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A Gysler

BBC News - Indonesia: Clamping down on consumption at what cost? - 1 views

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    Indonesia has been experiencing rapid economic growth which has increased the size of the middle class as well as their disposable incomes. The article describes how an increase in required down-payments on cars and houses may decrease the growth in Indonesia's economy. Last year the automotive finance growth of banks was 55%, the highest in the world. They have noticed that this is an unsustainable rate of growth. Due to these fears the Indonesian central bank has placed new regulations which will make buyers pay higher down-payments when making a purchase on credit. These down-payments have been increased from originally 10-20% to 30% and more. With that households see themselves with less money available for consumption. The new regulations may also result in a dip in property sales as aggregate demand decreases. However on the other side it may also only defer sales, since people will safe longer until they buy property. 
winstonreid

BBC News - UK inflation rate rises in July, ONS says - 0 views

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    The increase of the inflation rate is due to a price rise in housing costs and air fares. As rents increased, the over all consumer price index rose "followed by alcohol and tobacco, food, restaurants, and leisure". Cost-push inflation is currently going on in the UK as wages are not rising as quickly as prices for goods and services. UK has frozen both council tax and fuel tax and reduced income tax. Bank of England but its groth forecast to zero. The Bank is cutting intrest rates to get consumers buying again. Lowering tax and intrest rates will help consumers have more money in their pockets and, therefore, more to spend
Katharina Metzdorff

Wage hikes put pressure on inflation - Business News | IOL Business | IOL.co.za - 0 views

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    This is a classic example of cost-push inflation. The supply costs are increasing (in this case the workers wages) which means that SRAS shifts to the left, as less is being is being supplied. Firms hire less workers or produce less because of the high costs. As a result, price levels rise, unemployment levels rise and the real gross domestic product falls. This is also obvious because, if workers go on strike as mentioned in the article, then they are producing less goods, meaning that GDP obviously decreases. This could turn into an inflationary spiral. This spiral is because, when wages are increased for purposes such as to pay or rent or everyday goods, the firms also demand higher prices, which causes those who buy from them to charge more too. This is what causes the cycle to begin. Otherwise it could get to a point where currency becomes worthless.
e lynesmith

BBC News - India inflation rate rises faster than expected - 0 views

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    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. 
e lynesmith

BBC News - UK economy to enter recession soon, says report - 0 views

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    The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has advised the UK government to ease its fiscal policy because of the danger of the economy entering another recession. The UK fiscal policy is unintentionally causing deficient demand. Demand was already relatively low as private and public sectors were focusing on paying off their debts. This decline in demand has lead to a decrease in consumption and a fall in GDP. Also, businesses have become reluctant to invest due to the uncertainty about domestic and foreign demand. The UK government has been cautious about easing their fiscal policy because of their desire to achieve their fiscal goals, which they have been relatively successful in reaching so far, as stated by a Treasury spokesman who said: "… the government's commitment to deficit reduction has helped maintain market confidence". A way for the UK to ease their fiscal policy and subsequently increase demand would be to cut taxes, which would allow households to have a higher level of disposable income and firms would be incentivized to invest more because of the rising domestic demand.  
Silvia Capizzi

BBC News - Portugal reveals tough 2013 budget - 0 views

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    The Portuguese government has revealed the details of its draft budget for 2013. It is said to be one of the harshest in the country's recent history.  The Portuguese government has spent a significantly greater amount than the total revenue, and is therefore experiencing a budget deficit. Due to this deficit, government is forced to borrow money from the public, thus increasing its budget deficit even further, and ultimately increasing their total national debt.  The government was already granted a 78 billion- euro bailout last year, which has still not accounted for their budget deficit. Therefore, the Portuguese government was forced to make some huge changes in the economy,.  As stated in the article, the government will have to borrow money from the public through average income taxes, which will increase from 9.8% to 13.2%. Furthermore, they will have to cut spending worth up to 2.7 billion euros next year, which includes laying off 2% of the countries 600.000 public sector employees.  Moreover, the Portuguese government has decided to cut their spending by not raising social security contribution next year from 11% to 18%.  According to Vitor Gaspar,finance minister, this budget would allow Portugal to reduce its budget deficit to 4.5% in 2013.  Ultimately hoping to achieve the European Union target of 3% of GDP. 
Nils Armin van Willigenburg

Luxembourg's Juncker Defends 2013 Budget - 0 views

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    Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Junker is defending the newly released budget bill, in place for 2013. The bill set in place plans to invest more money into the consolidation package, in place to consolidate Luxembourg's budget. A 1.8% increase in government spending, in relation to the budget set in 2012, is put forth to remove any divergence from the country's stability and growth. Juncker stressed that although the recent financial crisis which has caused a recession in Luxembourg over the past 4 years, the bill will insure that Luxembourg's deficit will be lower in 2013 than 2009. Juncker says that in 2013, Luxembourg's deficit will be at 4.3%.  Juncker says the reason Luxembourg has come into deficit is the investment of 200 million Euros into Luxembourg's employment fund. Furthermore, the increase of unemployment isn't beneficial to the countries current financial situation.  He does not plan to raise VAT, as some countries in the EU such as the Netherlands have recently done to fill part of their deficit. This would only harm economic recovery and affect the country's low-income earners.  Juncker's ultimate goal is to make Luxembourg debt free by 2014. The minister promised that the government would try their very best to achieve this goal, while still being aware that the economic development of Luxembourg remains "extremely fragile".
Alessya Kaiser

BBC News - Swiss economy grows despite strong franc - 1 views

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    This article explains how the Swiss economy continued to grow despite the predictions that it would shrink or go into a recession. Economists thought this, because the franc became a strong currency, making Switzerland's imports cheaper but making it very expensive for other countries to buy goods from Switzerland, meaning fewer exports for Switzerland. Since we know that GDP can be calculated by adding the incomes produced by C (Consumers) + I (Investments) + G (Government) + X (Exports - Imports), we will see that Switzerland's GDP would decrease because less exports or more exports would make 'X' a negative value lowering the nations GDP. However, Switzerland's GDP went different as expected. Even though exports were now more costly for other countries, Switzerland exports grew by 2.8 % in the last quarter of the year, in precious metals, jewels or arts. Adding on to that, the gross fixed investments also grew by 2.5 % in investments in construction and equipment as the strong currency proved a "safe-haven" for investor. The rise in exports and investments lead to an unexpected and unpredicted expansion of the Swiss economy instead of a recession.
Clara Gannon

BBC News - UK recession less deep than thought - 0 views

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    Data shows that contraction in the UK has not dropped by as much as it was expected to, so could this mean that they are reaching a trough and the recession is coming to an end? Inflation is down and unemployment is falling, although the productive capacity of the economy has been affected because of a shift to part-time work. The UK  has had a flat economy over the past two years, so the lower than expected changes in GDP do not change that it is in a recession. 
Tania Plan

Irish recession: "Inside an empty town" - 0 views

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    The article is concerned with the current economic situation in Ireland, namely a recession. This is a period of decline in an economy, where in the business cycle it is known as a 'trough'. This is illustrated well in the article through the decline of demand in the housing market, as a decrease demand is a typical characteristic of a recession. The overall demand or aggregate demand of a country decreases during a recession, as seen in the Irish housing market, as people have lost confidence in the economy, uncertainty has gone up and unemployment has increased. Consequently people save their money as the situation is unstable and they are unsure of their furture imployment and income. Saving is a leakage in the cycle and therefore corresponds to the decrease in aggreagate demand. In the article's context, The Irish are untrusting and therefore unwilling to invest in new housing. This is all a result of bad planning. In the 1990s, Ireland's economy was booming: banks were doing well, the housing market rising significantly and in large demand. Therefore the government decided to build Adamstown. Yet as the housing bubble broke and with it the faith and confidencein the Irish economy, people put their spendings " on hold" as the article illustrates, and areas of modern infra structure such as Adamsville became Ghosttowns.
Rafael Proeglhoef

German June Unemployment Rises as Crisis Starts to Bite - 1 views

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    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.
Clara Gannon

BBC News - UK unemployment total falls to 2.58m - 0 views

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    As can be seen, there has been a drop in unemployment in the UK, falling to 2.58 million people and is shown visually on the graph. There has been a drastic change in the unemployment of 16 to 24 year olds, which will have positive outcomes in the long-run. With less young people being unemployed, they are gaining on vital years of learning that they would have previously missed out on if they had not been employed. In order to gain experience and be better workers in the future, they would need to be employed as soon as possible, and with this happening it will affect the workforce later on as they have developed useful skills to benefit their work.  Once older workers have retired, there will now be people to fill the roles of these workers. With the Olympic Games providing the boost to the economy that is greatly needed, employment is starting to rise again; however, there is the worry that this will only have an impact in the short-run, with there being temporary jobs for the unemployed that will soon no longer be needed. If this happens there could be a rise followed by a sudden drop in employment, so there is a question of whether it will benefit the unemployed at all.
Moritz Pill

Unemployment on the rise again in Scotland - Daily Record - 0 views

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    The unemployment rate in Scotland has increased to 8.2 percent within the last three months. It is now worse than the UK unemployment rate, which is at about 8.1 percent.In order to fix the problem, the government has now decided to step in, in order to achieve economic growth and get people back into work. The government wants to do this by simplifying the business environment and reform the tax system for companies in order to help them create more jobs. By decreasing the costs of production, the government wants the SRAS curve to shift to the right and therefor increase aggregate supply. If costs of producing are lower, firms will higher more workers, which will result in less unemployment according to theory. 
Amelie Spaniol

Central Bank of Turkey predicts inflation target overshoot until 2013 - Central Banking - 0 views

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    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.  
Clara Gannon

Rising food prices likely boosted Brazil inflation - Business - Stocks & economy | NBC ... - 0 views

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    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.
Mor Ovadia

Canada Inflation Slows 2nd Month in August on Natural Gas - Bloomberg - 0 views

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    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.
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