Readers Question: At the time of the Economic collapse 2007/ 2008 or near the end of that period in 2010 the Labour administration had actually started to pull out of recession – True or False? The recovery began towards the end of 2009 (Q4). Q2 growth in 2010 was quite high at 1% (annualised 4%) …
Definition of fiscal policy Fiscal policy involves the government changing the levels of taxation and government spending in order to influence aggregate demand (AD) and the level of economic activity. AD is the total level of planned expenditure in an economy (AD = C+ I + G + X – M) The purpose of Fiscal …
Labour market flexibility means that it is easy for workers to change jobs and choose different types of work. It also implies that firms find it relatively easy to hire and fire workers can use temporary contracts, rather than get locked into rigid labour contracts. Labour market flexibility is seen as a way to reduce …
Definition of Monopsony A monopsony occurs when a firm has market power in employing factors of production (e.g. labour). A monopsony means there is one buyer and many sellers. It often refers to a monopsony employer – who has market power in hiring workers. This is a similar concept to monopoly where there is one …
An explanation of how wages are determined in a perfectly competitive labour market. A perfectly competitive labour market will have the following features Many firms Perfect information about wages and job conditions. Firms are offering identical jobs Many workers with the same skills Diagram of wage determination The equilibrium wage rate in the industry is …
Main topics in macroeconomics Balance of payments Policies to reduce current account deficit Budget deficit Policies to reduce budget deficit Economic growth Causes of Boom and Bust Cycles Policies to increase economic growth Theories of economic growth Recessions Environmental economics Fiscal policy Globalisation Exchange rates Effect of an appreciation Effect of devaluation European Union The …
Since 1978 the Chinese economy has maintained economic growth at an average of nearly 8%. By western standards this is remarkable. The UK, by contrast, has grown at an average rate of 2.5%. However, despite the impressive figures, there are many serious economic problems resulting from economic growth. Chinese GDP In particular, the growth rate …
Definition of Efficiency Wage Theory / Hypothesis The idea of the efficiency wage theory is that increasing wages can lead to increased labour productivity because workers feel more motivated to work with higher pay. Therefore if firms increase wages – some or all of the higher wage costs will be recouped through increased staff retention …