on track.Challenging yourself in hard classes and earning a few Bs is more impressive to colleges than a transcript full of straight As in courses that were clearly too easy for you. Do your homework while free-climbing a sheer cliff face. It's the only way to show colleges that you're committed. What Are the GPA Requirements for Your College Goals? General statistics are all well and good, but your GPA standards should really be determined by your individual college goals.You may not plan on applying to a college that provides concrete GPA requirements, but you can still estimate what it takes to get into the schools that interest you. The best way to do this is to Google â€Å"[name of college] PrepScholar admission requirements.†The first result should be a link to a page that lists admissions statistics for whatever school you chose.Before you look at the GPA statistics, notice the admissions rate.Any school that has an admission rate below 15% will be a reach no matter what GPA you have, so don’t assume that surpassing the average GPA guarantees you a spot. Let’s use UC Davis as an example.UC Davis has a 41% admission rate.This means it’s probably safe to assume that you have a solid chance of getting in if your GPA is higher than the indicated average.It’s selective, but not in the most selective group of schools (we rate it as â€Å"moderately competitive†).The average GPA at UC Davis is a 3.99 according to the article.That’s almost a perfect 4.0 - but numbers can be deceptive! Since we’re relying on the schools themselves to provide statistics about their average GPAs, the numbers are often skewed high.The 3.99 GPA probably reflects a mixture of weighted and unweighted GPAs. We don’t know for sure whether it’s out of 4.0, 4.5, or 5.0 (or some combination of different scales).This makes things much less clear-cut.There may be some students at UC Davis who had straight A’s throughout high school, but there are probably many others who got As and Bs in high-level classes at high schools that use weighted GPAs.On a weighted GPA scale out of 5.0, someone earning all Bs in high-level classes would still have a 4.0. UC Davis If you see that a school has an average GPA that’s higher than a 3.75, you can assume that you will need to take at least some advancedclasses and earn As and Bs to have a strong chance of being accepted.Unless the school’s admission rate is lower than 20 percent or so, don’t assume that most students have near-perfect grades.At Harvard, for example, the average GPA is a 4.04. This seems only a bit higher than the average at UC Davis, but with a 6 percent admissions rate and an average ACT score of 34, it's clear that Harvard is significantly more competitive. Don’t look at the average GPA as thebe-all-end-all number. It’s more of an estimate since high schools vary so dramatically and colleges calculate GPAs differently. You should also check the actual admissions websites for schools you're interested in to make sure you’re not missing out on any requirements.For University of California schools, the admissions guidelines state that nonresidents (out of state students) should earn at least a 3.4 GPA to be admitted to a UC campus. You will also need to take certain courses to be eligible for admission. UC Davis GPA statistics broken down by range and percent acceptance rate. The majority of admitted students for 2015 had GPAs above a 4.0, which indicates that these numbers are referencing a weighted GPA scale. Source: UC Davis What Should You Do If Your GPA Is too Low for Your School of Choice? If your GPA is lower than average for the schools that interest you, there are a couple of ways you can improve your chances of being accepted. If you're a freshman or sophomore, you still have time left to raise your GPA. Depending on what your specific struggles are, you might try revising your study habits in various ways. Read this article for advice on strategies you can use to improve your grades. If you're already in your junior or senior year, you don't have much (or any) time left to raise your GPA. In this case, you may try to bolster other partsof your application to make up for it. You can often compensate for a slightly below average GPA with higher than average SAT or ACT scores. At UC Davis, the average SAT score is an 1805.This is at the 75th percentile mark for SAT scores nationally, so students in the top 25% of the SAT score range (1800-2400) are most likely to be admitted.A 2100 combined with a 3.6 GPA gives you about the same chances at UC Davis as an 1800 combined with a 4.0 GPA. Beyond standardized test scores, you may also be able to make up for a lower GPA with impressive extracurricular achievements that demonstrate your passions and unique interests. This could include anything from running your own Etsy shop to organizing a Quidditch tournament at your school to building robots in your free time. If you're involved in community service or are a leader of a club, you should highlight these facts on your application. Even if you just had to work a boring part-time job throughout high school, that counts as an extracurricular activity and shows that you are capable of handling real world responsibilities. Make sure your robot doesn't gain sentience and turn against you. The Bottom Line College GPA requirements aren’t everything when it comes to admissions, but they can play a strong role in the decision-making process. To get into any four-year college, your GPA should be at least a 2.0 or higher. If you’re aiming for selective colleges (less than 60% acceptance rate), you should shoot forat least a 3.5. Remember, these estimates aren’t necessarily accurate for every student or every college.Look up admissions requirements for schools that you like to get a better sense of their academic standards.Also, keep in mind that your high school may calculate GPA differently than other schools (especially if it's recorded on a weighted scale).Your 4.0 weighted GPA won’t be as impressive as the 4.0 unweighted GPA of another student at a different high school who took higher level classes than you. Course levels are very important.You can have a GPA that’s slightly lower than a school’s average and still have a chance of getting in if you earned it in by taking the most challengingclasses your high school offers. Always continue to push yourself and work towards higher academic goals if you hope to be admitted to selective colleges. Pay attention to the levels in your application mix. What's Next? Do you have a B average but want to improve even more to get into more selective colleges? Read this article for advice on what you should do based on your current GPA. If you're aiming for the most competitive schools in the country, advanced classes are a must in high school. Find out how many AP classes you should take if you're applying to Ivy League schools. You can also consult this article for general advice on which classes to take in high school. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

5 Points About Parallel Structure

5 Points About Parallel Structure 5 Points About Parallel Structure 5 Points About Parallel Structure By Mark Nichol The following five sentences present various problems with sentence organization. Each is followed by a discussion of the sentence and a revision that addresses the problem. 1. The policy is effective, proportionate, and meets the standards. Effective has the verb is, and standards is supported by meets, but proportionate has no dance partner. It needs the twin of is, or must share the original instance of the verb, as shown here: â€Å"The policy is effective and proportionate and meets the standards.† 2. It was a stated requirement not to further increase but, rather, to reallocate capital. This sentence is not wrong, but it suffers from a delayed keyword. It’s not clear until after the sentence is read that the intention is to counterpoint the idea of increasing capital with the idea of reallocating capital; capital is too far removed from the first word it is intended to be associated with. When capital is located immediately after that first word, the sentence is clearer, and a pronoun can replace the keyword at the end of the sentence: â€Å"It was a stated requirement not to further increase capital but, rather, to reallocate it.† 3. We appreciate your time and contributions to our study. If â€Å"and contributions† is omitted from this sentence, what remains is the ungrammatical â€Å"We appreciate your time to our study.† To clarify that time and contributions are not intended to be strictly parallel, the pronoun your should be repeated in order to produce two distinct clauses, where a repetition of â€Å"we appreciate† is implied after and: â€Å"We appreciate your time and your contributions to our study.† 4. They might be confronted with situations that they may not have experienced before and might test them to their limits. In the simple sentence â€Å"They might be confronted with situations that they may not have experienced before,† that is optional. However, in a more complex statement, it is necessary not once, but twice, to signal that â€Å"they may not have experienced before† and â€Å"might test them to their limits† are parallel phrases: â€Å"They might be confronted with situations that they may not have experienced before and that might test them to their limits.† 5. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued a joint statement on the new rules. The phrase â€Å"Board of Governors† applies only to the Federal Reserve System, so the first item in this list needs to be set off from the rest (rather, the list needs to be set off from this item) so that no implication that each of the other entities has a board of governors exists: â€Å"The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, as well as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, issued a joint statement on the new rules.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely?â€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And†75 Synonyms for â€Å"Hard†

Various marketing strategies Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Various marketing strategies - Case Study Example This process starts with a Futuristic Environmental Scan and defines the ideal vision in terms of mission, values and end outcomes that the organization wishes to set for itself. Only after the statement of such Ideal Future a Current State assessment based on SWOT(Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is taken up to identify the gaps and make marketing strategies to close the gap(s).As a result of subscriber clients adopting this model it was found that clients began developing competitive edge and the organization was much clearer on what their competitive "positioning" in market place was and found themselves moving positively in that direction, to the delight of their customers(Haines,2004).Thus this process leans directly into the process of competitive marketing strategy making as it includes environmental scan both-present and future and enables movement in the desired direction.Types of Competitive Marketing Strategies The generic competitive marketing strategies and their standard objectives have abounded in literature and often include the following: (a) Overall Low-Cost Leadership Marketing Strategy: Its primary object is to find a sustainable cost advantage over rivals, using lower-cost edge as a basis either to under-price rivals and reap market share gains or earn higher profit margin by selling at going price. (b) Broad Differentiation Marketing Strategy: Its primary objective is to incorporate differentiating features that cause buyers to prefer firm's product or service over rival brands. Looking on the obverse side it implies that an organization must..."The airline industry is, by its very nature, a service industry. In a free market, the success or failure of an individual airline is largely dictated by the quality of the service it provides" (Harvard Business School, 1989).Its differentiation strategy began with the immense popularity of The Singapore Girl marketing icon. This icon evoked an awareness of warm Asian hospitality and courtesy's backed this up with its very efficient service standards and already had a winning combination on hand. However it ventured into a fairly elaborate differentiation strategy to address the changed needs of new clientele. This differentiation took the form of: - the introduction of gourmet cuisine in-flight dining with vastly improved servings for economy class passengers as well, - hiring top of the line culinary experts' panel to train chefs and execute quality checks with a future vision to make its in-flight food an industry benchmark, - multi million dollar cabin revamp with first-class cabins coming with an ambience of a mini-suite in a luxurious hotel and details covering the entire distance from custom-built seats to cashmere blankets, - launch of its Frequent Flyer Programme(FFP), KrisFlyer, - as the bulk of SIA clientele are non-Singaporeans specific trainings were organized for SIA crews to enable them to be conversant with and make announcements in the languages of the countries to which they flew.

The basic characteristics of literary journalism Essay

The basic characteristics of literary journalism - Essay Example Chronology refers to the arrangement of scenes or events in order in which they take place in a particular eventful situation from the perspective of journalism. Within this context, it can be deduced that this arrangement can be of two types: scenes or observations. In the scenes, there is a particular sequence or arrangement of carefully arranged scenes because this sequence is highly important as it retains a required level and type of structure which is the base of any particular theme involved in the scenes. A sequence of observations can also be used to describe a particular events leading to a meticulous outcome or other effects. Simultaneously, within this context, both types of chorology have different objectives and outcomes as the entire piece of literary journalistic writing is based on the factual or real-life situations in which a particular arrangement of scenes retains a specific type of chronology. As a result of in-built chronology, the piece of journalistic writing becomes able to create an impression of depicting or portraying reality as if it is happening in front of the reader. In the literary journalism, parallel structures are those storylines in which story have more than one causal chain of events and have two different stories are highlighted simultaneously.It can be said that the use of parallelism can increase the level of suspense and adventure in the story in which a particular perspective or use of chronology can be included to make effective.

Grant Proposal - Pressing Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Grant Proposal - Pressing Questions - Essay Example Therefore, reintroducing the manufacture and use of these tools and furniture will elevate the standards of living in the society in different aspects particularly the economic aspects will elevated immensely. Different cultures that define our origins and societal orientations can be defined or identified by the shapes and styles of tools that our forefathers used in the ancient years (Lane, and Matthew 71). The tools and wares that were used in the early years help in defining the kind of preferences and livelihood that were embraced. However, in the contemporary world, the same tools and wares can be made in their old nature and be sold to museums and to different cultures as means of appreciating the ancient cultures that such tools and wares originate. In this sense therefore, if we reintroduce the modelling and carpentry work in the society that will deal with making such art tools and wares, there will be increased employment opportunities especially to those who will be involved in making such items as well persons who will be doing sales on the same. Many people often tend to identify themselves with ancient items; thus, they are usually concerned with period through which certain tools and wares were made and used. It is very easy to determine periods and dates that the wares and tools that were used. According to Hirth, technologies such as carbon dating have allowed archaeologists to determine the periods that these tools were used (Hirth 39). Vessels were mostly used to represent the artistic orientation of a particular community. There functional characteristics did not apply to the views of the community. Therefore, in cases where people may be having these ancient tools and wares or items we shall install carbon dating systems to help in determining the years that the presented artefact was made. The older the artefact the more value it will earn and the more

Environmental Kuznets Curve definition and usage

Environmental Kuznets Curve definition and usage The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) is a pragmatically, relationship that is assumed to trace the pollution path followed by countries as their per capita gross domestic product (GDP) grows and describes the relationship between per capita income and indicators of environmental degradation (Unruth and Moomaw, 1998). In the infant stages of development, the levels of some pollutants climb with increases in per capita income, while at advanced levels of development, environmental degradation follows a downward trend as income per capita is moving upwards. These results give rise to a bell shaped curve relating economic growth to environmental degradation, redolent of the relationship hypothesized by Kuznets (1995) between economic and income inequality (Nahman and Antrobus, 2005). The concept of EKC came out in the early 1990s with Grossman and Kruegers (1991) path-breaking study of the potential impacts of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Origins of the EKC The environmental Kuznets curve is a hypothesized relationship between different indicators of environmental degradation and income per capita. At first stages of economic growth degradation and pollution increase, but further than some level of income per capita, the movement reverses, so that at high-income levels economic growth leads to environmental improvement. This means that the impact of environmental indicator is an inverted U-shaped function of income per capita (David, 2003) In other words, the distribution of income becomes more asymmetrical in early stage of income growth and then the distribution moves towards greater equality as economic growth continues (Kuznets, 1955). This liaison between income per capita and income inequality can be represented by a bell-shaped curve. This is viewed as an empirical phenomenon known as the Kuznets Curve (Dinda, 2004). The link between per capita income and income inequality is shown on Figure 1(refer to appendix) Criticism and drawbacks of the Kuznets Curve The Kuznets Curve has helped in studying the relationship between environmental pollutants and GDP of countries but it does have drawbacks too. Even Kuznet (1955) himself indicated that the Kuznets Curve Theory is not a perfect one and the relationship between income inequality and economic development cannot be assumed. He also declared that lot information in the paper has been speculated and thus further research work must be carried out. The reason behind the development of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Since the last decades, the increasing threat of global warming and climate change has been of major continuing concern. Organisations such as the United Nations have been trying to diminish the unfavourable impacts of global warming through intergovernmental and binding accords. After immense negotiations, the agreement namely the Kyoto protocol was signed in 1997. This protocol has the objective of reducing greenhouse gases (GHG) that cause climate change. The Kyoto protocol recognises limitations to environmental pollutants and necessitates a timetable for realisation of the emission reductions for the developed countries. During 2008 2012 periods the demands reduction of the GHG emissions to 5.2 % lower than the 1990 level. In 2005 it came into force: 178 states have signed and approved the protocol since April 2008 (Halicoglu, 2008). Greenhouse gas emissions particularly carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, are considered to be the core causes of global warming. Consequently, to pre vent global warming a number of countries have signed the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to diminish their emission levels. Galeotti and Lanza (1999) indicated that some developing states refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol based on the argument that the industrialisation and development process should be subject to no constraints, particularly for energy production and consumption. One probable foundation for this position is the belief that while pollution increases with growth in GDP, it happens a point where pollution goes down. This view calls for a careful analysis of the relationship between economic growth and pollution. This relationship is obviously very complex as it depends on numerous different factors such as: The countrys size, The sectoral structure, including the composition of the demand for energy, The vintage of the technology, The demand for environmental quality, The level and quality of environmental protection expenditures. Shafik (1994) reports that the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality has been a source of great disagreement for a lengthy period of time. On one side it has been observed that greater economic activity unavoidably leads to environmental degradation and finally to possible economic and ecological collapse. At the other side is the view that those environmental nuisances worth solving will be tackled more or less automatically as a consequence of economic growth. Previous to 1970, there was a conviction that the raw materials consumptions, energy and natural resources were growing at the same pace as economy grows. In the early 1970s, the Club of Romes Limits of Growth view (Meadows et al., 1972) was brazen about the concern for the accessibility of natural resource of the Earth. They argued that the finiteness of ecological resources would prevent economic growth and advocated for a solid state economy with zero growth to avoid striking ecological circumstances in the future. This view has been criticised on both hypothetical and empirical grounds. Experimental works shows that the ratio of consumption of some metals to income was falling in developed countries during the 1970s, which brings divergence with the predictions set out in the Limits to Growth view (Maleness, 1978). Natural environment not only provide natural resources important for economic development but also execute the vital function of supporting life, if man persist to exp loit environment recklessly, then it would not be able to sustain life any longer. Environmental Kuznets Curve definition and graphical illustration The EKC follows the name of Nobel Laureate Simon Kuznets who had remarkably hypothesized an inverted U income-inequality relationship (Kuznets, 1955). In the 1990s economists detected this relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation. Since then this relationship is known as Environmental Kuznets Curve. According to the EKC theory as a country develops, the pollution increases, but after reaching a specific level of economic progress (Y*) pollution begin to decrease as in figure 2. The EKC hypothesis suggests that environmental degradation is something unavoidable at the first stage of economic growth, so a developing country is forced to tolerate this degradation in order to develop. The x-axis symbolize the economic growth which is measured by GDP per capita and the y-axis represents the environmental degradation which is measured by many different pollution indicators such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, deforestation etc. The shapes of the Environmental Kuznets Curves. The relation between income and environmental pressure can be sketched in a several ways; firstly one can distinguish monotonic and non-monotonic curves. Monotonic curves may show either mounting pollution with rising incomes, as in the case of municipal waste per capita or decreasing. But, non-monotonic patterns may be more probable in other cases and two types have been recommended, namely inverted-U and N-shaped curves. The pattern discovered in experiential research depend on the types of pollutants scrutinised and the models that have been used for inference. Four speculative opinions are presented in favour of an inverted-U curve for (local) air pollutants, which can be listed as: Positive income elasticitys for environmental quality, Structural changes in production and consumption, Rising information on environmental consequences of economic activities as income rises and More international trade and more open political systems with increasing levels of income (Selden and Song 1994). Others, for example Pezzey (1989) and Opschoor (1990), have argued that such inverted-U relationships may not hold in the long run. They anticipated a so-called N-shaped curve which demonstrates the same pattern as the inverted-U curve initially, but beyond a certain income level the relationship between environmental pressure and income is positive again. Delinking is thus considered a temporary phenomenon. Opschoor (1990), for example, argues that once technological efficiency enhancements in resource use or abatement opportunities have been exhausted or have become too expensive, further income growth will result in net environmental degradation. Despite these considerations empirical evidence so far has been largely in favour of the inverted-U instead of the N shaped relationship (de Bruyn et al., 1998). The shortcomings of EKC analysis A number of critical studies of the EKC literature have been published (e.g. Ansuategi et al., 1998; Arrow et al., 1995; Ekins, 1997; Pearson, 1994; Stern et al., 1996; Stern, 1998). Theoretical critique This section discusses the criticisms that were raised against the EKC on theoretical (rather than methodological) grounds. One of the main criticisms of the EKC models is the assumption that environment and growth are not interrelated. In simple words the EKC hypothesis assumes no feedback between income and the pollution of environment. Fare et al., (2001) refer that due to the non-availability of actual data on environmental quality is the major restriction of all EKC studies. Environmental quality is something that is not measured accurately. Therefore, a guide of environmental quality, which could be a better measurement, should be developed and used to examine the EKC hypothesis. According to Ekins (2000), consideration in assessing the strength of the estimation is the reliability of the data used. However, there is little sign that the data problems are serious enough to shed doubt on the basic environment-income link for any particular environmental indicator, but the results in fact imply that this might be the case. Stern (2004) draws his attention to the mean median problem. He underlines that early EKC studies showed that a number of indicators: 2 SO emissions, x NO, and deforestation, peak at income levels around the current world mean per capita income. A hasty glimpse at the available econometric estimates might have lead one to believe that, given likely future levels of mean income per capita, environmental degradation should turn down from the present onward. Income is not yet, normally distributed but very skewed, with much larger numbers of people below mean income per capita than above it. Hence, this shows a median rather than mean income that is the relevant variable. Another problem related with the EKC studies is the little attention that has been paid to the statistical properties of time series. Very few studies in the past investigated the presence of unit root in time series of variables used to investigate the validity of the EKC. 2) Econometric critique Stern (2004) in a survey argues that the econometric criticisms of the EKC fall into four main categories: heteroscedasticity, simultaneity, omitted variables bias, and cointegration issues. Perman and Stern (2003) investigate the data and models for unit roots and cointegration respectively. Panel unit root tests designate that all three series log sulfur emissions per capita, log GDP capita, and its square have stochastic trends. Results for cointegration are less definite. About half the individual country EKC regressions cointegrate but many of these have limitations with incorrect signs. Some panel cointegration tests point out cointegration in all countries and some accept the non-cointegration hypothesis. However, even when cointegration is found, the form of the EKC relationship varies radically across countries with many countries having U-shaped EKCs. In case there is a common cointegrating vector in all countries it will be strongly rejected. Coondoo and Dinda (2002) carried out an analysis for Granger Causality between CO2 emissions and income in various individual countries and regions. In general model that emerges is that causality runs from income to emissions or that there is no significant relationship in developing countries, while in developed countries causality runs from emissions to income. Still, in every case the relationship is positive so that there is no EKC type effect. Data and Time Series Properties To study the relationship between the GDP of Mauritius and the C02 emission in Mauritius the annual data that are being used are; total C02 emission from 1976 to 2008, the real GDP from 1976 to 2008, and the population of Mauritius from 1976 to 2008. From these sets of data it can be clearly seen that while population and C02 emission has been increasing, during these years the real GDP has been fluctuating a bit. In mid 1970s after the independence there has been a lot of development and transformation in our country. Our economy was diversified and more jobs were created. Furthermore we received more foreign aid. By the late 1970s our economy deteriorated a bit mainly due to the increase in petroleum price in the world market and this lead to less government subsidies and devaluation of our Mauritian Rupees. Then by late 1980s the economy experience steady growth and also a high level of employment, declining inflation and more domestic savings. This period was also marked by the boom in the sugar industry. Though the development slowed down in the 1990s there was a gradual development of the local financial institutions and at the same time our domestic information telecommunication industry boomed. By the start of the 21st ce ntury there our financial services sector became a very important pillar of the economy with an increasing number of offshore enterprises. Finally our economy developed a lot due to the seafood processing and export during the last 10 years.