explain how the frequency of oscillation is related to the length of a pendulum and the amplitude of its oscillation
Answers
A look at the arguments for and against privatisation.
Privatisation involves selling state-owned assets to the private sector. It is argued the private sector tends to run a business more efficiently because of the profit motive. However, critics argue private firms can exploit their monopoly power and ignore wider social costs. Privatisation is often achieved through listing the new private company on the stock market. In the 1980s and 1990s, the UK privatised many previously state-owned industries such as BP, BT, British Airways, electricity companies, gas companies and rail network.
Arguments for and against privatisation
privatisation-vs-nationalisation
Potential benefits of privatisation
1. Improved efficiency
The main argument for privatisation is that private companies have a profit incentive to cut costs and be more efficient. If you work for a government run industry, managers do not usually share in any profits. However, a private firm is interested in making a profit, and so it is more likely to cut costs and be efficient. Since privatisation, companies such as BT, and British Airways have shown degrees of improved efficiency and higher profitability.
2. Lack of political interference
It is argued governments make poor economic managers. They are motivated by political pressures rather than sound economic and business sense. For example, a state enterprise may employ surplus workers which is inefficient. The government may be reluctant to get rid of the workers because of the negative publicity involved in job losses. Therefore, state-owned enterprises often employ too many workers increasing inefficiency.
3. Short term view
A government many think only in terms of the next election. Therefore, they may be unwilling to invest in infrastructure improvements which will benefit the firm in the long term because they are more concerned about projects that give a benefit before the election.
4. Shareholders
It is argued that a private firm has pressure from shareholders to perform efficiently. If the firm is inefficient then the firm could be subject to a takeover. A state-owned firm doesn’t have this pressure and so it is easier for them to be inefficient.
5. Increased competition
Often privatisation of state-owned monopolies occurs alongside deregulation – i.e. policies to allow more firms to enter the industry and increase the competitiveness of the market. It is this increase in competition that can be the greatest spur to improvements in efficiency. For example, there is now more competition in telecoms and distribution of gas and electricity.
However, privatisation doesn’t necessarily increase competition; it depends on the nature of the market. E.g. there is no competition in tap water because it is a natural monopoly. There is also very little competition within the rail industry.
6. Government will raise revenue from the sale
Selling state-owned assets to the private sector raised significant sums for the UK government in the 1980s. However, this is a one-off benefit. It also means we lose out on future dividends from the profits of public companies.
Disadvantages of privatisation
1. Natural monopoly
natural monopoly
A natural monopoly occurs when the most efficient number of firms in an industry is one. For example, tap water has very significant fixed costs. Therefore there is no scope for having competition amongst several firms. Therefore, in this case, privatisation would just create a private monopoly which might seek to set higher prices which exploit consumers. Therefore it is better to have a public monopoly rather than a private monopoly which can exploit the consumer.
2. Public interest
There are many industries which perform an important public service, e.g., health care, education and public transport. In these industries, the profit motive shouldn’t be the primary objective of firms and the industry. For example, in the case of health care, it is feared privatising health care would mean a greater priority is given to profit rather than patient care. Also, in an industry like health care, arguably we don’t need a profit motive to improve standards. When doctors treat patients, they are unlikely to try harder if they get a bonus.
3. Government loses out on potential dividends.
Many of the privatised companies in the UK are quite profitable. This means the government misses out on their dividends, instead going to wealthy
⇒ As the length of a pendulum increases, the frequency of oscillations decreases. That means, as the length of a pendulum increases, the number of oscillations in one second decreases.
The frequency of oscillations is not affected much by the amplitude of oscillations. That means, even if the amplitude is increased, the frequency does not change much, it remains nearly the same.
⠀⠀⠀⠀━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Hope my answers are correct and will help :)♡