Iceland’s Recovery

Iceland’s crisis was brutally severe. With a bloated current account deficit and bad debts, Iceland experienced a severe balance of payments crisis and banking losses. Iceland responded by: Not guaranteeing all banking debt. Many large banks failed and were seized by the government Allowing the currency to devalue by 50%. Imposed capital controls to prevent …

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German and Chinese Exports

Readers Question: how can Germany show a surplus? I mean I can understand that German exports have always been their main source of income , but with all the world exports shifting to China and India wouldn’t we expect the German exports to decline? Thanks! German Current Account Surplus Germany has a current account surplus. …

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 Policies to stop Dollar Falling

Policies to halt the slide of the dollar 1. Increase US interest rates · Higher interest rates will attract more hot money flows into the US and therefore cause an appreciation. · Also higher interest rates will cause an increase in savings and a fall in spending this will help reduce imports into the US …

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European Union

Background to the EU 1957 Treaty Of Rome established the EEC between 6 original members 1960 EFTA between UK, Aus, Den, Nor, Port, Swiss and Swe 1973 UK, Ireland and Denmark join EC 1999 Creating of Euro single currency. Community Institutions European Commission, this is the civil service of the EU Council of Ministers from …

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The early Years of the EURO 1999-2002

The Euro started Jan 1999 EMU involves Replacement of National currencies by the EURO Same Monetary Policy – Since “One Money” implies uniform interest rates Exchange Rates within the Euro area will cease to exist By mid 2002 national currencies will cease to be legal tender Pre Launch Blues Expectations about Inflation helped reduce actual …

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Bretton Woods System

policy-trilemma

Bretton woods was a semi-fixed exchange rates set up in the post-war period. The Bretton Woods exchange rate system had a system of pegged exchange rates with currencies pegged to the dollar. The dollar was fixed to the price of gold ($35 an ounce) – giving the US Dollar a fixed value. The currencies in …

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Convergence criteria for Euro

The Euro is a project of a monetary union and a single currency. The Euro involves a common currency and also a common monetary policy. Therefore, for membership to be successful, countries have to meet certain convergence criteria which include: 1. Inflation rate: No more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the …

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GDP at PPP compared to GDP in $US

A look at how GDP per capita in $US gives different values when measured at purchasing power parity. GDP at Purchasing Power parity (PPP) takes into account variations in living costs. PPP is an attempt to work out how much currency will be needed to buy the same quantity of goods and services in different …

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