document_title: Beanie Babies

question_text: when did the first beanie baby come out

question_tokens: when did the first beanie baby come out

text: Beanie Babies

text: History[edit]

text: Nine original Beanie Babies were launched in 1993: Legs the Frog, Squealer the Pig, Spot the Dog, Flash the Orca, Splash the Whale, Chocolate the Moose, Patti the Platypus, Brownie the Bear (later renamed "Cubbie"), and Pinchers the Lobster (with some tag errors with "Punchers"). They were not in factory production until 1994.[4][5] Sales were slow at first to the point that by 1995 many retailers refused to buy the products in the bundles Ty offered them while others outright refused to buy them in any form.[6] The popularity soon grew however, first starting locally in Chicago before growing into a national craze in the USA.[6]

text: In 1996, Ty Inc. released a new product called Teenie Beanies, a miniature offshoot of the original Beanie Babies line. They were sold alongside McDonald's Happy Meals to celebrate that product's 17th anniversary.[2]

text: Ty, Inc. stopped producing the product in December 1999, but consumer demand led them to reconsider.[2] Production restarted in 2000 with a Beanie Baby named "The Beginning."

text: In early 2008, Ty released a new version of Beanie Babies called Beanie Babies 2.0. The purchase of a Beanie Baby 2.0 provided its owner with a code to access an online Beanie Babies interactive website. The website has since been shut down.

text: Collectibility[edit]

text: Beanie Babies began to emerge as popular collectibles in late 1995, and became a hot toy.[7] The company's strategy of deliberate scarcity, producing each new design in limited quantity, restricting individual store shipments to limited numbers of each design and regularly retiring designs, created a huge secondary market for the toys and increased their popularity and value as a collectible.[2]

text: Ty systematically retired various designs, and many people assumed that all "retired" designs would rise in value the way that early retirees had. The craze lasted through 1999 and slowly declined after the Ty company announced that they would no longer be making Beanie Babies and made a bear called "The End".[8] Some time after the original announcement that the company would stop production, Ty asked the public to vote on whether the product should continue; fans and collectors voted "overwhelmingly" to keep the toys on the market.[2]

text: At its height of popularity people would flip Beanies at as much as ten-fold on eBay.[9] Indeed, at the height, Beanies made up 10% of eBay's sales.[10] Some collectors insured their purchases for a price in the thousands.[9]

text: Warner was keenly aware that the Beanie Babies bubble could burst and eventually started requiring retailers who sold Beanies to also stock other product lines by his company if they wished to continue selling Beanies. None of these lines did as well as Beanie Babies, although they kept the company alive after the fad ended and eventually some became successful in their own right.[9]

text: Design[edit]

text: Beanie Babies are deliberately under stuffed. This led to a criticism that the toys looked "cheap"[11] however this set them apart from most stuffed animals on the market which could not be posed easily.[11] Ty Warner has said that this understuffing method made the toys look "real".[11]

text: Another important design element is that of the tag. Since the beginning, Beanie Babies have included two tags for identification: a heart-shaped "swing tag" at the top, and a fabric "tush tag" at the bottom. Both tags have been redesigned completely over time. Between 1994 and 1996, the swing tags had "To" and "From" blanks in them for use as gifts. Starting in early 1996, the tags include four-line poems related to the Beanie Baby, and a date of birth for the toy.

text: It was not uncommon for Beanie Babies to be accidentally shipped out with incorrect or misspelled tags, which sometimes increased the toy's value. On occasion, the poems, birth dates and even the names have been changed on certain Beanie Babies.[12]

text: Notable Beanie Babies[edit]

text: Garcia the bear[edit]

text: Garcia the bear was released in January 1996 and retired in May 1997. He is a tie-dyed bear that seems to be a tribute to musician Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead who died in 1995, designed by Nicholas Scarbrough. A group of differently colored dancing bears, originally artwork from the back of an album cover, was one of the band's many iconic images. The bear was supposedly "born" the date that Jerry died (August 9, 1995). The fast retirement for this Beanie Baby was due to an alleged lawsuit that the Garcia family filed against the Ty company, claiming that the name "Garcia" was used without permission from the family. In cooperation with the lawsuit, Garcia was retired and a similar bear named Peace was released. Peace has a peace sign, while Garcia does not.

text: The bright colors on Garcia the bear made him one of the most popular Beanie Baby styles.[13]

text: Princess the bear[edit]

text: Diana, Princess of Wales died on August 31, 1997. Warner announced the Beanie Baby Princess on October 29, 1997 in honor of Princess Diana.[14] Warner said that all proceeds would be donated to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. The Princess Diana Beanie Baby was sent to vendors to distribute in the second week of December 1997. Some vendors had to wait until February 1998. Only 12 Beanie Baby Princesses were released to each vendor initially, but this changed due to strong demand.

text: Decade the bear[edit]

text: Decade the bear was made in honor of Beanie Babies' tenth anniversary. Decade bears were made in white, royal blue, red, purple, orange, hot pink, green, gold, brown, and light blue. Most Decade bears have silver sparkles on their bodies. It was made in 2003.

text: Tabasco the bull[edit]

text: Originally named after the Tabasco sauce, the name was changed to "Snort" to avoid trademark infringement. Tabasco has all red "feet" while Snort has all white. The poem stayed the same.

text: Peanut the Royal Blue Elephant[edit]

text: Peanut the Royal Blue Elephant is one of the most notable of the Beanies. It first started production in 1995 as a royal blue color. Then, Ty noticed that the fabric coloring was wrong, and that it needed to be the light blue color, so they started the light blue version and stopped the royal blue. They made the light blue until his retirement in 1999. They only made about 500 of these beanies and can go for $1500 with an original tag.[15]

text: Counterfeit Beanie Babies[edit]

text: Counterfeit Beanie Babies began to surface in 1997. Early on, cheap knock-offs and fakes of commons were widely available at discount prices.[16]

text: Cases[edit]

text: Authorities cracked down on counterfeit Beanie Babies in the late 1990s. People were prosecuted for their involvement in the commerce of counterfeit Babies. In 1998, English authorities seized more than 6,000 Princesses and Britannias.[17] In 1999, a Minnesota man was imprisoned, fined, and put on probation for involvement in smuggling counterfeit beanies.[18]

text: Media[edit]

text: During the wake of Beanie Babies' success, Beanie Baby-centric publications were issued. One of the largest was Mary Beth's Bean Bag World, a monthly magazine dedicated to Beanie Babies and competing plush toys. This magazine ran from 1997 to 2001.[19]

text: Licensed Beanies[edit]

text: In the late 2000s, Beanie Babies modeled after characters from popular children's franchises by Nickelodeon, DreamWorks and Paramount began appearing. These included characters from cartoons on the Nickelodeon television channel such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer, as well as characters from DreamWorks Animation movies such as Shrek the Third and 20th Century Fox's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Beanie Babies have also been produced for characters from Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole and Guardians of Ga'Hoole book series. Recently Beanie Babies modeled after Disney characters have been created, including characters from the Disney Junior TV series Doc McStuffins.


document_title: Economy of Argentina

question_text: how much money does argentina make from tourism

question_tokens: how much money does argentina make from tourism

root

text: Economy of Argentina

text: History[edit]

text: Prior to the 1880s, Argentina was a relatively isolated backwater, dependent on the salted meat, wool, leather, and hide industries for both the greater part of its foreign exchange and the generation of domestic income and profits. The Argentine economy began to experience swift growth after 1880 through the export of livestock and grain commodities,[28] as well as through British and French investment, marking the beginning of a fifty-year era of significant economic expansion and mass European immigration.[29]

tag: p

text: During its most vigorous period, from 1880 to 1905, this expansion resulted in a 7.5-fold growth in GDP, averaging about 8% annually.[30] One important measure of development, GDP per capita, rose from 35% of the United States average to about 80% during that period.[30] Growth then slowed considerably, such that by 1941 Argentina's real per capita GDP was roughly half that of the U.S.[24] Even so, from 1890 to 1950 the country's per capita income was similar to that of Western Europe;[24] although income in Argentina remained considerably less evenly distributed.[28]

text: The Great Depression caused Argentine GDP to fall by a fourth between 1929 and 1932. Having recovered its lost ground by the late 1930s partly through import substitution, the economy continued to grow modestly during World War II (in contrast to the recession caused by the previous world war).[31] The war led to a reduced availability of imports and higher prices for Argentine exports that combined to create a US$1.6 billion cumulative surplus,[31] a third of which was blocked as inconvertible deposits in the Bank of England by the Roca–Runciman Treaty.[29] Benefiting from innovative self-financing and government loans alike, value added in manufacturing nevertheless surpassed that of agriculture for the first time in 1943, employed over 1 million by 1947,[32] and allowed the need for imported consumer goods to decline from 40% of the total to 10% by 1950.[29]

text: The populist administration of Juan Perón nationalized the Central Bank, railways, and other strategic industries and services from 1945 to 1955. The subsequent enactment of developmentalism after 1958, though partial, was followed by a promising fifteen years. Inflation first became a chronic problem during this period[31] (it averaged 26% annually from 1944 to 1974);[33] but though it did not become fully "developed," from 1932 to 1974 Argentina's economy grew almost fivefold (or 3.8% in annual terms) while its population only doubled.[33] While unremarkable, this expansion was well-distributed and so resulted in several noteworthy changes in Argentine society - most notably the development of the largest proportional middle class (40% of the population by the 1960s) in Latin America[33] as well as the region's highest-paid, most unionized working class.[34]

text: The economy, however, declined during the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, and for some time afterwards.[35] The dictatorship's chief economist, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, advanced a corrupt, anti-labor policy of financial liberalization that increased the debt burden and interrupted industrial development and upward social mobility.[36][37] Over 400,000 companies of all sizes went bankrupt by 1982,[31] and neoliberal economic policies prevailing from 1983 through 2001 failed to reverse the situation.[38][39]

text: Record foreign debt interest payments, tax evasion, and capital flight resulted in a balance of payments crisis that plagued Argentina with severe stagflation from 1975 to 1990, including a bout of hyperinflation in 1989 and 1990. Attempting to remedy this situation, economist Domingo Cavallo pegged the peso to the U.S. dollar in 1991 and limited the growth in the money supply. His team then embarked on a path of trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. Inflation dropped to single digits and GDP grew by one third in four years.[40]

text: External economic shocks, as well as a dependency on volatile short-term capital and debt to maintain the overvalued fixed exchange rate, diluted benefits, causing erratic economic growth from 1995 and the eventual collapse in 2001.[38] That year and the next, the economy suffered its sharpest decline since 1930; by 2002, Argentina had defaulted on its debt, its GDP had declined by nearly 20% in four years, unemployment reached 25%, and the peso had depreciated 70% after being devalued and floated.[40]

text: Argentina's socio-economic situation has since been steadily improving. Expansionary policies and commodity exports triggered a rebound in GDP from 2003 onward. This trend has been largely maintained, creating over five million jobs and encouraging domestic consumption and fixed investment. Social programs were strengthened,[41] and a number of important firms privatized during the 1990s were renationalized beginning in 2003. These include the postal service, AySA (the water utility serving Buenos Aires), Pension funds (transferred to ANSES), Aerolíneas Argentinas, the energy firm YPF,[42] and the railways.[43]

text: The economy nearly doubled from 2002 to 2011, growing an average of 7.1% annually and around 9% for five consecutive years between 2003 and 2007.[40] Real wages rose by around 72% from their low point in 2003 to 2013.[44] The global recession did affect the economy in 2009, with growth slowing to nearly zero;[40] but high economic growth then resumed, and GDP expanded by around 9% in both 2010 and 2011.[40] Foreign exchange controls, austerity measures, persistent inflation, and downturns in Brazil, Europe, and other important trade partners, contributed to slower growth beginning in 2012, however.[45] Growth averaged just 1.3% from 2012 to 2014,[1] and rose to 2.4% in 2015.[3]

text: The Argentine government bond market is based on GDP-linked bonds, and investors, both foreign and domestic, netted record yields amid renewed growth.[46] Argentine debt restructuring offers in 2005 and 2010 resumed payments on the majority of its almost US$100 billion in defaulted bonds and other debt from 2001.[47]

text: Holdouts controlling 7% of the bonds, including some small investors, hedge funds, and vulture funds[48][49][50][51] led by Paul Singer's Cayman Islands-based NML Capital Limited, rejected the 2005 and 2010 offers to exchange their defaulted bonds. Singer, who demanded US$832 million for Argentine bonds purchased for US$49 million in the secondary market in 2008,[52] attempted to seize Argentine government assets abroad[53] and sued to stop payments from Argentina to the 93% who had accepted the earlier swaps despite the steep discount.[54] Bondholders who instead accepted the 2005 offer of 30 cents on the dollar, had by 2012 received returns of about 90% according to estimates by Morgan Stanley.[55] Argentina settled with virtually all holdouts in February 2016 at a cost of US$9.3 billion; NML received US$2.4 billion, a 392% return on the original value of the bonds.[56]

text: While the Argentine Government considers debt left over from illegitimate governments unconstitutional odious debt,[57][58] it has continued servicing this debt despite the annual cost of around US$14 billion[59] and despite being nearly locked out of international credit markets with annual bond issues since 2002 averaging less than US$2 billion (which precludes most debt roll over).[60]

text: Argentina has nevertheless continued to hold successful bond issues,[61][62] as the country's stock market, consumer confidence, and overall economy continue to grow.[63][64] The country's successful, US$16.5 billion bond sale in April 2016 was the largest in emerging market history.[65]

text:
On May 2018, Argentina’s government asked to the International Monetary Fund for its intervention,[66]
with an emergency loan for a thirty billion bailout,[67] as it is has been reported by Bloomberg.[68]

text: On May 2018 the official estimated inflation has peaked up to 25 percent a year, and on May 4[68] Argentina’s central bank has raised interest rates on pesos to 40 percent from 27.25 percent,[69][67] which is the highest in the world,[70] since the national currency has lost 18% of its value by the beginning of the year.[68]

text: Sectors[edit]

text: Agriculture[edit]

text: Argentina is one of the world's major agricultural producers, ranking among the top producers in most of the following, exporters of beef, citrus fruit, grapes, honey, maize, sorghum, soybeans, squash, sunflower seeds, wheat, and yerba mate.[72] Agriculture accounted for 9% of GDP in 2010, and around one fifth of all exports (not including processed food and feed, which are another third). Commercial harvests reached 103 million tons in 2010, of which over 54 million were oilseeds (mainly soy and sunflower), and over 46 million were cereals (mainly maize, wheat, and sorghum).[73]

text: Soy and its byproducts, mainly animal feed and vegetable oils, are major export commodities with one fourth of the total; cereals added another 10%. Cattle-raising is also a major industry, though mostly for domestic consumption; beef, leather and dairy were 5% of total exports.[74] Sheep-raising and wool are important in Patagonia, though these activities have declined by half since 1990. Biodiesel, however, has become one of the fastest growing agro-industrial activities, with over US$2 billion in exports in 2011.[74]

text: Fruits and vegetables made up 4% of exports: apples and pears in the Río Negro valley; rice, oranges and other citrus in the northwest and Mesopotamia; grapes and strawberries in Cuyo (the west), and berries in the far south. Cotton and tobacco are major crops in the Gran Chaco, sugarcane and chile peppers in the northwest, and olives and garlic in the west. Yerba mate tea (Misiones), tomatoes (Salta) and peaches (Mendoza) are grown for domestic consumption. Organic farming is growing in Argentina, and the nearly 3 million hectares (7.5 million acres) of organic cultivation is second only to Australia.[75] Argentina is the world's fifth-largest wine producer, and fine wine production has taken major leaps in quality. A growing export, total viticulture potential is far from having been met. Mendoza is the largest wine region, followed by San Juan.[76]

text: Government policy towards the lucrative agrarian sector is a subject of, at times, contentious debate in Argentina. A grain embargo by farmers protesting an increase in export taxes for their products began in March 2008,[77] and, following a series of failed negotiations, strikes and lockouts largely subsided only with the 16 July, defeat of the export tax-hike in the Senate.[78]

text: Argentine fisheries bring in about a million tons of catch annually,[40] and are centered on Argentine hake, which makes up 50% of the catch; pollock, squid, and centolla crab are also widely harvested. Forestry has long history in every Argentine region, apart from the pampas, accounting for almost 14 million m³ of roundwood harvests.[79] Eucalyptus, pine, and elm (for cellulose) are also grown, mainly for domestic furniture, as well as paper products (1.5 million tons). Fisheries and logging each account for 2% of exports.[40]

text: Natural resources[edit]

text: Mining and other extractive activities, such as gas and petroleum, are growing industries, increasing from 2% of GDP in 1980 to around 4% today.[40] The northwest and San Juan Province are the main regions of activity. Coal is mined in Santa Cruz Province. Metals and minerals mined include borate, copper, lead, magnesium, sulfur, tungsten, uranium, zinc, silver, titanium, and gold, whose production was boosted after 1997 by the Bajo de Alumbrera mine in Catamarca Province and Barrick Gold investments a decade later in San Juan. Metal ore exports soared from US$200 million in 1996 to US$1.2 billion in 2004,[82] and to over US$3 billion in 2010.[74]

text: Around 35 million m³ each of petroleum and petroleum fuels are produced, as well as 50 billion m³ of natural gas, making the nation self-sufficient in these staples, and generating around 10% of exports.[40] The most important oil fields lie in Patagonia and Cuyo. A network of pipelines (next to Mexico's, the second-longest in Latin America) send raw product to Bahía Blanca, center of the petrochemical industry, and to the La Plata-Greater Buenos Aires-Rosario industrial belt.

text: Industry[edit]

text: Manufacturing is the largest single sector in the nation's economy (15% of GDP), and is well-integrated into Argentine agriculture, with half the nation's industrial exports being agricultural in nature.[74] Based on food processing and textiles during its early development in the first half of the 20th century, industrial production has become highly diversified in Argentina.[83] Leading sectors by production value are: Food processing and beverages; motor vehicles and auto parts; refinery products, and biodiesel; chemicals and pharmaceuticals; steel and aluminium; and industrial and farm machinery; electronics and home appliances. These latter include over three million big ticket items, as well as an array of electronics, kitchen appliances and cellular phones, among others.[40]

text: Argentina's auto industry produced 791,000 motor vehicles in 2013, and exported 433,000 (mainly to Brazil, which in turn exported a somewhat larger number to Argentina); Argentina's domestic new auto market reached a record 964,000 in 2013.[84] Beverages are another significant sector, and Argentina has long been among the top five wine producing countries in the world; beer overtook wine production in 2000, and today leads by nearly two billion liters a year to one.[40] Other manufactured goods include: glass and cement; plastics and tires; lumber products; textiles; tobacco products; recording and print media; furniture; apparel and leather.[40]

text: Most manufacturing is organized in the 314 industrial parks operating nationwide as of 2012, a fourfold increase over the past decade.[85] Nearly half the industries are based in the Greater Buenos Aires area, although Córdoba, Rosario, and Ushuaia are also significant industrial centers; the latter city became the nation's leading center of electronics production during the 1980s.[86] The production of computers, laptops, and servers grew by 160% in 2011, to nearly 3.4 million units, and covered two-thirds of local demand.[87] Argentina has also become an important manufacturer of cell phones, providing about 80% of all devices sold in the country.[88] Another important rubric historically dominated by imports - farm machinery - was similarly replaced by domestic production, which covered 60% of demand by 2013.[89] Production of cell phones, computers, and similar products is actually an "assembly" industry, with the majority of the higher technology components being imported, and the designs of products originating from foreign countries. High labour costs for Argentina assembly work tend to limit product sales penetration to Latin America, where regional trade treaties exist.[citation needed]

text: Construction permits nationwide covered over 15 million m² (160 million ft²) in 2013. The construction sector accounts for over 5% of GDP, and two-thirds of construction is for residential buildings.[90]

text: Argentine electric output totaled over 133 billion Kwh in 2013.[40] This was generated in large part through well developed natural gas and hydroelectric resources. Nuclear energy is also of high importance,[91] and the country is one of the largest producers and exporters, alongside Canada and Russia of cobalt-60, a radioactive isotope widely used in cancer therapy.

text: Services[edit]

text: The service sector is the largest contributor to total GDP, accounting for over 60%. Argentina enjoys a diversified service sector, which includes well-developed social, corporate, financial, insurance, real estate, transport, communication services, and tourism.

text: The telecommunications sector has been growing at a fast pace, and the economy benefits from widespread access to communications services. These include: 77% of the population with access to mobile phones,[92] 95% of whom use smartphones;[93] Internet (over 32 million users, or 75% of the population);[94] and broadband services (accounting for nearly all 14 million accounts).[95] Regular telephone services, with 9.5 million lines,[96] and mail services are also robust. Total telecom revenues reached more than $17.8 billion in 2013,[97] and while only one in three retail stores in Argentina accepted online purchases in 2013 E-commerce reached US$4.5 billion in sales.[98]

text: Trade in services remained in deficit, however, with US$15 billion in service exports in 2013 and US$19 billion in imports.[17] Business Process Outsourcing became the leading Argentine service export, and reached US$3 billion.[99] Advertising revenues from contracts abroad were estimated at over US$1.2 billion.[100]

text: Tourism is an increasingly important sector and provided 4% of direct economic output (over US$17 billion) in 2012; around 70% of tourism sector activity by value is domestic.[101]

text: Banking[edit]

text: Argentine banking, whose deposits exceeded US$120 billion in December 2012,[102] developed around public sector banks, but is now dominated by the private sector. The private sector banks account for most of the 80 active institutions (over 4,000 branches) and holds nearly 60% of deposits and loans, and as many foreign-owned banks as local ones operate in the country.[103] The largest bank in Argentina by far, however, has long been the public Banco de la Nación Argentina. Not to be confused with the Central Bank, this institution now accounts for 30% of total deposits and a fifth of its loan portfolio.[103]

text: During the 1990s, Argentina's financial system was consolidated and strengthened. Deposits grew from less than US$15 billion in 1991 to over US$80 billion in 2000, while outstanding credit (70% of it to the private sector) tripled to nearly US$100 billion.[104]

text: The banks largely lent US dollars and took deposits in Argentine pesos, and when the peso lost most of its value in early 2002, many borrowers again found themselves hard pressed to keep up. Delinquencies tripled to about 37%.[104] Over a fifth of deposits had been withdrawn by December 2001, when Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo imposed a near freeze on cash withdrawals. The lifting of the restriction a year later was bittersweet, being greeted calmly, if with some umbrage, at not having these funds freed at their full U.S. dollar value.[105] Some fared worse, as owners of the now-defunct Velox Bank defrauded their clients of up to US$800 million.[106]

text: Credit in Argentina is still relatively tight. Lending has been increasing 40% a year since 2004, and delinquencies are down to less than 2%.[102] Still, credit outstanding to the private sector is, in real terms, slightly below its 1998 peak,[104] and as a percent of GDP (around 18%)[102] quite low by international standards. The prime rate, which had hovered around 10% in the 1990s, hit 67% in 2002. Although it returned to normal levels quickly, inflation, and more recently, global instability, have been affecting it again. The prime rate was over 20% for much of 2009, and around 17% since the first half of 2010.[102]

text: Partly a function of this and past instability, Argentines have historically held more deposits overseas than domestically. The estimated US$173 billion in overseas accounts and investment exceeded the domestic monetary base (M3) by nearly US$10 billion in 2012.[17]

text: Tourism[edit]

text: According to World Economic Forum's 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, tourism generated over US$22 billion, or 3.9% of GDP, and the industry employed more than 671,000 people, or approximately 3.7% of the total workforce.[107] Tourism from abroad contributed US$5.3 billion, having become the third largest source of foreign exchange in 2004. Around 5.7 million foreign visitors arrived in 2017, reflecting a doubling in visitors since 2002 despite a relative appreciation of the peso.[101]

text: Argentines, who have long been active travelers within their own country,[108] accounted for over 80%, and international tourism has also seen healthy growth (nearly doubling since 2001).[101] Stagnant for over two decades, domestic travel increased strongly in the last few years,[109] and visitors are flocking to a country seen as affordable, exceptionally diverse, and safe.[110]

text: Foreign tourism, both to and from Argentina, is increasing as well. INDEC recorded 5.2 million foreign tourist arrivals and 6.7 million departures in 2013; of these, 32% arrived from Brazil, 19% from Europe, 10% from the United States and Canada, 10% from Chile, 24% from the rest of the Western Hemisphere, and 5% from the rest of the world. Around 48% of visitors arrived by commercial flight, 40% by motor travel (mainly from neighboring Brazil), and 12% by sea.[111] Cruise liner arrivals are the fastest growing type of foreign tourism to Argentina; a total of 160 liners carrying 510,000 passengers arrived at the Port of Buenos Aires in 2013, an eightfold increase in a just a decade.[112]

text: GDP by value added[edit]

text:
Supply sector (% of GDP in current prices)
1993-2001
2002-2005
2006-2009[N 1]
2010-2013

Agriculture, forestry, and fishing
5.4
10.3
7.3
7.3

Mining
2.0
5.9
4.8
4.2

Manufacturing
18.5
23.2
19.8
16.8

Public utilities
2.2
1.7
2.3
3.1

Construction
5.5
3.9
6.2
5.6

Commerce and tourism
17.3
14.0
15.6
14.4

Transport and communications
8.3
8.7
7.3
6.7

Financial services
4.2
4.4
3.2
3.4

Real estate and business services
16.5
11.7
13.7
12.9

Public administration and defense
6.3
5.4
5.6
7.4

Health and education
8.4
6.9
8.9
11.9

Personal and other services
5.4
3.9
5.3
6.3

Total
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0

tag: table

text: Energy[edit]

text: Electricity generation in Argentina totaled 133.3 billion Kwh in 2013.[40] The electricity sector in Argentina constitutes the third largest power market in Latin America. It mainly still relies on centralised generation by natural gas power generation (51%), hydroelectricity (28%), and oil-fired generation (12%).[113] Reserves of shale gas and oil in the Vaca Muerta oil field and elsewhere are estimated to be the world's third-largest.[80]

text: Despite the country's large untapped wind and solar potential new renewable energy technologies and distributed energy generation are barely exploited. Wind energy is the fastest growing among new renewable sources. Fifteen wind farms have been developed since 1994 in Argentina, the only country in the region to produce wind turbines. The 55 MW of installed capacity in these in 2010 will increase by 895 MW upon the completion of new wind farms begun that year.[114] Solar power is being promoted with the goal of expanding installed solar capacity from 6 MW to 300, and total renewable energy capacity from 625 MW to 3,000 MW.[115]

text: Argentina is in the process of commissioning large centralised energy generation and transmission projects. An important number of these projects are being financed by the government through trust funds, while independent private initiative is limited as it has not fully recovered yet from the effects of the Argentine economic crisis.

text: The first of the three nuclear reactors was inaugurated in 1974, and in 2015 nuclear power generated 5% of the country's energy output.[113]

text: The electricity sector was unbundled in generation, transmission and distribution by the reforms carried out in the early 1990s. Generation occurs in a competitive and mostly liberalized market in which 75% of the generation capacity is owned by private utilities. In contrast, the transmission and distribution sectors are highly regulated and much less competitive than generation.

text: Infrastructure[edit]

text: Argentina's transport infrastructure is relatively advanced, and at a higher standard than the rest of Latin America.[116] There are over 230,000 km (144,000 mi) of roads (not including private rural roads) of which 72,000 km (45,000 mi) are paved,[117] and 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) are expressways, many of which are privatized tollways.[118] Having tripled in length in the last decade, multilane expressways now connect several major cities with more under construction.[118][119] Expressways are, however, currently inadequate to deal with local traffic,[119] as over 12 million motor vehicles were registered nationally as of 2012 (the highest, proportionately, in the region).[120]

text: The railway network has a total length of 37,856 kilometres (23,523 mi), though at the network's peak this figure was 47,000 km (29,204 mi).[75][121] After decades of declining service and inadequate maintenance, most intercity passenger services shut down in 1992 following the privatization of the country's railways and the breaking up of the state rail company, while thousands of kilometers fell into disuse. Outside Greater Buenos Aires most rail lines still in operation are freight related, carrying around 23 million tons a year.[40][122] The metropolitan rail lines in and around Buenos Aires remained in great demand owing in part to their easy access to the Buenos Aires Underground, and the commuter rail network with its 833 kilometres (518 mi) length carries around 1.4 million passengers daily.[123]

text: In April 2015, by overwhelming majority the Argentine Senate passed a law which re-created Ferrocarriles Argentinos as Nuevos Ferrocarriles Argentinos, effectively re-nationalising the country's railways.[124][125][126] In the years leading up to this move, the country's railways had seen significant investment from the state, purchasing new rolling stock, re-opening lines closed under privatization and re-nationalising companies such as the Belgrano Cargas freight operator.[127][128][129][130] Some of these re-opened services include the General Roca Railway service to Mar del Plata, the Tren a las Nubes tourist train and the General Mitre Railway service from Buenos Aires to Córdoba.[131][132][133] while brand new services include the Posadas-Encarnación International Train.[134]

text: Inaugurated in 1913, the Buenos Aires Underground was the first underground rail system built in Latin America, the Spanish speaking world and the Southern Hemisphere.[135] No longer the most extensive in South America, its 60 kilometres (37 mi) of track carry a million passengers daily.[136]

text: Argentina has around 11,000 km (6,835 mi) of navigable waterways, and these carry more cargo than do the country's freight railways.[137] This includes an extensive network of canals, though Argentina is blessed with ample natural waterways as well, the most significant among these being the Río de la Plata, Paraná, Uruguay, Río Negro, and Paraguay rivers. The Port of Buenos Aires, inaugurated in 1925, is the nation's largest; it handled 11 million tons of freight and transported 1.8 million passengers in 2013.[112]

text: Aerolíneas Argentinas is the country's main airline, providing both extensive domestic and international service. Austral Líneas Aéreas is Aerolíneas Argentinas' subsidiary, with a route system that covers almost all of the country. LADE is a military-run commercial airline that flies extensive domestic services. The nation's 33 airports handled air travel totalling 25.8 million passengers in 2013, of which domestic flights carried over 14.5 million; the nation's two busiest airports, Jorge Newbery and Ministro Pistarini International Airports, boarded around 9 million flights each.[138]

text: Foreign trade[edit]

text: Argentine exports are fairly well diversified. However, although agricultural raw materials are over 20% of the total exports, agricultural goods still account for over 50% of exports when processed foods are included. Soy products alone (soybeans, vegetable oil) account for almost one fourth of the total. Cereals, mostly maize and wheat, which were Argentina's leading export during much of the twentieth century, make up less than one tenth now.[139]

text: Industrial goods today account for over a third of Argentine exports. Motor vehicles and auto parts are the leading industrial export, and over 12% of the total merchandise exports. Chemicals, steel, aluminum, machinery, and plastics account for most of the remaining industrial exports. Trade in manufactures has historically been in deficit for Argentina, however, and despite the nation's overall trade surplus, its manufacturing trade deficit exceeded US$30 billion in 2011.[140] Accordingly, the system of non-automatic import licensing was extended in 2011,[141] and regulations were enacted for the auto sector establishing a model by which a company's future imports would be determined by their exports (though not necessarily in the same rubric).[142]

text: A net energy importer until 1987, Argentina's fuel exports began increasing rapidly in the early 1990s and today account for about an eighth of the total; refined fuels make up about half of that. Exports of crude petroleum and natural gas have recently been around US$3 billion a year.[139] Rapidly growing domestic energy demand and a gradual decline in oil production, resulted in a US$3 billion energy trade deficit in 2011 (the first in 17 years)[143] and a US$6 billion energy deficit in 2013.[144]

text: Argentine imports have historically been dominated by the need for industrial and technological supplies, machinery, and parts, which have averaged US$50 billion since 2011 (two-thirds of total imports). Consumer goods including motor vehicles make up most of the rest.[139] Trade in services has historically in deficit for Argentina, and in 2013 this deficit widened to over US$4 billion with a record US$19 billion in service imports.[17] The nation's chronic current account deficit was reversed during the 2002 crisis, and an average current account surplus of US$7 billion was logged between 2002 and 2009; this surplus later narrowed considerably, and has been slightly negative since 2011.[145]

text: Foreign investment[edit]

text: Foreign direct investment in Argentina is divided nearly evenly between manufacturing (36%), natural resources (34%), and services (30%). The chemical and plastics sector (10%) and the automotive sector (6%) lead foreign investment in local manufacturing; oil and gas (22%) and mining (5%), in natural resources; telecommunications (6%), finance (5%), and retail trade (4%), in services.[146] Spain was the leading source of foreign direct investment in Argentina, accounting for US$22 billion (28%) in 2009; the U.S. was the second leading source, with $13 billion (17%);[146] and China grew to become the third-largest source of FDI by 2011.[147] Investments from the Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, and Canada have also been significant; in 2012, foreign nationals held a total of around US$112 billion in direct investment.[17]

text: Several bilateral agreements play an important role in promoting U.S. private investment. Argentina has an Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) agreement and an active program with the U.S. Export-Import Bank. Under the 1994 U.S.–Argentina Bilateral Investment Treaty, U.S. investors enjoy national treatment in all sectors except shipbuilding, fishing, nuclear-power generation, and uranium production. The treaty allows for international arbitration of investment disputes.

text: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Argentina, which averaged US$5.7 billion from 1992 to 1998 and reached in US$24 billion in 1999 (reflecting the purchase of 98% of YPF stock by Repsol), fell during the crisis to US$1.6 billion in 2003.[148] FDI then accelerated, reaching US$8 billion in 2008.[149] The global crisis cut this figure to US$4 billion in 2009; but inflows recovered to US$6.2 billion in 2010.[150] and US$8.7 billion in 2011, with FDI in the first half of 2012 up by a further 42%.[151]

text: FDI volume remained below the regional average as a percent of GDP even as it recovered, however; Kirchner Administration policies and difficulty in enforcing contractual obligations had been blamed for this modest performance.[152] The nature of foreign investment in Argentina nevertheless shifted significantly after 2000, and whereas over half of FDI during the 1990s consisted in privatizations and mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment in Argentina became the most technologically oriented in the region – with 51% of FDI in the form of medium and high-tech investment (compared to 36% in Brazil and 3% in Chile).[153]

text: Issues[edit]

text: The economy recovered strongly from the 2001–02 crisis, and was the 21st largest in purchasing power parity terms in 2011; its per capita income on a purchasing power basis was the highest in Latin America.[1] A lobby representing US creditors who refused to accept Argentina's debt-swap programmes has campaigned to have the country expelled from the G20.[154] These holdouts include numerous vulture funds which had rejected the 2005 offer, and had instead resorted to the courts in a bid for higher returns on their defaulted bonds. These disputes had led to a number of liens against central bank accounts in New York and, indirectly, to reduced Argentine access to international credit markets.[155]

text: The government under President Mauricio Macri announced to be seeking a new loan from the IMF in order to avoid another economic crash similar to the one in 2001.[156] The May 2018 announcement comes at a time of high inflation and falling interest rates.[156] The loan would reportedly be worth $30 billion.[157]

text: Following 25 years of boom and bust stagnation, Argentina's economy doubled in size from 2002 to 2013,[1] and officially, income poverty declined from 54% in 2002 to 5% by 2013;[6] an alternative measurement conducted by CONICET found that income poverty declined instead to 15.4%.[158] Poverty measured by living conditions improved more slowly, however, decreasing from 17.7% in the 2001 Census to 12.5% in the 2010 Census.[159] Argentina's unemployment rate similarly declined from 25% in 2002 to an average of around 7% since 2011 largely because of both growing global demand for Argentine commodities and strong growth in domestic activity.[160]

text: Given its ongoing dispute with holdout bondholders, the government has become wary of sending assets to foreign countries (such as the presidential plane, or artworks sent to foreign exhibitions) in case they might be impounded by courts at the behest of holdouts.[161]

text: The government has been accused of manipulating economic statistics.[162]

text: Reliability of official CPI estimates[edit]

text: Official CPI inflation figures released monthly by INDEC have been a subject of political controversy since 2007.[160][163][164] Official inflation data are disregarded by leading union leaders, even in the people sector, when negotiating pay rises.[165] Some private-sector estimates put inflation for 2010 at around 25%, much higher than the official 10.9% rate for 2010.[165] Inflation estimates from Argentina's provinces are also higher than the government's figures.[165] The government stands by the validity of its data, but has called in the International Monetary Fund to help it design a new nationwide index to replace the current one.[165]

text: The official government CPI is calculated based on 520 products, however the controversy arises from these products not being specified, and thus how many of those products are subject to price caps and subsidies.[166] Economic analysts have been prosecuted for publishing estimates that disagree with official statistics.[167] The government enforces a fine of up to 500,000 pesos for providing what it calls "fraudulent inflation figures",.[165] Beginning in 2015, the government again began to call for competitive bids from the private sector to provide a weekly independent inflation index.[168]

text: Inflation[edit]

text: High inflation has been a weakness of the Argentine economy for decades.[169] Inflation has been unofficially estimated to be running at around 25% annually since 2008, despite official statistics indicating less than half that figure;[170][171] these would be the highest levels since the 2002 devaluation.[169] A committee was established in 2010 in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies by opposition Deputies Patricia Bullrich, Ricardo Gil Lavedra, and others to publish an alternative index based on private estimates.[45] Food price increases, particularly that of beef, began to outstrip wage increases in 2010, leading Argentines to decrease beef consumption per capita from 69 kg (152 lb) to 57 kg (125 lb) annually and to increase consumption of other meats.[169][172]

text: Consumer inflation expectations of 28 to 30% led the national mint to buy banknotes of its highest denomination (100 pesos) from Brazil at the end of 2010 to keep up with demand. The central bank pumped at least 1 billion pesos into the economy in this way during 2011.[173]

text: As of  June 2015[update], the government said that inflation was at 15.3%;[174] approximately half that of some independent estimates.[175] Inflation remained at around 18.6% in 2015 according to an IMF estimate;[176] but following a sharp devaluation enacted by the Mauricio Macri administration on December 17, inflation reignited during the first half of 2016 - reaching 42% according to the Finance Ministry.[177]

text: Supermarkets in Argentina have adopted electronic price tags, allowing prices to be updated quicker.[178]

text: Income distribution[edit]

text: In relation to other Latin American countries, has a moderate to low level of income inequality. Its Gini coefficient of about 0.427 (2014)[7] is reported to be the lowest among Latin American countries.[7] The social gap is worst in the suburbs of the capital, where beneficiaries of the economic rebound live in gated communities, and many of the poor (particularly undocumented immigrants) live in slums known as villas miserias.[179]

text: In the mid-1970s, the most affluent 10% of Argentina's population had an income 12 times that of the poorest 10%. That figure had grown to 18 times by the mid-1990s, and by 2002, the peak of the crisis, the income of the richest segment of the population was 43 times that of the poorest.[179] These heightened levels of inequality had improved to 26 times by 2006,[180] and to 16 times at the end of 2010.[181] Economic recovery after 2002 was thus accompanied by significant improvement in income distribution: in 2002, the richest 10% absorbed 40% of all income, compared to 1.1% for the poorest 10%;[182] by 2010, the former received 29% of income, and the latter, 1.8%.[181]

text: Argentina has an inequality-adjusted human development index of 0.680, compared to 0.542 and 0.661 for neighboring Brazil and Chile, respectively.[183] The 2010 Census found that poverty by living conditions still affect 1 in 8 inhabitants, however;[159] and while the official, household survey income poverty rate (based on U$S 100 per person per month, net) was 4.7% in 2013,[6] the National Research Council estimated income poverty in 2010 at 22.6%,[158] with private consulting firms estimating that in 2011 around 21% fell below the income poverty line.[184] The World Bank estimated that, in 2013, 3.6% subsisted on less than US$3.10 per person per day.[185]


document_title: New England Colonies

question_text: what religious groups lived in the new england colonies

text: New England Colonies

text: Arriving in America[edit]

text: France, England, and other countries made several attempts to colonize New England early in the 17th century, and those nations were often in contention for lands in the New World. French nobleman Pierre Dugua Sieur de Monts established a settlement on Saint Croix Island, Maine in June 1604 under the authority of the King of France. Nearly half the settlers perished due to the harsh winter and scurvy, and the survivors moved north out of New England to Port-Royal of Nova Scotia (see symbol "R" on map to the right) in the spring of 1605.[4]

text: King James I of England recognized the need for a permanent settlement in New England, and he granted competing royal charters to the Plymouth Company and the London Company. The Plymouth Company ships arrived at the mouth of the Kennebec River (then called the Sagadahoc River) in August 1607 where they established a settlement named Sagadahoc Colony, better known as Popham Colony (see symbol "Po" on map to right) to honor financial backer Sir John Popham. The colonists faced a harsh winter, the loss of supplies following a storehouse fire, and mixed relations with the local Indian tribes.

text: Colony leader Captain George Popham died, and Raleigh Gilbert decided to return to England to take up an inheritance left by the death of an older brother—at which point, all of the colonists decided to return to England. It was around August 1608 when they left on the ship Mary and John and on a new ship built by the colony named Virginia of Sagadahoc. The 30-ton Virginia was the first sea-going ship ever built in North America.[5]

text: Conflict over land rights continued through the early 17th century, with the French constructing Fort Pentagouet near Castine, Maine in 1613. The fort protected a trading post and a fishing station and was the first longer-term settlement in New England. It changed hands multiple times throughout the 17th century among the English, French, and Dutch colonists.[6]

text: In 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block traveled along the coast of Long Island Sound and then up the Connecticut River to Hartford, Connecticut. By 1623, the Dutch West India Company regularly traded for furs there, and they eventually fortified it for protection from the Pequot Indians and named the site "House of Hope" (also identified as "Fort Hoop," "Good Hope," and "Hope").[7]

text: Establishing the New England Colonies[edit]

text: A group of Puritans known as the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower from England and the Netherlands to establish Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts, the second successful English colony in North America following Jamestown, Virginia. About half of the one hundred-plus passengers on the Mayflower died that first winter, mostly because of diseases contracted on the voyage followed by a harsh winter.[8] In 1621, an American Indian named Squanto taught the colonists how to grow corn and where to catch eels and fish. His assistance was invaluable and helped them to survive the early years of the colonization. The Pilgrims lived on the same site where Squanto's Patuxet tribe had established a village before they were wiped out from diseases.[9]

text: The Plymouth settlement faced great hardships and earned few profits, but it enjoyed a positive reputation in England and may have sown the seeds for further immigration. Edward Winslow and William Bradford published an account of their experiences called Mourt's Relation (1622).[10] This book was only a small glimpse of the hardships and dangers encountered by the Pilgrims, but it encouraged other Puritans to immigrate during the Great Migration.

text: The Puritans in England first sent smaller groups in the mid-1620s to establish colonies, buildings, and food supplies, learning from the Pilgrims' harsh experiences of winter in the Plymouth Colony. In 1623, the Plymouth Council for New England (successor to the Plymouth Company) established a small fishing village at Cape Ann under the supervision of the Dorchester Company. The first group of Puritans moved to a new town at nearby Naumkeag after the Dorchester Company dropped support, and fresh financial support was found by Rev. John White. Other settlements were started in nearby areas; however, the overall Puritan population remained small through the 1620s.[11]

text: A larger group of Puritans arrived in 1630, leaving England because they desired to worship in a manner that differed from the Church of England. Their views were in accord with those of the Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower, except that the Pilgrims were "separatists" who felt that they needed to separate themselves from the Church of England, whereas the later Puritans were content to remain under the umbrella of the Church of England. The separate colonies were governed independently of one other until 1691, when Plymouth Colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

text: Spreading out[edit]

text: Early dissenters of the Puritan laws were often banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Connecticut Colony was started after Puritan minister Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts Bay with about 100 followers in search of greater religious and political freedom. John Wheelwright left with his followers to a colony in New Hampshire and then on to Maine. The Puritans also established the American public school system for the express purpose of ensuring that future generations would be able to read the Bible for themselves, which was a central tenet of Puritan worship.[12]

text: It was the dead of winter in January 1636 when minister Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony because of theological differences. One source of contention was his view that government and religion should be separate; he also believed that the colonies should purchase land at fair prices from the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes. He escaped being deported to England by the Massachusetts officials and walked from Salem, Massachusetts to Raynham, Massachusetts, a distance of 55 miles through the deep snow. The Indian tribes helped him to survive and sold him land for a new colony which he named Providence Plantations in recognition of the intervention of Divine Providence in establishing the new colony. It was unique in its day in expressly providing for religious freedom and a separation of church from state. Other dissenters established two settlements on Rhode Island (now called Aquidneck Island) and another settlement in Warwick; these four settlements eventually united to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.[13]

text: Thomas Hooker left Massachusetts in 1636 with 100 followers and founded a settlement just north of the Dutch Fort Hoop which grew into Connecticut Colony. The community was first named Newtown then renamed Hartford to honor the English town of Hertford. One of the reasons why Hooker left was that only members of the church could vote and participate in the government in Massachusetts Bay, which he believed should include any adult male owning property. The Connecticut Colony was not the first settlement in Connecticut (the Dutch were first) or even the first English settlement (Windsor was first in 1633). Thomas Hooker obtained a royal charter and established Fundamental Orders, considered to be one of the first constitutions in North America. Other colonies later merged into the royal charter for the Connecticut Colony, including New Haven and Saybrook.

text: Commerce[edit]

text: The earliest colonies in New England were usually fishing villages or farming communities on the more fertile land along the rivers. The rocky soil in the New England Colonies was not as fertile as the Middle or Southern Colonies, but the land provided rich resources, including lumber that was valued for building homes and ships. Lumber was also a resource that could be exported back to England, where there was a shortage of wood. In addition, the hunting of wildlife provided furs to be traded and food for the table.

text: In Massachusetts their economy was heavily based on small industries with people working as porters, tanners, shopkeepers and metalworkers. They had merchants which carried raw materials such as furs, timber, and the tar and pitch needed for shipbuilding. Trade went on directly between the English colonists and the European Caribbean islands.

text: The New England Colonies were located near the ocean where there was an abundance of whales, fish, and other marketable sea life. Excellent harbors and some inland waterways offered protection for ships and were also valuable for fresh water fishing. By the end of the 17th century, New England colonists had created an Atlantic trade network that connected them to the English homeland as well as the West African slave coast, the Caribbean's plantation islands, and the Iberian Peninsula. Colonists relied upon British and European imports for glass, linens, hardware, machinery, and other items for the colonial household.

text: The Southern Colonies could produce tobacco, rice, and indigo in exchange for imports, whereas New England's colonies could not offer much to England beyond fish, furs, and lumber. Inflation was a major issue in the economy. During the 18th century, shipbuilding drew upon the abundant lumber and revived the economy, often under the direction of the British Crown.[14]

text: Wartime Enslavement of Enemy Combatants in New England[edit]

text: Enslavement of enemies defeated in war was a common practice in European nations at this time. This was a policy that had been going on for decades in Ireland, particularly since the time of Elizabeth I and during the mid-17th century Cromwell wars in Britain and Ireland, where large numbers of Irish, Welsh, and Scots prisoners of war were sent as slaves to plantations in the West Indies, especially to Barbados and Jamaica.[15] The practice found its way to the American colonies during the Pequot War and King Philip's War.

text: Military leader Benjamin Church spoke out against enslaving Indians in the summer of 1675, describing the practice as "an action so hateful… that (I) opposed it to the loss of the good will and respect of some that before were (my) good friends." This said, Church was an owner of African slaves himself, like many Englishmen in the colony.[16] Ships carrying captured war combatants began to leave New England ports during King Philip's War (1675-78) and continued for the three years of the war. The policy concerning war enemies was that "no male captive above the age of fourteen years should reside in the colony."[17] It is estimated that at least a thousand New England Indian warriors were sold as slaves during King Philip's War, with over half of those coming from Plymouth.[18]

text: Education[edit]

text: In the New England Colonies, the first settlements of Pilgrims and the other Puritans who came later taught their children how to read and write in order that they might read and study the Bible for themselves. Depending upon social and financial status, education was taught by the parents home-schooling their children, public grammar schools, and private governesses, which included subjects from reading and writing to Latin and Greek and more.


document_title: Pam Beesly

question_text: what episode in season 3 do jim and pam get together

text: Pam Beesly

text: Casting and character development[edit]

text: The character was originally created to be very similar to the British counterpart, Dawn Tinsley. Even minute details, such as how Pam wore her hair each day, were considered by executive producer, Greg Daniels.[4]

text: "When I went in for The Office, the casting director said to me, 'Please look normal'," recalls Jenna Fischer. "Don't make yourself all pretty, and dare to bore me with your audition. Those were her words. Dare to bore me."[5]

text: Heeding the advice, Fischer said little during the auditions, during which she was interviewed in character by show producers, in an improvisational format, to imitate the show's documentary premise. "My take on the character of Pam was that she didn't have any media training, so she didn't know how to be a good interview. And also, she didn't care about this interview," she told NPR. "So, I gave very short one-word answers and I tried very hard not to be funny or clever, because I thought that the comedy would come out of just, you know, the real human reactions to the situation... and they liked that take on it."[5]

text: "When I went in to the audition, the first question that they asked me in the character of Pam — they said, 'Do you like working as a receptionist?' I said, 'No.' And that was it. I didn't speak any more than that. And they started laughing."[5]

text: Fischer found herself creating a very elaborate backstory for the character. For the first few seasons, she kept a list of the character history revealed on-screen by the creators, as well as her own imaginative thoughts on Pam's history.[6] She created a rule with the set's hair and make-up department that it couldn't look as though it took Pam more than 30 minutes to do her hair,[7] and she formulated ideas as to who gave Pam each piece of jewelry she wore [8] or where she went to college.[8] Fischer also carefully crafted Pam's quiet persona. "Well, my character of Pam is really stuck," she explained to NPR. "I mean, she's a subordinate in this office. And so, I think that for her, the only way she can express herself is in the silences, but you can say so much by not saying anything."[5]

text: Originally meek and passive, the character grew more assertive as the seasons passed, prompting Fischer to reassess her portrayal. "I have to approach Pam differently [now]," she explained in Season 4, a defining season in which her character finally begins a long-awaited relationship with Jim and is accepted into the Pratt Institute. "She is in a loving relationship, she has found her voice, she has started taking art classes. All of these things must inform the character and we need to see changes in the way she moves, speaks, dresses, etc."[6]

text: Character history[edit]

text: Seasons 1–3[edit]

text: At the beginning of the series, Pam and Roy have been dating for eight years and engaged for three years. Their open-ended engagement has become one of Michael's running gags and a sore spot for Pam.

text: Pam does not want her current job to become permanent, remarking that "I don't think it's many little girls' dream to be a receptionist." Pam is apathetic toward her work, evidenced by her frequent games of FreeCell on her office computer. However, in the pilot episode, she breaks down crying when Michael pulls an ill-advised prank by telling her that she will be fired.

text: Michael has criticized Pam for simply forwarding calls to voice mail without answering and (in a deleted scene) for not sounding enthusiastic enough when speaking on the telephone. Pam is usually happy to abandon her work if asked to do something else by Jim.  She will do extra, unnecessary work (such as making a casket for a dead bird or paper doves for the Office Olympics) to make other people happy.

text: Despite the abuse she takes from Michael, she never goes any further than calling him a jerk in the pilot. In later seasons, however, she becomes more honest and forward with Michael and will often make sarcastic comments toward him.

text: While engaged to Roy, Pam denies, or is in denial about, having any romantic feelings for Jim. When Jim confesses his love for her at the Dunder Mifflin "Casino Night" she turns him down. She later talks to her mom on the phone and says Jim is her best friend (though she doesn't say his name), and says "Yeah, I think I am" to an unheard question. She is interrupted by Jim, who enters and kisses her; she responds by kissing back.

text: Season three marks a turning point for Pam's character: she gains self-confidence and appears less passive and more self-assured as the season progresses. In "Gay Witch Hunt," the season's opener, it is revealed that Pam got cold feet before her wedding and did not marry Roy after all, and that Jim transferred to a different Dunder Mifflin branch, in Stamford, shortly after Pam rejected him a second time, after their kiss. Pam moves into her own apartment,  begins taking art classes, a pursuit that Roy had previously dismissed as a waste of time, and buys a new car, a blue Toyota Yaris. Jim returns to Scranton later on as a result of "The Merger", and brings along a female co-worker, Karen Filippelli, whom he begins dating. Jim and Pam appeared to have ended all communication after Jim transfers to the Stamford branch (aside from an episode in which Jim accidentally calls Pam at the end of the work day), and their episodes together following the branch merge are tense, despite both admitting to still harboring feelings for the other during the presence of the documentary cameras.

text: Meanwhile, Roy vows to win Pam back.  Roy's efforts to improve his relationship with Pam are quite successful, but once Pam and Roy are back together, he falls back into old habits almost immediately. When Roy and Pam attend an after work get-together at a local bar with their co-workers, Pam, feeling that she should be more honest with Roy, tells him about Jim kissing her at "Casino Night." Roy yells, smashes a mirror, and trashes the bar. Pam, frightened and embarrassed by his reaction, breaks up with Roy immediately. Roy vows to kill Jim and in "The Negotiation", Roy unsuccessfully tries to attack Jim at work (Jim is saved by Dwight's intervention), and is subsequently fired. Pam later reluctantly agrees to meet Roy for coffee at his request, and after the polite but brief meeting, it appears that their relationship has ended amicably with Roy encouraging Pam to pursue Jim.

text: Pam participates in an art show, but few people attend. Her co-worker, Oscar, brings his partner along who, not knowing that Pam is standing behind him, criticizes her work by proclaiming that "real art requires courage." Oscar then goes on to say that courage isn't one of Pam's strong points. Affected by this statement, Pam tells the documentary crew that she is going to be more honest, culminating in a dramatic coal walk during the next-to-last episode of the season, "Beach Games", and a seemingly sincere speech to Jim in front of the entire office about their relationship. Michael also comes to the art show and reveals his erratically kind heart and loyalty by buying, framing and hanging Pam's drawing of the Dunder Mifflin building in the office. In the season finale, "The Job," she leaves a friendly note in Jim's briefcase and an old memento depicting the 'gold medal' yogurt lid from the Office Olympics, which he sees during an interview for a job at Corporate in New York City. While he is asked how he "would function here in New York", Jim is shown to have his mind back in Scranton, still distracted by the thought of Pam. Jim withdraws his name from consideration and drives back to the office, where he interrupts a talking head Pam is doing for the documentary crew by asking her out for dinner. She happily accepts, visibly moved, abandoning a train of thought about how she would be fine if Jim got the job and never came back to Scranton. Karen quits soon after, becoming the regional manager at Dunder Mifflin's Utica branch.

text: Seasons 4–6[edit]

text: In Season 4, Pam retains the assertiveness she developed in the third season. She wears her hair down and has updated her old dowdy wardrobe.

text: In the season 4 premiere, "Fun Run", Jim and Pam confess that they have started dating after the camera crew catches them kissing. The office ultimately learns of their relationship in "Dunder Mifflin Infinity". In "Chair Model", after teasing Pam about his impending proposal, Jim tells the documentary crew he is not kidding around about an engagement and shows them a ring he bought a week after he and Pam started dating. In the next few episodes, Jim fake-proposes to Pam multiple times. In "Goodbye, Toby", Pam discovers she's been accepted at Pratt Institute, an art and design school in Brooklyn . In an interview later in the episode, Jim announces that he will propose to Pam that evening. Just as Jim is preparing to propose, however, Andy Bernard stands up and makes his own impromptu proposal to Angela. Having had his thunder stolen by Andy, Jim reluctantly puts the ring back in his jacket pocket, leaving Pam visibly disappointed as she was expecting Jim to propose that night.

text: In the Season 5 premiere, "Weight Loss", Pam begins her three-month course at the Pratt Institute. In this episode, Jim proposes in the pouring rain at a rest stop, saying that he "can't wait". In "Business Trip", Pam learns that she is failing one of her classes and will have to remain in New York another three months to retake it. Although Jim is supportive and tells her he will wait for her to come back "the right way", she ultimately makes the decision to return home, saying that she realized she hated graphic design and missed Scranton. A deleted scene for the episode shows Jim looking through Pam's graphic design projects, which he thinks are "cool", as well as a notebook filled with pencil sketches, which he finds a lot more impressive than her graphic design projects, implying her talents lie in hand-drawn works. In "Two Weeks", Pam agrees to become Michael's first saleswoman in his not-yet-established company, The Michael Scott Paper Co., as a supportive Jim looks on. When David Wallace makes an offer to buy the company Michael negotiates in order to get their jobs at Dunder Mifflin back instead, including adding Pam to the sales team. In "Company Picnic", Pam, after dominating the company volleyball tournament, injures her ankle during a game and is taken to the hospital against her wishes. At the hospital, the camera crew is stationed outside an exam room while a doctor updates Jim and Pam on her condition. There is no audio as the camera shows Jim and Pam embrace, looking shocked and ecstatic. It is implied that she is pregnant and is confirmed in the Season 6 premiere, "Gossip".

text: Jim and Pam marry early in the season, at Niagara Falls, during the highly anticipated, hour long episode, "Niagara". The ending of the episode, in which their co-workers dance down the aisle, is an imitation of a viral YouTube video — JK Wedding Entrance Dance.[9] Following the wedding, a multi-episode story arc begins in which it is revealed that Michael hooked up with Pam's mother the night of the wedding. The two break up during "Double Date", an episode that ends with Pam slapping Michael in response to his actions.

text: In "The Delivery" of Season 6, Pam and Jim have their first child, a daughter named Cecelia Marie Halpert. Jenna Fischer was granted naming rights by show producers, and chose to name her after her own niece.[10]

text: Season 7[edit]

text: In "Counseling", Pam feels inadequate about her poor performance in sales and tricks Gabe into promoting her to a phony new salaried position called office administrator. In "China", Pam tries to use her authority as office administrator to force building manager Dwight to stop his annoying cost-cutting measures. Pam threatens to move the office to a new building, which Dwight discovers doesn't exist. Pam saves face, however, when Dwight secretly has his assistant provide her with a book on building regulations that proves Dwight's measures were not allowed. The episode is another example of Dwight's covert protectiveness and fondness for Pam (as previously demonstrated in "The Injury", "Back from Vacation", "The Job" and "Diwali"); Mindy Kaling said during an online Q&A session that Dwight has a soft spot for her that he does not extend to anyone else at the office. She also uses her position to buy Erin Hannon an expensive desktop computer to replace the terrible one she had to use for years, as well as discreetly giving Andy a new computer, and giving Darryl three sick days. At the end of the episode she proudly says that she is, "Full on corrupt."

text: In "Goodbye, Michael", Pam almost misses saying good-bye to Michael, as she spends most of the day out of the office trying to price shredders. Jim figures out Michael's plan to leave early and tells her by text. Pam reaches the airport in time and is the last person to see Michael before he leaves.

text: Season 8[edit]

text: At the beginning of Season 8, Pam is revealed to be pregnant with her and Jim's second child, Philip Halpert. The child coincided with Jenna Fischer's actual pregnancy. She begins her maternity leave after "Gettysburg". Pam returns in "Jury Duty", where she and Jim bring Cece and Phillip into the office. In both "Tallahassee" and "Test the Store" Pam is shown helping, and developing her friendship with Andy.

text: Season 9[edit]

text: Early in season 9, Jim is restless about his life in Scranton and helps a friend start a Sports Marketing business, Athlead, in Philadelphia but he keeps it a secret from Pam until the third episode "Andy's Ancestry". Although Pam is happy for his decision, she is concerned about the fact that he had kept it a secret from her and she is later disturbed to hear about just how much of their money he had invested.  Jim begins spending part of each work week in Philadelphia, but in "Customer Loyalty", the strain of this on Pam is evident when she breaks down in tears, and is comforted by Brian, the boom mic operator of the film crew.

text: In "Moving On", Pam interviews for a job in Philadelphia to be closer to Jim, but she is turned off by the idea when her prospective new boss bears a striking resemblance in behavior to Michael Scott. Over dinner, Pam reveals to Jim that she doesn't really want to move to Philadelphia after all. However, in "Livin' the Dream", when Athlead is bought out and Jim is offered a large sum of money for 3 months to pitch the company across the country, Pam overhears Jim refuse the opportunity because of her and appears to have mixed feelings about this decision. In "A.A.R.M.", Pam tells Jim that she's afraid that he will resent her for making him stay and that she might not be enough for him. Jim asks the camera crew to compile documentary footage of the two of them to show her. When she finishes the montage, which shows Jim taking back a letter he intended to give her with his teapot gift during Christmas; Jim finally gives her that letter, and she reads it, visibly moved. In the series finale, which takes place a year later, she reveals to Jim that she secretly put the house on the market, so that they can move to Austin, Texas, and take his job back at Athlead (now Athleap).

text: Coworker relations[edit]

text: From her years working the front desk, Pam  has become well-acquainted with the Dunder-Mifflin staff and is consistently shown to have a thorough understanding of her coworkers' personalities, including the more eccentric individuals Dwight Schrute and Michael Scott. She uses this familiarity to manipulate them, often for their and the company's best interests (such as her giving the staff elaborate instructions on how to handle a heartbroken Michael in "The Chump") but also occasionally for her own. This familiarity plays a large part in her efficiency as office administrator and was crucial to her being promoted to the previously non-existent position.

text: Jim Halpert[edit]

text: The "will they or won't they" tension between Jim and Pam is a strong storyline in the early episodes of The Office, encompassing much of Seasons 1 to 3. In the opener of Season 4, the two characters are revealed to be dating, and as such, other character romances, such as the romance between fellow co-workers Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin, begin to move more toward the forefront of episodes. In Season 6, Jim and Pam are married in the season's 4th and 5th episodes (hour long), a feat considered noteworthy by many television critics, as bringing together the two lead love interests in a television series is often thought to be a risky venture.[11] Their child is born in the second half of the season, during another hour long, "The Delivery". Pam and Jim's second child is born during season 8. In season 9, their marriage becomes strained when Jim takes up a second job in Philadelphia. They ultimately decide to leave Dunder Mifflin together so Jim can pursue his dream job.

text: Roy Anderson[edit]

text: When the series begins, Pam is engaged to her high school sweetheart Roy Anderson; this engagement is revealed to be three years old and running. They finally set a date, but Pam calls off the wedding at the last minute. They get back together once, briefly, but Pam is much more assertive, and finally breaks up with him after he has a violent outburst. Roy is deeply flawed - he is overbearing, neglectful, dismissive of her desire to be an artist, and offers her sex as a gift on Valentine's Day. Jim comments in Season 2 that Pam does not like to "bother" Roy with her "thoughts or feelings". He tells the camera crew that the only two problems in Pam's life seemed to be Roy and her job at Dunder Mifflin.

text: In the early seasons, there is a great deal of tension between Jim and Roy, with Roy often acting threateningly towards Jim. In "Basketball", when Jim starts to impress Pam with his basketball skills, Roy elbows Jim in the nose. In season 2, when Jim encourages Pam to pursue a graphic arts internship offered by Dunder Mifflin, Roy objects to the opportunity and eventually convinces her that the idea is foolish. Pam ultimately calls off her wedding to Roy, but they remain friendly and he is determined to win her back by being less of a jerk. She reconciles with Roy at Phyllis's wedding as a response to watching Jim date Karen. In an attempt at a fresh start with Roy, Pam comes clean about Jim kissing her during "Casino Night". Roy flies into a violent rage and Pam ends the relationship on the spot. The next day, Roy attempts to attack Jim in the office but is stopped by Dwight's pepper spray and is summarily fired. After losing his job, Roy meets Pam for coffee and says that even though Jim is dating Karen, she should at least make an effort to date him (inasmuch as she called off the wedding because of him).

text: In season 5, Jim and Roy run into each other at a bar and Roy learns that Jim and Pam are engaged. The mood is somewhat awkward, but Roy is congratulatory, but then makes a somewhat passive-aggressive comment, seemingly meant to make Jim feel insecure about his current role in Pam's life, which tempts him to drive to Pratt, where she is attending art classes. Jim gets on the freeway, but changes his mind and remembers that he trusts Pam. Jim didn't want to treat Pam the same way Roy treated her.

text: Michael Scott[edit]

text: In the series pilot, Michael is overtly rude to Pam and at one point fakes her firing, leaving her in tears. He often makes suggestive if harmless remarks about her beauty and general appearance, and at one point lies to the camera that they used to date (inspiring a horrified "WHAT???" from Pam when an interviewer relays the message to her). However, his impulsive attempt to kiss her during Diwali is shot down and marked the end of any romantic dreams for Michael with Pam. Over time, the combination of Michael being supportive of her goals, her transition from a bad relationship with Roy to a great one with Jim as well as her finding a job she not only enjoys but is effective at in the office administrator position and Michael finding his own soulmate in Holly Flax made Pam soften her stance towards Michael, and the experience at the Michael Scott Paper Company further bonded them (as did Michael's decision to choose Pam instead of Ryan Howard as the only MSPC salesman to keep that job when Michael returned as Branch Manager). Pam was furious at Michael for dating her mom Helene, and excoriated him at length during "The Lover" before eventually slapping him in "Double Date", but they once again were able to be civil to each other afterward. Pam does set up boundaries around her personal life that Michael can't cross, like telling him that he wasn't Cece's godfather. By Season 7, Pam acts as something of a guardian angel for Michael, steering him away from (numerous) bad ideas and towards his (fewer but real) good ones, such as his successful efforts to propose to Holly. In Michael's finale "Goodbye, Michael", Pam spends the whole day looking for a shredder, believing that the next day Michael was leaving. As Michael takes off his microphone and heads down the airport concourse, Pam runs to him with no shoes and hugs him as he kisses her cheek. The two have a nice moment and he walks off, leaving her holding her shoes. She then tells the camera that he was happy, wanting to be an advanced rewards member, and was glad to be going home to see Holly. She then is there to watch Michael's plane take off. In a deleted scene from "The Inner Circle", we learn Pam is flattered that Michael named his new puppy "Pamela Beagsley", and in "The List" she playfully teases Jim by calling their second child "Little Michael Scott", further proving that the two have developed a genuine friendship.

text: Toby Flenderson[edit]

text: Toby, the Human Resources Representative for Dunder Mifflin in the Scranton branch, has a secret crush on Pam. In "A Benihana Christmas" she gives him her Dunder-Mifflin bathrobe, a display of friendly affection, after he spent the day feeling bad that Dwight took his. In Dunder Mifflin Infinity, Toby witnesses Pam kissing Jim Halpert in the break room, which prompts him to issue a memo about public displays of affection in the workplace. Later, when Jim and Pam admit they are dating and ask to fill out a disclosure form, he hesitates to give them a form saying they should wait and see. In "Night Out", Toby awkwardly rubs her knee while they share a laugh (and while Jim sits just on her other side), and the rest of the office watches in horror. In his mortification, Toby immediately announces that he is moving to Costa Rica before jumping over the locked gate and fleeing. In "Goodbye, Toby", Toby purchases a DSLR camera just to get a picture with Pam. On the eve of his departure, Pam confesses to the cameras that she always thought Toby was "kind of cute". In "Niagara", Pam and Jim are late for their wedding and he is visibly excited at the prospect that the wedding might not happen. In "Finale", Pam and Toby dance with each other at Dwight's wedding, with Toby beginning to cry as Pam comforts him. When she asks, "is it me?", he replies that "it's everything!".

text: Appearances[edit]

text: Pam Halpert has appeared in every episode with the exceptions of "Business Ethics" (except for the deleted scenes), "St. Patrick's Day", and "New Leads" in which only her voice is heard, and several season 8 episodes from "Mrs. California" to "Pool Party", where she did not appear at all as Fischer was on maternity leave.[12]

text: Notes[edit]

text: ^ Jump up to: a b Pam Beesly's full name is Pamela Morgan Beesly (later Pamela Morgan Halpert). In "The Lover" Michael says to Pam, "Pamela Morgan Beesly, you need to apologize to your mother right now."[2] In "Did I Stutter?" Jim says to Pam, "You know what would energize me? If you, Pamela Morgan Beesly..."[3]

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