Divine Roles Across Cultures Matrix HUM/105 Version 3 1 University of Phoenix Material Divine Roles Across Cultures Matrix Select one common divine role that recurs in world mythology. Possible options of divine roles include the following: father or mother divinities, divinities of war, home or hearth divinities, divinities of love, divinities of wisdom, divinities of medicine or health, divinities of the wind, divinities of agriculture, divinities of the sky, ruler of all the gods, and so on. Identify the role in the title of your matrix. Select two myths, each from a different culture, in which the divine role appears. Identify the divinity names and cultures in columns A and B. Complete the matrix by answering each of the five questions for both selected divinities. Title: Column A Divinity Name: Culture of Origin: Column B Divinity Name: Culture of Origin: 1. How is this divinity portrayed? Describe the divinity’s role within the myth. 2. Is the divinity male or female? What function does this gender play? 3. Within the myth of origin, how does this divinity compare with other divinities? How does this divinity interact with or compare to divinities of the same gender and to divinities of the opposite gender? 4. What are the divinity’s attributes, such as divine powers or characteristics? What objects does the divinity possess, such as a weapon or animal, that assist him or her? 5. Identify one character from contemporary culture that shares characteristics of each divinity and explain why you chose each character. What real-life ideals does this divine role represent? How attainable are these ideals? Summary: Write a 150- to 350-word short essay addressing the following: Why do so many cultures have divinities in similar roles? Case StudiesCase Studies INTERNATIONAL FINANCE Case Study 19.1: The Big Mac Index As you have already learned, the PPP theory predicts that in the long run the exchange rate between two cur- rencies should move toward equalizing the cost in each country of an identical basket of internationally traded goods. A light-hearted test of the theory has been developed by The Economist magazine, which compares prices around the world for a “market basket” consisting simply of one McDonald’s Big Mac—a product that, though not internationally traded, is essentially the same in more than 100 countries. The Economist begins with the price of a Big Mac in the local currency and then converts that price into dollars based on the exchange rate prevailing at the time. A comparison of the dollar price of Big Macs across countries offers a crude test of the PPP theory, which predicts that prices should be roughly equal in the long run. This chart lists the dollar price of a Big Mac in March 2010, in 22 surveyed countries plus the euro zone average. By comparing the price of a Big Mac in the United States (shown as the green bar) with prices in other coun ...

1. Divine Roles Across Cultures Matrix
HUM/105 Version 3
1
University of Phoenix Material
Divine Roles Across Cultures Matrix
Select one common divine role that recurs in world mythology.
Possible options of divine roles include the following: father or
mother divinities, divinities of war, home or hearth divinities,
divinities of love, divinities of wisdom, divinities of medicine
or health, divinities of the wind, divinities of agriculture,
divinities of the sky, ruler of all the gods, and so on.
Identify the role in the title of your matrix.
Select two myths, each from a different culture, in which the
divine role appears. Identify the divinity names and cultures in
columns A and B.
Complete the matrix by answering each of the five questions for
both selected divinities.
Title:
Column A
Divinity Name:
Culture of Origin:
Column B
Divinity Name:
Culture of Origin:
1. How is this divinity portrayed? Describe the divinity’s role

2. within the myth.
2. Is the divinity male or female? What function does this
gender play?
3. Within the myth of origin, how does this divinity compare
with other divinities? How does this divinity interact with or
compare to divinities of the same gender and to divinities of the
opposite gender?
4. What are the divinity’s attributes, such as divine powers or
characteristics? What objects does the divinity possess, such as
a weapon or animal, that assist him or her?
5. Identify one character from contemporary culture that shares
characteristics of each divinity and explain why you chose each
character. What real-life ideals does this divine role represent?
How attainable are these ideals?
Summary: Write a 150- to 350-word short essay addressing the

3. following: Why do so many cultures have divinities in similar
roles?
Case StudiesCase Studies
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE
Case Study 19.1: The Big Mac Index
As you have already learned, the PPP theory predicts that in the
long run the exchange rate between two cur-
rencies should move toward equalizing the cost in each country
of an identical basket of internationally traded
goods. A light-hearted test of the theory has been developed by
The Economist magazine, which compares prices
around the world for a “market basket” consisting simply of one
McDonald’s Big Mac—a product that, though not
internationally traded, is essentially the same in more than 100
countries. The Economist begins with the price of a
Big Mac in the local currency and then converts that price into
dollars based on the exchange rate prevailing at the
time. A comparison of the dollar price of Big Macs across
countries offers a crude test of the PPP theory, which predicts
that prices should be
roughly equal in the long run.
This chart lists the

4. dollar price of a Big Mac in
March 2010, in 22 surveyed
countries plus the euro zone
average. By comparing the
price of a Big Mac in the
United States (shown as
the green bar) with prices
in other countries, we can
derive a crude measure of
whether particular curren-
cies, relative to the dollar,
are overvalued (red bars) or
undervalued (blue bars). For
example, because the price
of a Big Mac in Norway,
at $6.87, was 92 percent
higher than the U.S. price of
$3.58 the Norwegian krone

5. was the most overvalued
relative to the dollar of the
countries listed. But Big
Macs were cheaper in most
of the countries surveyed.
The cheapest was in China, where $1.83 was 49 percent below
the U.S. price. Hence, the Chinese yuan was the most
undervalued relative to
the dollar.
Thus, Big Mac prices in March 2010 ranged from 92 percent
above to 49 percent below the U.S. price. The euro was 29
percent overval-
ued. The price range lends little support to the PPP theory, but
that theory relates only to traded goods. The Big Mac is not
traded internation-
ally. Part of the price of a Big Mac must cover rent, which can
vary substantially across countries. Taxes and trade barriers,
such as tariffs and
quotas on beef, may also distort local prices. And wages differ
across countries, with a McDonald’s worker averaging about $8
an hour in the
United States versus more like $1 an hour in China. So there are
understandable reasons why Big Mac prices differ across
countries.

6. SOURCES: “The Big Mac Index: Exchanging Blows,” The
Economist, 17 March 2010; David Parsley and Shang-Jin Wei,
“In Search of a Euro Effect: Big Lessons from a Big Mac
Meal?” Journal of International Money and Finance, 27 (March
2008): 260–276; Ali Kutan et al., “Toward Solving the PPP
Puzzle: Evidence from 113 Countries,” Applied Economics,
41 (Issue 24, 2009): 3057–3066; and the McDonald’s
Corporation international Web site at
http://www.mcdonalds.com.
QUESTION
1. The Big Mac Index computed by The Economist magazine
has consistently found the U.S. dollar to be undervalued against
some curren-
cies and overvalued against others. This fi nding seems to call
for a rejection of the purchasing power parity theory. Explain
why this index
may not be a valid test of the theory.
19
Cost of a Big Mac by Country
$0.00 $1.00 $2.00 $3.00 $4.00 $5.00 $6.00
Norway
Switzerland
Euro zone
Canada
Australia
Hungary
Turkey

7. United States
Japan
Britain
South Korea
United Arabs Emirates
Poland
Saudi Arabia
Mexico
South Africa
Russia
Egypt
Taiwan
Indonesia
Thailand
Malaysia
China
6.16
4.62
4.06
3.98
3.75
3.71
3.58
3.54

8. 3.48
3.00
2.99
2.86
2.67
2.56
2.44
2.39
2.37
2.28
2.36
2.12
2.16
1.83
Big Mac prices converted to U.S. dollars
$7.00
6.87
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Case Study 19.2: What About China?
The U.S. trade defi cit with China of $227 billion in 2009
exceeded America’s combined defi cits with the European

9. Union, OPEC countries, and
Latin America. The defi cit with China grew about 15 percent
annually between 2007 and 2010. Americans spend four times
more on Chinese
products than the Chinese spend on American products.
Between 2007 and 2010, China’s holdings of U.S. Treasury
securities more than
doubled from $400 billion to $900 billion.
Many economists, politicians, and union offi cials argue that
China manipulates its currency, the yuan, to keep Chinese
products cheaper
abroad and foreign products more expensive at home. This
stimulates Chinese exports and discourages imports, thereby
boosting Chinese
production and jobs. At the same time, the average Chinese
consumer is poorer because the yuan buys fewer foreign
products.
As we have seen, any country that establishes a fi xed exchange
rate that undervalues or overvalues the currency must intervene
continu-
ously to maintain that rate. Thus, if the offi cial exchange rate
chronically undervalues the Chinese yuan relative to the dollar,
as appears to be
the case, then Chinese authorities must continuously exchange
yuan for dollars in foreign exchange markets. The increased
supply of yuan

10. keeps the yuan down, and the increased demand for dollars
keeps the dollar up.
But the charge that China manipulates its currency goes beyond
simply depressing the yuan and boosting the dollar. China’s
trading part-
ners increasingly feel they are being squeezed out by Chinese
producers without gaining access to Chinese markets. China
seeks every trade
advantage, especially for the 125 state-owned enterprises run
directly by the central government. For example, China offers
some domestic
producers tax rebates and subsidies to promote exports, while
imposing quotas and tariffs to discourage imports, such as a 25
percent tariff on
auto-parts imports.
China has tried to soothe concerns about the trade defi cit. Most
importantly, Chinese authorities in 2005 began allowing the
yuan to rise
modestly against the dollar. As a result, the yuan rose a total of
20 percent against the dollar between July 2005 and July 2010.
China also
announced plans to cut tax rebates paid to its exporters and to
lower some import duties. But these measures seemed to have
had little effect
on America’s monster defi cit with China.
Prior to an international fi nance meeting in June 2010, a key

11. European Central Bank offi cial said “the rigidity of the
Chinese monetary
regime had slowed down the recovery in the developed world.”
Facing political pressure to do something, China announced that
it would allow
the exchange rate to become more fl exible. We’ll see.
SOURCES: Lee Branstetter and Nicholas Lardy, “China’s
Embrace of Globalization,” NBER Working Paper 12373 (July
2006); Jason Dean and Shen Hong, “China Central Bank
Tames Yuan Appreciation Hopes,” Wall Street Journal, 22 June
2010; Yujan Zhang, “China Steel Group Accuses U.S.
Lawmakers of Protectionism,” Wall Street Journal, 5 July 2010;
and Michael Casey, “Showdown Looms Over China’s Currency
at G-20,” Wall Street Journal, 11 June 2010.
QUESTION
1. Why would China want its own currency to be undervalued
relative to the U.S. dollar? How does China maintain an
undervalued currency?
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