Group items tagged

The article describes how unemployment in Argentina has dropped below 7% for the first time in a long time. The decreased unemployment is due to an increase in the country's exports and an increase in national aggregate demand. Both of these things would cause an increase in aggregate supply, which in result would increase the aggregate supply of labor, causing the unemployment rate to decrease. However, this is only seen as a short term change, as the export are expected to decrease due to the economic crisis in Europe, and the increasing movement of production to china, and the growing competition from Chinese produced goods, because of the cheaper prices. This would cause aggregate demand in Argentina to decrease, which would cause a response from the short run aggregate supply, in the form or a decrease. This would again cause the aggregate supply of labor to fall back down again, resulting in the unemployment rate rising again.

Germany's unemployment rates have been rising as firms are dropping their demand for labor. In many cases, firms are not firing workers, but they are also not hiring new workers, which causes an increase in unemployment rates as the labor force increases. Although Germany's unemployment remains low (5.4%) compared to other members of the European Union, the rise in unemployment rates is worrying as it could lead to a fall in aggregate demand and lead to recession. Right now, Germany is still growing at a rate of over 1% per year, which is why the higher unemployment rates are considered seasonal, as mentioned in the article. However, if people start losing jobs and there is no labor demand in the long-run, this could trigger a recession and a permanent cyclical unemployment.

Ireland's high current unemployment rate of 14.9 percent is a result from its economic situation : Ireland is in a recession. The article clearly stipulates this, there is a 'recession in the real domestic economy'. The recession arose from the housing bubble : mortgages were cheap, people overborrowed and then the high housing prices fell so that people were less wealthy and no longer able to pay their mortgages. Wealth is a determinant of AD. It is the added value of all assets or stocks. If wealth or perceived wealth increases, then so will a household's consumption of goods, thereby shifting demand, as the household feels 'wealthier' or able to purchase more. The reverse is also the case, when wealth declines, demand declines, such as in Ireland. The Irish were much less willing to consume goods, as they believed they were less wealthy or had less money( which they eventually did , upon having to pay mortgages; debt), and so consumption decreased, which thus shifted aggregate demand into a demand slide recession. This is a situation where prices in a nation inflate and output decreases, due to the lesser demand. If less is being produced, less factors of production are required. Thus labor, a major factor of production is no longer required in the economy, which gives firms the incentive to lay off many of their workers. This is the unemployment Ireland is experiencing. It is interesting that the article also depicts the  'austerity drive'  that the Irish government resulted to in the recession.  As it correctly suggests, this is 'self defeating', as during a demand slide recession the Keynesian policy follows that the government should not save its funding, but rather spend. In a time of recession, the government should spend,  so as to decrease unemployment stimulate the economy. If the government spends, this will have a multiplier effect through the economy, as it provides income to households ( by spending, the government employs labor), where househo

This article discusses the changes which European Union officials are planning for the future in order to ensure economic growth. One of the changes mentioned are the Spanish borrowing costs which will be pushed up to their highest levels for four months. In the short-run this will mean less spending from consumers, but in the long run will ensure a significant decrease in debt. Furthermore, they have called on national governments to "implement a series of job-creating policies". These include cutting labor-related taxes, as well as shifting the burden to property, energy and emission levels. These particular changes will cause a rightward shift in aggregate demand as there is an increase in government spending. Moreover, countries will be forced to lift remaining restrictions on worker movement within the EU, which will allow for more employment. This will also cause a rightward shift in aggregate demand because there will be more employed workers and therefore amount of consumption will increase as more people will be able to spend more money.  Overall, this article shows improvements for the future which will increase aggregate demand of the EU.