IB Economics SL Heitmann

Russia and Israel are planning to ink a free trade agreement in the very near future, a Kremlin official is quoted as telling the Russian news agency TASS on Friday. According to Russia's deputy agriculture minister, Sergey Levin, discussions on the matter with his Israeli counterparts have progressed to the point where an agreement is expected to be reached.

LONDON-The U.K. economy grew strongly in the third quarter but its balance of payments with the rest of the world deteriorated sharply, data showed Friday, raising doubts about the durability of Britain's economic recovery. The Office for National Statistics on Friday confirmed that the U.K.

China is known for being a very populous state and the leading commodity producer, as a matter of fact American trade with China is considered one of the largest trading markets. So it would be expected that China's depreciation is affecting so many countries. The Mexican peso dropped by 1.1%, and the Colombian peso by 1.3% . This means their the amount of Chinese money that could be exchanged with just one of that country's peso has decreased. Economists are blaming it on falling oil prices and weak economic data. This was foreseen depreciation was foreseen as oil demand was already decreasing and investments into China were low so as preparation Colombia has raised its lending rate. This could work and help combat the inflation that has been caused because it would influence trade and investments. This is all in hopes that the exchange rate will rise again.

The Argentinian peso had been under strict currency controls for the past four years under former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.The exchange rate had been going for 9 pesos per US dollar and is not going for 14 pesos per US dollar which was previously only seen in the black market. Former president Kirchner had put the controls in place in attempt to control Argentina's inflation. The new government are hoping to improve exports of agricultural commodities.

The article describes the situation for Azerbaijan, where its currency, manats, have depreciated against the American dollar greatly. The banks have imposed limits to consumption of foreign, in order to limit the imports.

Azerbaijan has moved to a floating exchange rate, after 2015 saw the country devaluate its currency twice. Also deals with problems of balance of payments and foreign currency flows.

THE SWISS National Bank (SNB) has fixed its currency against the euro at a rate of 1.2 Swiss francs, after its value rose sharply due its status as a safe haven investment amid the troubled eurozone countries.

China and South Korea have been accused of dumping washing machines to the US, however, these claims no longer hold as new models are equitably price, but are of higher qualities than the North American home appliance producers'. The article discusses to which extent China and South Korea have been dumping products or whether it is western countries excuse to protect their own markets.

With Canada creating free trade policies with many countries in Europe and also South Korea. They left out a hole on trade policy with China. This is what they need to now fill. Although China's economy is not booming, they are expected to increase in GDP of 6-7%. This can be benefiting to Canada. Considering the benefits Australia is having, after the relations with China. Australia and Canada have similar government policies.

Chinese policy makers create barriers during trade and the US retaliates with their own just like how it was emphasized in this week's reading. One of he negatives of protectionism can destroy trading relations because countries might enact their own barriers. This practice is usually looked down upon by the WTO but the US had asked for an exception. Americans say this is because Beijing identifies as a nonmarket economy but in fact just because their policy makers make decisions based on production and consumer demand doesn't necessarily mean they are nonmarket. China being influenced by the WTO gives them an unfair advantage and can have a negative impact on US trade and investment in China.

Sri Lanka's export economy suffers in Europe, so economists look for opportunities elsewhere. The largest economy near Sri Lanka is India, but trade with India has been traditionally blocked by protectionist policies. This article discusses the potential gains for Sri Lanka should it choose to do away with protectionist policies.

The biggest trade deal in decades was struck on Monday. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) cuts trade tariffs and sets common standards in trade for 12 Pacific rim countries, including the US and Japan. It marks the end of five years of often bitter and tense negotiations.

GDP growth starts here. I chose this article because of one of the TOK questions we had this week it brings up education. Well this article talks about how education can lead to economic growth in many different ways. It doesn't just build up one sector it affects multiple, an interview has shown that people will need more than a high school education if they want to find a suitable job. If education standards increase so do income, technology , jobs all leading to an economic growth and I feel that this is actually even better because since it creates new things there is not chance of people losing jobs so employment is not at risk and as for inflation it will increase in the short run but level off.This research was done by Wössmann.

Overwhelmingly, more economically developed nations are states with a well-educated workforce. There is a clear and strong correlation between the educational attainment of a nation's workforce and economic productivity. Nations can build a strong foundation for economic success and shared prosperity by investing in education. Nations can increase the strength of their economies and their ability to grow and attract high-wage employers by investing in education and increasing the number of well-educated workers by improving the literacy rate. Investing in education is also good for the long run, since employees with higher incomes contribute more through taxes over the course of their lifetimes. Hence it can be concluded that investing in education , will definitely boost GDP maybe not in the short run but indefinitely in the long run.

India's economic growth has exceeded expectations. India's GDP increase by 7.4% which was more than expected. The manufacturing sector that needed to improve grew by 9.4% which helped increase the country's GDP. Trade, hotels and transport, broadcasting, and professional services sectors all saw increases. India's economic growth and increasing GDP shows that the country's economy is getting stronger.

It is estimated that the Indian economy will grow between 8.1% and 8.5% in the 2016 financial year. Trade, hotels and transport & communication and services related to broadcasting, financial, insurance, real estate and professional services and manufacturing have registered growth over 7%. It indicates that although India majorly focuses on primary and secondary industries such as agriculture and manufacturing , the tertiary industries such as the services industry have been largely boosting the economic development in India.

This article describes how the events in Paris affected the economic growth. This illustrates how more factors than taxes and employment can make a difference in level of economic activity. A decrease economic activity might cause the government to intervene by reducing the interest rate, creating incentives to increase consumption. A demand-side policy like this could help the economy get back on its course.

Britain is experiencing a downfall in their economy due to less consumer spending. The GDP growth of the country has been slowing at a pace of .3% and according to economist Chris Williamson, this is due to the fact that consumers are being cautious with their spending and are pulling back and also that the manufacturing sector is struggling. The pound value has weakened compared to the euro and dollar. Also a poll done in the service sector shows growth at a slow pace since April 2013.

Nation INDONESIA is offering another tax break for employers in labor-intensive sectors, aiming to rein in unemployment, in the latest of its series of stimulus measures, the chief economics minister said on Friday. Economic growth this year is set to be Indonesia's slowest in six years, although third-quarter growth showed a slight rebound.

This article, published on November 30, 2015, describes how the US GDP growth (that is, economic growth) has been slowing in recent months. The article also describes fiscal drags on the economy, interest rates, and investment in US companies.

This article discusses a topic the book made fun of in this week's chapters. When describing inflation, the book makes a snarky remark about how a fraction change in percentage of unemployment is considered "news". There are a lot of uncertainties concerning unemployment, because it is difficult to measure the amount of unemployed people, due to different definitions of unemployment and because of hidden unemployment, yet these news agencies give values with such high accuracy. The article does describe how unemployment has decreased in various parts of Europe, which can be linked with higher living standards for some.

India's central bank kept its key lending rate unchanged on Tuesday, leaving the door open for more easing but making that dependent on meeting a challenging inflation target f‎or 2017.