Recent unemployment data from the US shows a sharp fall in the unemployment rate. EU unemployment remains stuck at 11.4% – the highest since the introduction of the Euro in 1999. The diverging unemployment rates highlight the different stages of economic recovery between the two economic zones. However, sluggish EU recovery and a continued EU …
When President Holland was elected in the summer, he suggested that Europe would turn against austerity and promote economic recovery as the most important objective. However, despite his early promises, the French budget is strongly deflationary. Given the state of the current French and Eurozone economy, this budget is likely to push France into prolonged …
Readers Question: What should the government do to improve the American standard of living? How could the President + Congress, make the biggest difference to improving American standards of living in the long run? These are a few policies which I feel would improve US living standards. 1. Reduce Unemployment. The rise in US unemployment …
Recently, I posted about the current fall in M4 lending in the UK. The concern is that fears over possible future inflation are preventing decisive action to promote economic recovery. But, these fears are misplaced. The fall in M4 lending in the UK is a sign of a fundamental weakness in demand. Given this weakness, …
Ever since the Euro debt crisis hit the headlines in 2008, economists have argued that the ECB need to act and buy bonds to prevent liquidity fears and prevent bond yields from being artificially high. Held back by fears of the ECB exceeding their mandate, we have watched in despair, as bond yields on Eurozone …
The Chancellor George Osborne is coming under pressure to alter government policy and promote economic growth through higher public spending financed by government borrowing. After two years of focusing on deficit reduction, critics argue the government should change approach and concentrate on getting the economy out of the persistent recession. The IMF recently stated: “The …
The purpose of harmonised competitive indicators is to show changes in relative competitiveness of countries. They are are also consistent with the real effective exchange rates (EERs) of the euro. This shows the divergence in competitiveness between a country like Germany De (improved competitiveness) and other countries like Greece and Ireland which have seen higher …
How much fiscal adjustment (austerity) have Eurozone economies pursued? Underlying Primary Budget Balance in selected Eurozone economies 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 France -4.3 -3.4 -1.5 -0.5 1.3 Italy 0.3 1.4 1.6 4.5 6.2 Germany 0.8 -0.1 1.0 0.9 1.1 Greece -10.1 -4.2 0.4 3.2 5.5 Ireland -7.1 -4.7 -2.7 -0.8 0.9 Portugal -5.9 -5.1 …