Questions on budget deficits and bond yields. 1. What is the Link between the size of a countries budget deficit, and bond yields? Highest budget deficits – Ireland, Japan, UK and US 10 Year Bond Yields Greece and Ireland seem to have the relationship you might expect – deficit close to 10% of GDP …
Definition of a liquidity trap: When monetary policy becomes ineffective because, despite zero/very low-interest rates, people want to hold cash rather than spend or buy illiquid assets. A liquidity trap is characterised by Very low-interest rates Low inflation Slow/negative economic growth Preference for saving rather than spending and investment Monetary policy becomes ineffective in boosting …
Readers Question: What caused the massive decrease in the debt to GDP ratio for the UK following World War II? It is a good question to ask. In the past few years, many European policymakers have felt that rising debt levels needed panic levels of austerity/spending cuts. But, that didn’t happen in the UK in …
In a recession, fiscal policy and monetary policy can, in theory, be used to increase aggregate demand and boost economic growth. However, in practice, there can be many difficulties with preventing a recession. If the world economy was to get close to recession in 2020, could policymakers act decisively to prevent a recession? Factors …
Readers Question: Can inflation cause a recession? Inflation is not the main cause of recessions. Usually, recessions are caused by factors such as high-interest rates, fall in confidence, fall in bank lending and decline in investment. However, it is possible that cost-push inflation can contribute to a recession, especially if inflation is above nominal wage …
When reading economic articles in the past few years, you may frequently come across the reference to the ‘zero lower bound’ or ZLB. What is the Zero Lower Bound rate? In short – when interest rates can’t fall any further below 0% Examples of ZLB UK interest rates were cut to 0.5% in March 2009 …
Definition – Sticky wages is a concept to describe how in the real world, wages may be slow to change and get stuck above the equilibrium because workers resist nominal wage cuts. Wages can be ‘sticky’ for numerous reasons including – the role of trade unions, employment contracts, reluctance to accept nominal wage cuts and …
The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) measures the proportion of extra income that is spent on consumption. For example, if an individual gains an extra £10, and spends £7.50, then the marginal propensity to consume will be £7.5/10 = 0.75. The MPC will invariably be between 0 and 1. The marginal propensity to consume measures …