Solutions to national debt

Readers Question: Please is there any solution to national/public debt? National (public sector) debt is the outstanding level of debt owed by the government to the private sector. It is the accumulation of annual budget deficits. Do we need a solution? Firstly, it is worth evaluating whether we need an actual ‘solution.’ National debt has …

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Free movement of labour – advantages

Definition of free movement of labour – It means that workers are entitled to look for work in another country, without requiring any visa. Free movement of labour is a fundamental principle of the EU. It means EU citizens are entitled to look for a job in another EU country. Also, qualifications are universally accepted …

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Size of Labour Force and Working Population

economic-inactivity

Readers Question: why is there a difference between the size of the population of working age and the size of the workforce? The population of working age is everyone between 18-65. The workforce is everyone either in work or actively seeking work. This is also known as the numbers economically active. The workforce excludes some …

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Impact of a banking crisis

run-on-the-banks

Readers Question: Can anyone explain the reasons why the Banking Crisis may have brought about increased unemployment? A banking crisis implies major banks run short of money (liquidity). In a severe banking crisis (e.g. Great Depression 1929-32), some banks may go out of business. If banks do face liquidity shortages or worse, it will have …

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US economy under Obama 2009-2017

us-economic-growth

Barack Obama served as President from Jan 2009 – Jan 2017. When Obama came to office in Jan 2009, the US economy was in a deep recession, with falling real GDP, high unemployment and rising levels of government borrowing. As President, Obama oversaw a moderate fiscal expansion which helped to promote economic recovery and falling …

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Does Government Debt Matter?

bond-yields-net-debt

Readers Question: Does Government debt matter? Do high fiscal deficits threaten economic stability? Summary Many worry that high levels of government debt could cause economic instability. In certain occasions, countries with high debt have seen investors lose confidence, leading to higher bond yields and putting pressure on the government to slash spending, for example, several …

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Is austerity necessary?

uk-national-debt

Since 2010, the UK economy has been dominated by spending cuts and the desire to run a budget surplus as soon as possible. In the political world, the government deficit is often portrayed as the source of many economic ills and eliminating the deficit one of the highest macro objectives. However the government deficit (see: …

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Lump of labour fallacy – immigration

The lump of labour fallacy is the contention that the amount of work available in an economy is fixed.  But, most economists argue this belief there is a fixed number of jobs (or fixed number of hours) is usually incorrect. In summary Fallacy – “Immigrants take jobs of native workers.” Why this is a fallacy …

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