Supply side policies are government policies which seek to increase the productivity and efficiency of the economy. They can involve interventionist supply side policies (e.g. government spending on education) or free market supply-side policies (e.g. reduce government legislation) The main macroeconomic objectives of the government include: Higher economic growth Low inflation Low unemployment Equilibrium on …
Monetary policy (mainly interest rates) used to be managed by the government. However, in recent years, there has been a trend to give monetary policy to independent Central Banks. The idea is that Central Banks will be more independent of political considerations and willing to keep inflation low – even if there are political costs …
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, …
Readers Question: What is the cause of deflation? Deflation involves a fall in the price level – a negative rate of inflation. From a very basic standpoint, there are two main potential causes of deflation: A fall in aggregate demand (AD) A shift to the right of aggregate supply (AS) – i.e. lower costs of …
When interest rates were cut to 0.5% in March 2009, few would have predicted that interest rates would have stayed low in UK, US and the Eurozone for so long. Interest rates have stayed at zero for several years – defying several predictions that they will rise soon. Who benefits from low-interest rates and who …
Readers Question: my question is whether economic instability means high and fluctuated inflation, employment and unsustainable growth or has other definition? Economic instability can take various forms. In recent years, we have witnessed a few examples of this. The main types of instability are: Inflation – The cost-push inflation of the 1970s. In extreme cases, …
Involuntary unemployment is a situation where workers are willing to work at the market wage or just below but are prevented by factors beyond their control. These factors could include deficiency of aggregate demand, labour market inflexibilities, implicit wage bargaining and efficiency wage theory. In Keynesian theory, involuntary unemployment is associated with insufficient aggregate demand …
Tight monetary policy implies the Central Bank (or authority in charge of Monetary Policy) is seeking to reduce the demand for money and limit the pace of economic expansion. Usually, this involves increasing interest rates. The aim of tight monetary policy is usually to reduce inflation. With higher interest rates there will be a slowdown …