Should full employment be the primary macroeconomic objective?

ad-increase

The main macroeconomic objectives of the government will include: low inflation, increasing the sustainable rate of economic growth full employment and balance of payments equilibrium. Full employment involves zero or very low unemployment. In practice, there will always be some frictional unemployment as people are looking for new jobs or leaving school. Economists suggest an …

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The Role of Price Expectations in Inflation

inflation-expectations

A key factor in determining inflation is people’s expectations of future inflation. If firms and consumers expect future inflation then it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If workers expect future inflation, they are more likely to bargain for higher wages to compensate for the increased cost of living. If workers can successfully bargain for higher …

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Deficit spending to boost economic growth

us-federal-deficit

The current US administration have suggested they want to increase the US budget deficit to enable higher rates of economic growth. What does economic theory state about this idea? “We need to have new deficits because of that. We need to have the growth,” Mulvaney said. “If we simply look at this as being deficit-neutral, …

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Technical Efficiency Definition

Technical efficiency is the effectiveness with which a given set of inputs is used to produce an output. A firm is said to be technically efficient if a firm is producing the maximum output from the minimum quantity of inputs, such as labour, capital, and technology. Technical efficiency requires no unemployment of resources. Given a …

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Monetarist Theory of Inflation

Monetarists argue that if the Money Supply rises faster than the rate of growth of national income, then there will be inflation. If the money supply increases in line with real output then there will be no inflation. M.Friedman stated: “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon in the sense that it is and …

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Inelastic supply

Supply is price inelastic if a change in price causes a smaller percentage change in supply. (PES of less than one) Example of inelastic supply – Price of rents falls by 20%; Q.Supply declines by 1%. PES = 0.05 Diagram of inelastic supply In this case, an increase in price from £30 to £40 has …

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Keynes Bibliography

Due to lack of space in the book, we have published full bibliography on this website. Bibliography Chapter 1 Is it OK to be selfish? Frank, R H (1988) Passions Within Reason: The Strategic Role of the Emotions, p. xi. New York: W W Norton & Co. Galbraith, J K (1982) “Recession economics”, The New …

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Investment and Aggregate Demand

supply-side-policies

Readers Question: What are the effects of increased investment on aggregate demand in the short term and the long term. Investment means capital expenditure (e.g. purchasing machines or building bigger factory) Investment is a component of AD –  AD+ C+I+G+X-M. Investment spending takes about 15% of AD; it is not as significant as consumer spending …

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