Essays on Austerity Measures

Austerity Policy Measures in the UK

Introduction The process of putting into place strategic measures with an aim of reducing of deficit and increasing economic growth in the United Kingdom has taken a paradigm shift from various aspects. The government of UK has put deficit reduction measures, which entail a series of strategically sustained reductions in public expenditure, undertaken towards a reduction of the government budget deficit and the UK’s welfare state. The design of this research paper is structured towards assessing the rationale on which the UK’s austerity policy is based with regards to deficit reduction and stimulation of economic growth (Burns, ...

Government budget provides the projections of revenues to be received and expenses to be incurred by the government in a given financial year. The main sources of government revenue are levies, taxes, returns of government projects and fines. In many cases, the government budget is at a deficit because the amount of expenditure to be incurred is more that revenue projected revenue. Thus, the government has an option of financing the deficit through borrowing or applying austerity measures to cut down its projected spending. The government can also apply austerity measures when debt level reaches unmanageable high level. Everyone ...

Article in business

Abstract The economic depression that was experienced globally affected many financial markets and institutions. In attempting to mitigate the effects of the economic depression, different players used different approaches citing different reasons. This paper will look at a particular theorist in economics and his contributions to some of the approaches used by different countries to deals with the issue of economic depression. In doing so, the paper will analyze the contribution of Keynes while striking relevance to the global economic recession. The dispute between Keynes and what he called orthodoxy was based on the reservations he expressed on the ...

Austerity Measure

The growth path of an economy does not follow a smooth trajectory. It is composed of a number of short-term and long-term fluctuations. The magnitude and duration of such fluctuations are varied. The government uses its two important tools, the fiscal policy and the monetary policy to smoothen out this jagged path to some extent. During periods of boom, that is, when the economy experiences high rate of growth with low unemployment rate and high income, the government follows a contractionary fiscal and monetary policy. In times of slump when the economy is under a phase of deceleration in growth with low output ...

Introduction

2008 Nobel Prize winner, Paul Krugman, published a new book “End this depression now” in which he viewed prompt evolution of the economy to be obtained through government spending. As a result, the economy of any given country should not worry about the deficit it is causing to the country as long as the economy is increasing. It is worth noting that planning is an essential part of any successful undertaking. Therefore, the spending of the government should be a planned one.

However, according to Paul, one ought not to worry about the spending. Therefore, the government should spend so as ...

The Four Seasons Hotels is a chain of hotels with an international presence in major cities of the world. The hotels target various hoteliers through a comprehensive provision of services that range from hotel meals, accommodations, conferences, meetings and seminars, catering services, parties, among other hotelier products. In this paper we shall look at six specific examples of the branches which include Dublin, Sydney, Singapore, Istanbul, Jakarta and Milano. It is illustrative to note that all the mentioned hotels are located in the Middle East or Europe. These continents form the list of continents believed to have a robust economy that may ...

Economics

The European countries are facing lower growth rates, just as they faced in history. The austerity measures have brought pain to the euro zone, and these measures provided no relief. The euro zone countries are reducing their spending by the double digits. Such reduction is increasing unemployment in Europe. The eurozone countries are trying to find the possible ways that are suitable for countries that are stagnant economically for the prosperity of the countries. In order to achieve the better growth for the economies, the countries are adopting austerity. Austerity is the intentional deflation of the domestic prices and ...

Problem Outline

Cox’s Container Company (CCC) is a medium size manufacturing company that produces both large and small containers. In the last few years, the company’s profitability has gone down due to increased competition from similar companies that have reduced CCC profit margins. CCC needs to change its culture and structure if it is to remain profitable and therein lays the problem. The employees are not willing to implement the new changes and thus they are not cooperating. The new management team has not introduced the changes well since it has not consulted any of the employees. There has ...

Introduction

The great recession is believed to have started toward the end of 2007, and affected most economies. This was dubbed the great recession in the literature since it was mainly deep and prolonged, and therefore was regarded to be the worst recession since the great depression of 1930s. For years, the economists have not agreed on the causes of the great recession nor have they agreed on the correct policy response to the subsequent recession. This made several governments introduce significant stimulus programs in an attempt to reduce the economic impact of the recession. Similarly, the increase in government ...

A government’s budget is an estimate presented by fiancé minister of the government’s revenue and expenditure for a year. When the revenues exceed the expenditure the budget is said to be in surplus. In a budgetary deficit situation the government’s expenditure that includes transfer payments and government purchases is greater than the revenue. The real GDP of an economy is the monetary value of all services and goods produced in a year with reference to the prices of a base year. Real GDP excludes the price changes due to inflation or deflation. In a budget deficit situation the Real GDP ...

The Title of the Article: Britain’s Deficit-driven Growth

The Source of the Article: Wall Street Journal Section of the Syllabus: Fiscal and Monetary Policy, Deficit Financing. Candidate Name: Candidate Number: The Article Please find the article at the following URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/09/23/britains-deficit-driven-growth/?KEYWORDS=macroeconomics

The Commentary

This article discusses the pros and cons of the deficit financing led growth that the UK is experiencing presently. The growth figure that UK has registered from the past year is quite high compared to the other economies in Europe. The widening public deficit is a matter of concern among several quarters. The government has still not shown any signs of ...

Introduction

Since the second decade of the 20th century, Italy has provided its citizens with a comprehensive social security program that helps to provide needed health care benefits and funding to individuals that are too old or too disabled to remain in the workforce. Italy’s social security system shares a many similarities with other European nations, particularly with nations that are members of the European Union. As a result, an examination of Italy’s social security program would likely provide valuable insights that could be somewhat applicable to the systems in other European nations. The following pages will outline a comprehensive analysis of ...

Austerity

a). The current deficit panic and the debt, which are associated with recession has created an alarming situation in most of the countries, and threatened the economies of countries. They are however, a staple of the politics of several countries. In order to cope with the problem of fiscal deficit, and debt, the governments of many countries are adopting austerity measures. The republicans are demanding cuts and the Democrats are demanding cuts, and an increase in the tax. But, as a matter of fact, the budget cuts are not the right thing to do at such moments. In this regard, if the ...

Introduction

Situated between the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, Iceland is one of the Nordic countries falling into the European continent. The population of the country is 321,000 and the total area of the country is 40,000 sq. mile. Iceland is the least densely populated country in Europe. The capital city of Iceland is Reykjavik which is also the north most capital city in the world. In 2008 when a global financial meltdown started in US after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Icelandic economy was hurt badly by the crisis. This resulted in the whole banking sector of Iceland ...

The Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS)

Abstract The Victims Information Bureau of Suffolk (VIBS) was established in 1976 with the core mandate being the aiding of victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse. Accordingly, VIBS has been dispensing its duties with the organization assuming an expansionary approach. VIBS has, however, not failed in its activities. It continues to offer humanitarian services. This is despite the financial challenges that it faces. However, even with the society being seemingly educated and informed, it is this paper’s contention that the organizational activities aimed at creating a state of awareness and empowering the victims are critical. In addition, ...

Introduction

International Monetary Fund and World Bank are two well-reputed financial institutions that try to ensure that the global economy is in healthy state and the economic disparity among people and nations are reduced as much as possible. The basic goals of these institutions are focused around developing nations. Developing nations across the world have many basic problems impeding their progress. Many people in those countries are ridden with problems like the lack of access to clean water, lack of sanitation facilities, no access to primary and secondary education, disparity among girl and boy child, lack of health facilities and ...

Abstract

In today’s economic climate, everyone has an opinion about policy reactions to the current world recession and aftermath of the financial crash. I do not see where government austerity has the potential to bring about the immediate changes that stimulus spending would. We are now trapped in a cycle where an unstable economic environment has made liquid assets more valuable than capital investments. This is not going to change until unemployment levels rise and that is not going to happen without capital investments. It is a catch 22. Austerity makes the problem worse, it adds unemployment by cutting programs and ...

This video is based on the fact that austerity will continue to polarize the US in the current economic times. Consequently, it is projected that austerity measures will be applied mostly in dealing with the budget deficits and the tough economic times. This shows the inequality that comes into existence as a result of the austerity measures that the government undertakes in its quest to achieving a balanced budget. The video gives an insight of the political and social consequences that are brought about by the austerity measures in the country. The speakers further provide the remedies of combating this confronting ...

The financial crisis hit the entire world threatening the conservatively stable economies and having negative effects on both the developed and developing nations. Some of consequences still continue to haunt the world today in the wake of the Euro Debt crisis and the financial meltdown in the American economy. These occurrences have triggered a re-examination of the market system with the liberal enterprise system in the United States of America incurring some blame. In reaction to that, the American Congress in 2010 passed the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Act among others things introduced tough ...

International business is the multi-lateral trade between different countries across the globe. International trade has various positive and negative effects to the participating countries. For example, in the recent past, the world has been rocked by various financial crises originating from different parts of the world. One of the major financial crises that greatly affected the world of commerce is the Greece debt crisis. In addition, there are other two financial crises that have caused negative impacts in both Europe and America. These crises are Spain and Portugal debt crisis (Duthel, 2011). It is evident that management of debt ...

The Four Seasons Hotels is a chain of hotels with an international presence in major cities of the world. The hotels target various hoteliers through a comprehensive provision of services that range from hotel meals, accommodations, conferences, meetings and seminars, catering services, parties, among other hotelier products. This Literature Review focuses on six branches, which include Dublin, Sydney, Singapore, Istanbul, Jakarta and Milano. All the mentioned hotels are either located in the Middle East or Europe. These listed continents have a robust economy that might not wallow to changes in the world economic climate. I am going to analyse how the ...

Abstract

Germany has been a model economy for the Euro zone with its fiscal frugality which has maintained the country on an impressive growth while the other European countries were struggling with debt crisis. However, despite a favorable GDP growth and low unemployment, the country is facing challenges with high inflation. The current situation is a result of combination of both poor decision making and market sentiments in the region. In addition, the country’s greatest debt is in the hands of the financials and non financial corporations with each having 87% of the debt while government holds 83%. In relation to the ...

The Eurozone crisis began as early as 2005. The problems were mostly related to internal economic problems mainly low productivity. The crisis took a plunge in 2008 as many financial institutions in the US—like Lehmann Brothers—collapsed. Many governments and banks lost their investments in these institutions. In turn, these governments and banks began to fail in paying for their own loans. Because they were unable to pay their debt, they could not find any source of funding so entire economies. The economic crisis was not solely the result purely of the collapse of financial institutions. Some economies— ...

Introduction

Austerity is an economic term used to define fiscal policies of reduced spending achieved through cutting of deficits mainly in public service provision and benefits. These policies are in most cases used by governments in an attempt to reduce the amount of money spent on deficits; in several instances, austerity policies are used together with tax increases. This is done to increase long-term financial solvency for investors. As is the case with other economic policies, the implementation of austerity policies has both supporters and critics. Those who support austerity policies argue that by reducing the government’s expenditure, it ...

Abstract

Since 2007, the European markets continued to experience a decline as several European nations had felt the consequences of applying the unstable Euro into their countries that had influenced the nation’s economic instability as seen in the case of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In recent news, the European debt crisis continues to prevail as the Eurozone reaches its all-time low for the past5 years as both strong and weak European markets now enter a state of recession that affects the entire world market. With the current European Debt Crisis continuing to influence the European markets, the United States may ...

This topical article written by Matthew Chance and Oliver Joy – two London-based British CNN journalists – covers one of the latest manifestations of the extensive unrest and disquiet evidenced in more than one European country. This is because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Eurozone, which comprizes those European countries having the Euro as their currency. Greece is the worst affected, with the most critical national debt situation, although other countries such as Italy and Spain also have a major debt problem, and may – like Greece – have to request a “bailout”. The article reads as though the readership is ...

Finding common ground on questions like euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) will never be possible, given the strong religious convictions that many Christians, Jews and Muslims have always had against any form of self-destruction. For them, suicide is a sin and killing is always wrong, except of course in wartime situations or when the state has to use force in policing and maintaining order. Their views are based on the Bible or other sacred writings as well as strongly-held religious traditions and convictions, and therefore are not going to change quickly or easily. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, assisted ...

Social Deprivation and Breakdown of the Nuclear Family

The London Riots

The riots that erupted in London in 2011 caused a paramount concern for the state of British society. Many observers pointed it directly to the global crisis. What initially began as a peaceful protest had escalated into riots and bouts of hooliganism and quickly spread in to other parts of the country (Becky, 2012). Within a period of 5 days, the violence had spread form the epicentre in Tottenham to Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham (Daniel, 2012). As is the case with many societal problems, politicians are always quick to give analyses of the situation blaming the rival party and ...

The global financial crisis of 2007-to-date is cited as being among the worst ever to affect the world since the credit crunch of the 1930s popularly known as the Great Depression. Coupled with the financial crises, a massive sovereign debt crisis advanced among leading national investors all over the globe and the most affected were the majority of European governments. The Eurozone crisis made it difficult for most nations to re-finance their debts leading to the creation of rescue packages and bailouts to prevent the collapse of economies that were in between the depth crises. Member states within the European ...

Abstract

Multilateral organizations, such the International Monetary Fund, play a major role in our society, working in the areas of technical and financial assistance through structural adjustments in developing countries, as well as funding and sector-specific policy guidance. This domain has an inherent dynamism, and must be understood by analyzing the historical trajectory of these organizations and understanding that their actions are guided by the ideology that sustains the society we live in, which is rooted in the capitalist mode of production. This led me to ask the simple question: to what extant has the IMF been a force for good in ...

This paper is going to discuss the European sovereign debt crisis of 2010 to date, and especially the crisis that hit two particular governments in the sovereignty, Greece and Ireland. The two governments have recently received bailouts, or financial support from the EU/ IMF following the two nation’s financial crisis of 2010. The two countries had similarities in regards to the support owing to the fact that the two states had troubles with their government finances. The causes of the troubles, in addition to the terms of the support received by each nation, and the prospects of the ...