It generated more than $1 billion of profits in the year 2000. In the mid-1990s, the company who makes it depended on it for nearly 40% of its sales. What is it? Prozac, the most widely used prescription anti-depressant. Produced by Eli Lilly & Co, "Prozac, with 40 million users, accounted for a quarter of Lilly's $10.8 billion in sales" (Arndt). With a significant chunk of the United States" Gross Domestic Product invested in anti-depressant drugs, what is causing the elevated levels of depression in today's society? Depression can be traced to genetic and biological factors, but do environmental factors also influence peoples" happiness levels significantly enough to cause depression? With a world wrapped up in material goods, the need for instant gratification might lead to decreased happiness levels. Does materialism, the theory that worldly possessions constitute the highest value in life, lead to a heightened level of depression in today's society, or is depression a state-of-mind that is determined by biological and genetic factors?.
Depression is defined as "the condition of feeling sad or despondent" (Dictionary.com). Feeling depressed is common for most people in the world, and one of the major causes of depression is biological factors. Biological causes of depression are due to "changes in the chemistry of the brain, such as fluctuations in the levels of important hormones" (Causes of Depression). Fluctuations of these hormones greatly affect a persons" psychiatric make-up. If a person lacks levels of an important hormone, not only can depression set in, but bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, and insomnia can dominate a persons" life. If a male or female lacks enough of a hormone essential to preventing depression, the person may give up on life .
altogether and commit suicide - simply because of a chemical imbalance preventable by antidepressants. .
Research performed on depression shows that the changes in the chemical composition of the brain may lead to an imbalance in neurotransmitters.
The Great Depression was a turning point in U.S history. ... Within a month of the crash, stocks had lost half of their value. ... Peter Temin argued that monetary forces were not the cause of the depression. ... Schwartz has emphasized nonmonetary forces as well as monetary forces in the onset of the depression. ... However, the new monetary policy had unexpected results. ...
The Great Depression of the 1930s was the economic event of the 20th century. ... Real income output (real GDP) fell by 29% from 1929 to 1933 and the United States stock market lost 89.5% of its value. ... Another unusual aspect of the Great Depression was deflation. ... The government responded by violent measures of deflation, to hold down prices inside Germany and maintain the foreign exchange value of the currency. ... [P.Temin, ""Did Monetary Forces cause the Grea...
Since many of the stocks had been purchased by using loans secured by only a small fraction of the stock's actual value, the price decline forced many to "liquidate" their holdings. ... Another cause of the Great depression was the banking panic and monetary contraction. ... This would have most likely led to a large "outflow" of gold which would have made the United States value drop. ... Unfortunately other countries were trying to maintain an international gold standard in order to continue to meet the monetary contraction that was occurring in the United States. .....
The basic argument of the monetary expansionists was a need to relieve an alleged scarcity of money, thereby eliminating the depression by aiding debtors and raising prices. ... Many hard money writers formulated a monetary explanation of the business cycle -seeing the cause of depression in an expansion of bank credit and money supply, a subsequent rise in prices, specie drain abroad, and finally contraction and depression. ... Specie was subject to fluctuations of supply and demand, but paper could be regulated by the government so as to provide a stable value of the dollar. ... Some added t...
Many countries, including Canada, were caught in the great depression. ... "The US gold stock doubled, and valued 40% of the entire world's monetary gold.... The Great Depression was surely depressing moment in a slew of people's everyday lives. ... There are some fantastic facts about the great depression. ... During the peak of the depression, the stock market was down three quarters (75%). ...
The International Monetary Fund is an important function that makes world trade less strenuous. The International Monetary Fund, or IMF as it is called, provides support and supervision to nations in all stages of economic progress. ... The Great (worldwide) Depression of the 1930's presented the world with a new set of problems to be dealt with, not only domestically, but throughout the entire world. ... After The Depression international trading was crippled. ... When a nation decides to join the International Monetary Fund there is a financial obligation. ...
New technologies were taking places, stock values kept rising higher than ever, and the industry was booming in the United States. ... In 1929 at the beginning of the depression, 600 banks closed. ... After countless, empty promises of helping to end the depression, Franklin D. ... Two policies, labor cost increases and a contractionary monetary policy, caused the economy to contract further. ... Could the Great Depression happen again? ...
IMF Outdated The International Monetary Fund's record is one that can be debated. ... Its original purpose was to maintain the stability of the world monetary system. ... The Fund sets currency values relative to gold in a manner that allowed for an adjustment. ... The world currency values adjust on a minute-by-minute basis; the IMF's response time is days, weeks, or even months. ... Great Depression."4 The number of Russians who are experiencing poverty and unemployment rose from 2 million to 60 million. ...