The German Finance Minister Wolgang Schauble has been a strong advocate of austerity, supply side reforms and ‘sound money’ policies. (i.e. sticking rigidly to inflation targets). Generally, this has been the preferred approach of Europe to the ongoing debt crisis and recession of the past few years. Recently, he has claimed that the European economy …
Despite a shrinkage in manufacturing and widening trade deficit, the IMF have hinted that the UK economy is beginning to emerge from one of the longest periods of economic stagnation / recession on records. They marginally increased their forecast for UK growth to 0.9% for 2013. Does the recent good news give hope to the …
Shock therapy is the belief that the best way to fix a broken economy is to implement radical changes and introduce new market oriented policies, in one fell swoop whatever the short term cost. Shock therapy is associated with the economist Jeffrey Sachs who advocated free market reforms for Eastern European countries like Poland and …
The Latvian and Estonian economies have recently experienced – an economic boom, a spectacular bust, and recovery. Their experience is a chance to evaluate the merits of fixed exchange rates, austerity and the issues of an economy based on trade and capital inflows. Aspects of the Baltic economies Boom period between 2000 and 2007 Great …
This years OCR F585 global economy pre-release stimulus material is about Estonia and its economic performance. This post gives a few extra graphs about the state of the Estonian economy and considers important issues and questions, related to Estonia. Brief synopsis From the early 2000s Estonia experienced rapid economic growth as it benefited from joining …
No one doubts the commitment of many in the EU to seeking a way to prevent the Euro breaking up. The Euro project is deeply embedded in the European establishment. But, are they fighting a lost cause? Are the structural problems with the single currency so severe, they would be better off pursuing an orderly …
Readers Question: Why do countries that experience a boom risk losing international competitiveness? An economic boom implies that an economy is growing above its long term trend rate. This means that the rate of economic growth is high, but there tend to be inflationary pressures because demand is growing faster than supply. The impact of …
Readers Question: Hi, just been watching tv about independence and the Scottish leader says our balance of payments would double if there was no oil money and they had their own money. What would happen to the English pound? would it go down? In 2012, the UK exported £39.6 bn worth of oil. In 2012, …