Updated March 21, 2011 12:27:44 The US dollar strengthened against the Japanese yen on Friday, after Japan and its Group of Seven partners stepped in to help the central bank force down the value of the currency. In a rare move, the powerful G7 agreed to a joint intervention to stabilize foreign exchange markets. A strong yen risks further destabilising Japan's economy

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has railed against partial privatisation, the increase in GST and tax cuts for the wealthy as he tries to galvanise his supporters ahead of this year's election. In a speech to Ashburton Grey Power today, Mr Peters told the audience, "The worldwide recession is not your fault. It was caused by the greedies in the banking and finance industry."

New Zealand may have skirted recession in 2010, with economists predicting positive growth in the final three months, though last month's earthquake in Christchurch could see GDP turn negative again in early 2011. The economy expanded 0.1% in the fourth quarter after unexpectedly shrinking three months earlier.

Japan's nuclear crisis and the devastations caused by last Friday's earthquake and tsunami are unlikely to trigger a global recession as happened in the aftermath of the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers three years ago, according to leading economists. However, they expressed fears that automobile and electronic industries around the world, especially in Asia, Europe and the US, may face manufacturing delays, if the Japanese production of components remain crippled for a long period. Even though Japan is the world's third largest economy, its share of the global gross domestic product (GDP) is below 5 per cent. Therefore, the consequences for the global economy from the catastrophe will be very minimal

President Obama, a seemingly great fan of Keynesian economics has developed a program of government expansion and nationalization of various aspects of the lives of the American people (such as the government takeover of health care, intervention in banks, and the nationalization of various automobile companies such as General Motors), the federal government is now embarking upon a program of government-directed wireless internet (Wi-Fi) delivery.

This article discusses Keynesian economics, an economic theory named after John Maynard Keynes, a British economist. Keynes' economic theory was based on an circular flow of money: his ideas spawned a slew of interventionist economic policies during the Great Depression. Keynes stipulated that during such economically difficult times, the best way if reviving the economy is by an increase in government spending, which would trigger the multiplier effect.

On the world stage, the debate over Keynesianism played out between the big powers during the world financial recession. Whilst the conservative British and German governments have been significantly reducing their government budgets, President Barack Obama has been priming the Keynesian pump by advocating much government "stimulus" spending. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, also spent federal cash in attempts to revive the economy...

Although the United States' problem of mounting fiscal deficits has become common knowledge in recent years, several prominent economists have advocated for additional spending so that the current economic recovery does not sputter. Others on the other hand claim that "In the real world, any increase in government spending is going to further worsen the debt/gross domestic product ratio, meaning debt service will become more and more costly, eventually reaching a point when it is unsustainable…The United States is fast reaching the point of unsustainability - hence there is no real choice but to greatly reduce government spending."

"China's inflation could hit five percent this year due to soaring commodity prices and rising wages" Asia is currently facing cost push inflation.

Fears are growing that Asia's recent troubles with inflation could go deeper than initially expected as countries bump up against labor shortages (in Singapore's case for example) and other problems commonly seen in times of too-fast growth. Furthermore, inflation concerns in Asia have focused on rising food costs exacerbated by bad weather and, more recently, higher oil prices amid political tensions in the Middle East

This article discusses how India, as well as most Asian countries are susceptible of experiencing a cost-push inflation in the near future due to the progressively increasing oil prices (which would increase production costs significantly, reduce output, and increase prices). Also, details concerning India's agricultural sector in relation to inflation rates are also discussed.

Since it's not in the government's favor to impose taxes or increase interest so as to gain the people's voices in the case of re-election, some country's central banks have become independent, as in the case of Mexico in this article. With this independence, the central banks opt to impose their control of inflation through the increase and decrease of interest rates with the objective of maintaining a low, stable rate of inflation. Recently, Mexico's annual inflation rate cooled in February to its lowest in 14 months despite some sharp increases in food prices. This kept the pressure off the central bank to raise interest rates soon.

USA: this article discusses how, following the most recent recession, the US labor market improved throughout the country, driven by rising retail sales and "solid growth" in manufacturing. "Labor market conditions continued to strengthen modestly, with all Districts reporting some degree of improvement," The article also goes on to discuss labor demand and growing economies.

This article discusses how a flexible labor market model can only lead to less permanent-job contracts, lower wages, and even lead to eventual unemployment. For example, the share of employees with temporary contracts is much higher in the EU than in Romania, however, it has been noted that the EU has higher unemployment rates than Romania... Further consequences of the implementation of a flexible labor market model are also evaluated. Link to "What is a Flexible Labour Market?": http://tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/a2-macro-flexible-labour-markets.html

This article discusses how Germany's labor market improved sharply in February and unemployment declined by much more than expected, owing to the country's solid economic upswing and increase in aggregate demand for jobs in the country. And demand for employees continues to increase...

Perhaps the most striking finding in the United Nations' recent 20th anniversary "Human Development Report" is the outstanding performance of the Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Here was Tunisia, ranked sixth among 135 countries in terms of improvement in its Human Development Index, or HDI, over the previous four decades, ahead of Malaysia, Hong Kong, Mexico and India. Not far behind was Egypt, ranked 14th. The HDI is a measure of development that captures achievements in health and education alongside economic growth. Egypt and especially Tunisia did well enough on the growth front, but where they really shone was on these broader indicators...

6 February 2011: In the past two weeks, Yemen has been rocked by some of the biggest anti-government demonstrations seen in a decade, as young people facing a grim economic future vent their frustration on the streets. In the UN Human Development Index (HDI), Yemen is ranked at 138 out of 179 states listed. The protesters fight poverty, corruption, and injustice, an issue clearly shown by the country's HDI ranking.

"Nine of the 10 countries with the lowest Human Development Indicators have experienced conflict in the last 20 years. Countries facing stark inequality and weak institutions are at increased risk of conflict." The United Nations Security Council on Friday unanimously issued a statement pointing out a close link between international security and economic development.

Although Turkey's economic indicators outpace many countries around the world, major differences in regional development are still an issue in the country and call state policies into question. Turkey has witnessed noteworthy growth in the last decade. At the same time, the country was also successful in lowering the yearly inflation rate to a 41-year low, 6.4 percent, in 2010. But despite these and similar advancements, economic development has not attained the same pace in every region in the country.

Most developed economies will grow at a steady pace in the months ahead, but growth in Italy and China appears to be slowing, according to an economic indicator from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD's indicators are designed to provide early signals of turning points between the pickup and slowdown of economic activity and are based on a wide variety of data series that have a history of signaling changes in economic activity.