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Iceland has been in a serious recession with great inflation rates for several years. To control the situation, the Central bank has started to raise interest rates with the hope to decrease inflation and bring prices back to normal levels. By increasing interest rates consumers will stop borrowing as much money which will cause a decrease in consumption. In addition it will become more expensive for firms to borrow money for their investments and they will decrease investments well. Overall these two factors will cause a decrease in aggregate demand in Iceland. This will push down prices and cause disinflation in the long run. Due to these decreasing prices goods and services from Iceland become more attractive to foreign consumers causing an increase in exports which may strengthen the currency. The article states that due to the increased interest rates inflation remained stable for the past months. This shows that households and firms are consuming/investing less which stops further inflation.

India's inflation rate rose to 7.55% in August, rise that was much faster than expected by analysts. The primary reason behind this is a rise in India's food prices. In order to decrease inflation and lower prices, the Reserve Bank of India tried to raise interest rates. This should cause a decrease in consumption and demand. Thus in the long-run, disinflation will occur as firms will be forced to lower prices in order to maintain a profit. However, altering interest rates has been tricky for central policy-makers as India imports a large quantity of their food from the US, who ultimately have control the prices.  The US will probably add to India's inflation as they are "likely to push up global commodity prices".  Even through raising interest rates, which can be damaging as they hurt businesses and consumer confidence, India still has little control over global prices. As a result, India's inflation will raise even. 

India's investors and some politicians want the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to lower its interest rates so that more firms could invest in capital goods in the country. This would increase investment, which in turn would shift aggregate demand to the right and lead to GDP growth. RBI however argues that lowering the interest rates could cause inflation to go up, which in turn would have a great effect on India's lower class citizens. The RBI also argues that interest rates are not very high at the moment, and blame the lack of investment in 'bad governance and lack of reforms'. If the RBI lowered the interest rates and investment did not increase much as they argue, while inflation goes up, many poor people would suffer in the process as they wouldn't be able to buy as many essential goods such as food. This would cause a movement along the aggregate demand curve as price level goes up. On the other hand, from an investor's perspective this would be the best way to generate economic growth, which would benefit the country as a whole if it led to more investment on capital goods.

Investors in India are asking the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for lower interest rates, so that more can be invested in order to accelerate the country's growth rate (which has been decelerating). However, the RBI is concerned that this could lead to an increase in inflation (which is already high) as AD would increase, causing the country to produce beyond its full level of employment, meaning that price levels would raise more than RGDP proportionally (demand pull inflation). The RBI believes that people are more concerned with inflation as it causes the price of food to go up, affecting poor families. However, there is a possibility that growth is of more importance to Indians when looking at the country's economic performance. Other factors such as an increase in oil prices and a poor-monsoon could drive food prices even higher. As result the Indian RBI must be very cautious whether it will be worth lowering interest rates.

This article describes how the Brazilian government tries to increase investment and consumption through tax cuts. In particular on trucks, machinery, and automobiles the government reduces or gives an extension on the taxes. Another measure to stimulate investment in the country is via reducing its interest rate to an all-time low of 7.5 %. 

According to this Article inflation in Turkey increased to 10.45% and the central bank's Inflation rate was 5.5%. This difference in inflation rate occurs because when a country's central bank tries to fight inflation, as is being done in Turkey, the nominal interest rate will still tend to increase. Consequently, investment and consumption are discouraged due to the high inflation rate set by banks. This is because firms will not invest anymore because it is more expensive to borrow money and consume. In addition, consumption will decrease because the cost of borrowing money to consume large goods such as cars or houses is a lot more expensive.  

The global rise in food prices, caused by a drought in the US, has increased Brazil's inflation, along with the government trying to put a stop to the currency gains. Due to bad weather conditions, the tomato industry has been affected, and has lead to an increase in the price of tomatoes. With global prices on the rise, there is less want to import goods, but with inflation in Brazil, high food prices all around is hurting its economy. Currency gains are also having a negative affect which is hurting industrial competitiveness. Consumers are finding it difficult to cope with rising food prices and in the short run will mean that a lot of their earnings are being spent on necessities and not spending on luxuries. Low unemployment is pushing up wages, and with interest rates being cut, people will most likely try and save their money.

This article states that Canada's inflation rate has unexpectedly slowed for a second month this past August, meaning a disinflation is taking place. The consumer price index in Canada rose 1.2% in August from a year ago compared to a 1.3% gain in July, showing a slowing down in the rate of inflation. This has reduced pressure for the Bank of Canada governor to raise interest rates. Normally, when a country's price levels are increasing and inflation is taking place, banks are encouraged to increase interest rates. Increasing them make it more profitable for consumers to borrow less and invest more, resulting in a decrease in consumption and therefore a decrease in AD. This will lower price levels in the country in the long run, solving or reducing the problem of inflation.

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

China faces some serious economic problems. One main problem is that China seems to be suffering from excess capacity resulting from an overinvestment in factories, retail stores or infrastructure which leads to an imbalanced supply and aggregate demand relation. Aggregate demand is the total demand for a nation's goods and services from domestic households, firms, the government and foreigners. The article reveals two different approaches to evaluating China's economy: the Keynesian theory and the Austrian school theory. The Keynesians argue that aggregate demand drives stability and that governments can and should help in difficult times. The Chinese government has the tools to increase aggregate demand as it could for example "adjust interest rates and bank reserve requirements, instruct state-owned banks to maintain lending", deploy foreign exchange reserves, or initiate construction and infrastructure projects. On the other hand, the Austrian school of economics believes that it is hard for the government to invest money wisely, particularly in China, where there seems to be an environment of "economic favoritism". The Keynesians may believe that China will be able to manage its overcapacity; however, the Austrian theory argues that the Chinese government will distort resource allocation and further limit aggregate demand. - Julieta Fischer