The United States remains desperate for faster growth and stronger job creation as it continues its slow recovery from the 2009 recession. Peter Blair Henry, the dean of NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business states private investment is falling $1 trillion short per year due a to disputes over the "fiscal cliff," the federal borrowing limit and other issues." Monetary policy and fiscal policy are working at "cross purposes" - one is expanding while the other contracts." Governments should save money during times of economic prosperity and spend it to boost the economy when growth decreases. Lawmakers should prioritize predictability in policymaking to trigger private investment and government investments, particularly in education, should be off-limits to cuts. Henry points out that a solution to closing the wage gap is to produce more skilled workers. Raising taxes on the highest tax bracket may also be part of the solution to overall sustainability concerning the fiscal side, but not a solution for income inequality.

China's growth has slowed to its lowest rate since the financial crisis in 2009 with second-quarter growth of 7.6% - down from 8.1%. The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, warned last week that the economy "still faces relatively huge downward pressure". Consumer inflation had been lower than expected and import growth, in addition to producer price deflation, has also worried investors. The government has already cut interest rates twice in a month and lowered the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves three times since November. Several economists continue to remain optimistic and suspect China's economy will progress in the third-quarter.

UK unemployment has risen to 1.2million, resulting in a youth unemployment rate of 21.9%. The british government, which insists the deterioration in the jobs market are due to the eurozone debt crisis, have been criticised for ignoring domestic problems . "Overall, the rise in unemployment and weakness of earnings growth relative to inflation continue to place substantial pressures on household finances - squeezing real incomes, suppressing confidence and leading to increased precaution among consumers. This can only be bad news for economic growth in the short-term." said Scott Corfe, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Government's work programme and work experience schemes have been created in attempt to is get a significant number of young people off benefits and find exmployment.

The article discusses how during recessions, the rich become richer and how the businesses cycles still disadvantage the poor and benefit the rich. During recessions, income inequality increases and favors those who are wealthy. As unemployment rises, many people see a significant decline in their income and saving abilities. They are no longer able to afford common resources. For example, people will need to sell their business, houses… This leaves the rich buy up such resources for a cheaper price. This is what keeps the rich constantly "on top" and the poor even poorer. There is a chart which really illustrates this statement put forth by the author.

Argentina has devised a new system of export taxes on oil shipments that will cut taxes, as the government seeks to encourage investments to revive production. The change means energy companies will receive $70 per barrel of exported oil, up from $42 previously. Argentina controls the price of oil exports in order to guarantee domestic supply. The reform means that the state will only retain the difference between the market prices, meaning increased revenue for oil companies that export crude. The long run aggregate supply is expected to shift the right, an increase in the real GDP.

Currently the Obama administration is talking about finding new ways to create jobs and stimulate growth. However, it has proved to be unsuccessful, as the only policy that will really help is an increase in aggregate demand. The article explains that aggregate demand simply means spending: "spending by households, businesses and governments for consumption goods and services or investments in structures, machinery and equipment." At the moment, businesses should not to invest because there is lack of consumer demand. The federal government could increase aggregate spending by directly employing workers or undertaking public works projects yet this proves to be difficult. The author explains that the most important thing is for policy makers to stop focusing on debt and attempt instead to raise aggregate demand.

This article explains how South Korea's export-driven economy picked up slightly in the final quarter of 2012 on private consumption, yet recovery will likely be delayed until global demand gathers momentum. Asia's fourth-largest economy increased by 0.4% from October-December which was better considering in September there was only a 0.1 % rise, the slowest growth in over three years. This was the seventh consecutive quarter with growth of less than 1%, the longest in more than four decades. South Korea's economy has been hit hard by the depressed global demand, as it had to rely on exports due to high consumer debt surpassing private consumption. The nation's economic growth rate has obviously been stunted with further government intervention needed.

The latest employment figures show hiring has been stronger in both 2012 and 2011 than initially believed, based on tax returns, not initially available to the government. Yet the pace of job growth decreased in January as the number of jobs added to the economy last month fell short of the 170,000 allowing the unemployment rate to increase from 7.9% to 7.8%. The pace of hiring in January suggests that businesses still remain somewhat cautious about taking on new employees.At the current pace of job growth, it is that that it will take several years to drive down unemployment back to pre-recession levels of below 5%. Also, the rise in the unemployment means the Federal Reserve is unlikely to stop its massive bond-buying program anytime soon. The bank has said it will keep interest rates at an ultra-low level until the jobless rate falls to 6.5%. However, hiring trends were somewhat better in 2012 and 2011 than the government's prior analysis indicated. The economy added 335,000 more jobs in 2012 than initially reported, with The largest amount of extra jobs showing up in the last three months of the year.

Leading international marine scientists are proposing radical changes in the governance of the world's oceans to save them from overfishing, pollution and other human impacts. "Marine ecosystems are in decline around the world. New transformational changes in governance are urgently required to cope with overfishing, pollution, global changes, and other drivers of degradation. Fishers and scientists had been working together on the problem for some years, trialling new co-operative models for fishery management, based on that science can reveal about the state of the fish stock and the surrounding marine ecosystem." The result is a national system of marine tenure that allocates user rights and responsibilities to collectives of fishers. The research indicates the key to managing fisheries depend on creating agreements that are both voluntary and flexible enough to cope with changes in the ocean environment, leading to fisheries that are both ecologically and socially sustainable.

This article explains how liquor outlets have negative externalities of production - on average the number of serious violent crimes doubled once you got within 900m of a liquor outlet. The more liquor stores an area had, the more likely it was to have a higher rate of serious violent crimes, regardless of poverty and other factors. This poses serious risks to citizens as they could be subjected to harm and danger. Many people have now said communities should have fewer stores that are licensed to sell alcohol. This would not benefit store owner as they make major profits from selling alcoholic beverages but it could possibly aid to ensure safety in a neighborhood.

Price controls on many staple food items ordered by Ethiopia's government early this month have reduced grocery bills for many low-income families. However, shopkeepers are now upset and many basic items are disappearing from store shelves. Economists are concerned about the long-term effect of the government's price-fixing strategy as the price controls have triggered chaos and tension in the local marketplace. 'Ceiling price have been put on items such as meat, bread, rice, sugar, powdered milk and cooking oil due to merchants taking advantage of global price hikes. The consumers have greatly benefitted yet storekeepers are unhappy, some products they bought before the price controls must now be sold below cost. In a free market economy, the preferred way of doing this is to increase the supply and increase competition. The Ethiopian government has been heavily criticized. Despite the upheaval, government officials are hoping their experiment in price-fixing will help to curb inflation. Recently released figures show the inflation rate jumped from 10.2 percent in November to 14.5 percent last month.

A ruling has been passed leaving medial device makers stuck with an excise tax on sales of replacement hips, implantable defibrillators and other FDA-approved devices. This tax is intended to help finance the health law's board expansion of insurance coverage and is expected to raise $20 billion by 2019. The tax, which will commence January 1st 2013, has already affected some manufactures. Few companies will be able to pass all or even a small amount of the tax onto hospitals or distributors, resulting in many companies to begin putting cost-cutting plans in place. It is expected that smaller companies will take the worst hits, small device makers could see earnings per share fall by 10%. Because the tax is on total sales, rather than profits, companies with the smallest margins, such as unprofitable start-ups, will face the deepest impact. The tax looms at a difficult time for the industry, as patients will then delay elective procedures. Unlike other health-care sectors, analysts don't expect device makers to benefit much from the expected flood of newly insured patients because they depend largely on older patients who are already covered by Medicare.

According to this article, the recession has induced Americans to reevaluate their spending and adopt cost-saving strategies such as using coupons or taking advantage of sales. Many people have reduced the amount of money they spend, over the last couple of years, especially those who have incomes of under $45,000. "The consumer mindset has changed (…) they've become used to being careful about what they buy and where they buy it." However, while price is a major factor, consumers said that quality was still a top priority. The article indicates that there are certain items that consumers will not go without: The first item on the list was animal protein: 10 percent [of consumers] said they refuse to give up meat, poultry, fish and seafood. Also, 8 percent saying they would not forgo alcohol, tobacco; coffee, tea; milk, juice, or household and laundry supplies. As expected, "38 percent say they're purchasing less clothing and 20 percent said they're buying less expensive brands." Therefore, items such as proteins, alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea, milk, juice, and household supplies are relatively inelastic goods with regard to income. On the other hand, clothing is an inelastic good during this recession.

The article discusses that oil, which was previously too expensive to exploit is what cause the increase in prices. Now, new oil reserves are not only more expensive to develop, but they also take much longer between the time the first well is drilled and when the first oil is produced. This means it takes longer for oil supply to respond to changes in price.In economic terms, the oil supply is becoming less elastic as new oil supplies come increasingly from unconventional oil. These statements are supported by data and charts found within the rest of the article.

In this article it explains why we, the consumer, are unable to influence gas prices. The article suggests 3 main reasons: 1) for oil companies it is more profitable to set a higher price and then let the price adjust to the demand. Simply, instead of letting the price adjust upwards, the price is set a higher level to let it adjust downwards. 2)The increasing price over the past two years has not created a drop in demand. Rather, the increasing price is accompanied by increasing demand. 3)For countries, the increase of price and demand are signs of prosperity, so a positive thing. This is an example of where it is hard to achiever a price equilibrium.

President Obama visited the University of Michigan and outlined a new plan aimed at limiting tuition increases at U.S. universities.A key reason for high rates of tuition increase, is simply that the supply of freshman slots hasn't kept up with demand and such shortages lead to price increases.Top universities should focus on increasing the number of students they admit and all who care about expanding opportunities should pressure boards and presidents to spend some of the money on opening up more spots in the classes.

I thought this article was relatable since we are all students and looking at internships in the future is something many of us will have to go through. In this article, it explains that sometimes students are reluctant to take up unpaid internships. This is because even though it would be very good for work experience some can not afford to not get paid. Being a student is expensive: having to pay for their education, a place to live and everyday essentials. I thought this was a very good example of opportunity costs, either gain the work experience but have to cut down on living costs because you are not getting paid or find a paying job but that might not best suited for your interests. Another issue they mentioned was that if all interns were obligated to be paid that many companies would cut back or completely get rid of their internship programmes. So this was another example of opportunity cost, either have fewer internship programmes and positions and, if you are lucky to get the job, get paid or, continue to have many unpaid internship positions.