Neoliberalism is a term commonly used to describe free-market economics. Neoliberalism involves policies associated with free trade, privatisation, price deregulation, a reduced size of government and flexible labour markets. Recently, neoliberalism has been associated with the policies of austerity and attempts to reduce budget deficits – usually by cutting government spending on social programmes. Neo-liberalism …
Definition of creative destruction This refers to the process of how capitalism leads to a constantly changing structure of the economy. Old industries and firms, which are no longer profitable, close down enabling the resources (capital and labour) to move into more productive processes. Creative destruction means that the company closures and job losses are good …
Q. How does the Bank of England decide and set interest rates? The Bank of England set the repo rate. This is sometimes known as the ‘base rate’. It is the interest rate at which commercial banks (like Lloyds and Natwest) borrow from the Bank of England. The Bank of England can control liquidity and …
An explanation of the inverse relationship between bond yields and the price of bonds Readers Question: Why does buying securities reduce their yield? Suppose the government issued a £1000, 5-year treasury bond at an interest rate of 5%. This means that if you bought the treasury bill at £1,000 you will receive a fixed interest …
Readers Question: Is the fiscal policy effective/the best policy to deal with unemployment? It is an interesting question and one that is likely to generate different views from within the ranks of economists. To give a very rough overview: Keynesians say yes, fiscal policy can be effective in reducing unemployment. In a recession, expansionary fiscal policy …
The UK recession of 1991 was primarily caused by high-interest rates, falling house prices and an overvalued exchange rate. Membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (1990-1992) was a key factor in keeping interest rates higher than desirable. The recession also came after the late 1980s economic boom – a period of high economic growth and …
Outline some of the problems the economy might face in recovering from a period of recession. To recover from a recession there needs to be either a rise in AD or a readjustment in prices and wages. An increase in aggregate demand will increase GDP and help the economy recover from recession. Low Consumer …
Should the government be concerned if the CPI rises to 5%? Costs of Inflation The Government set the MPC a target for CPI of 2.% +/-1. It believes inflation higher than 3.0% is potentially damaging to the economy. Decline in relative competitiveness. If inflation in the UK is higher than elsewhere, then UK goods will …