Financialisation is a term used to describe the increased role of the financial sector in a modern economy. Source: NYT 2013 Financialisation also refers to particular trends in the financial sector of the economy. This includes: Increased use of financial intermediaries Increased use of futures markets. For example future contracts for bonds, shares, currencies and …
For the past 40 years, China has been one of the strongest performing economies – transforming itself from a developing economy to an unprecedented level of prosperity. However, in recent years, there have been concerns the rapid rate of growth in China is beginning to slow down and over the next few years, economic challenges …
Effective demand refers to the willingness and ability of consumers to purchase goods at different prices. It shows the amount of goods that consumers are actually buying – supported by their ability to pay. Effective demand excludes latent demand – where the willingness to purchase goods may be limited by the inability to afford it …
Environmental sustainability is concerned with whether environmental resources will be protected and maintained for future generations. Issues of environmental sustainability Environmental sustainability is concerned with issues such as: Long-term health of ecosystems. Protecting the long-term productivity and health of resources to meet future economic and social needs, e.g. protecting food supplies, farmland and fishing stocks. …
Readers Question: What’s the relationship between a countries economy and it’s stock market? Is it always true that the stock market reflects a country’s economic conditions? Generally speaking, the stock market will reflect the economic conditions of an economy. If an economy is growing then output will be increasing and most firms should be experiencing …
A tortoise economy refers to an economy that is barely growing – either economic growth is stagnant or growth is very slow. In particular, it has been used to describe a sluggish recovery from recession. In the aftermath of the great recession – 2007/08, many western economies experienced a very slow economic recovery. GDP was …
Readers Question – what explains the strength of the German economy post-war? In the aftermath of the Second World War, the German economy was devastated by years of war, price controls, rationing and the loss of patents and top scientists to the US. However, by 1950, the economy was transformed by investment, economic growth and …
Readers Question: In 2008, did banks lend money to people who wanted to buy a house because they believed that the value of the housing market would keep rising? So even if people defaulted on their loan repayments then the banks could reposes the house as it was used as collateral. As the value of …