A recession (fall in national income) will typically be characterised by high unemployment, falling average incomes, increased inequality and higher government borrowing. The impact of a recession depends on how long it lasts and the depth of the fall in output. The main costs of a recession will be: Unemployment Fall in income – shorter …
Since the credit crisis of 2008, the UK economy has experienced structural weakness of Low economic growth Very poor productivity growth Weak demand Unbalanced economy geared towards consumption and low levels of investment. In addition to these structural weaknesses, the UK economy in 2020 now faces real threats from A hard Brexit Risk of slowdown …
Definition Third World Debt: Third world debt is the external debt that governments in developing countries owe to foreign banks and foreign governments. Many of the countries with third world debt, gained their independence post-1945. Some countries like Indonesia acquired debts from the colonial rulers (Dutch) but for most countries their debt accumulated during the 60s, …
Economics affects our daily lives in both obvious and subtle ways. From an individual perspective, economics frames many choices we have to make about work, leisure, consumption and how much to save. Our lives are also influenced by macro-economic trends, such as inflation, interest rates and economic growth. Summary – why economics is important The …
The Lib Dems have proposed a budget rule that would run a persistent current budget surplus of 1%. This means that current spending (day to day costs of government) should always be less than tax revenue. Borrowing would only be allowed to finance capital investment after an independent watchdog found that the return would be …
Resource scarcity is defined as a situation where demand for a natural resource is exceeding the supply – leading to a decline in available resources. When we talk about scarce resources, we usually imply that current use is unsustainable in the long-term. Scarcity can involve non-renewable resources, such as oil, precious metals and helium. It …
Readers Question: what are the advantages and disadvantages of inflation? Inflation occurs when there is a sustained increase in the general price level. Traditionally high inflation rates are considered to be damaging to an economy. High inflation creates uncertainty and can wipe away the value of savings. However, most Central Banks target an inflation rate …
There are two main strategies for reducing unemployment – Demand side policies to reduce demand-deficient unemployment (unemployment caused by recession) Supply side policies to reduce structural unemployment / (the natural rate of unemployment) A quick list of policies to reduce unemployment Monetary policy – cutting interest rates to boost aggregate demand (AD) Fiscal policy – …