...Keynesian Economics I am mostly against government intervention in the economy because I believe that we should have a free market that is not affected by any political measures. However, there are times when the government simply has no choice if the economy is at risk of collapsing. The current global recession is one such instance where government intervention is necessary. The United States has chosen to introduce stimulus packages in order to help stimulate the economy. Keynesian economics backs this theory in that spending encourages more spending, which results in the economy picking up over the long term. So far, the US economy has taken slow steps to get back to where it was before the recession, but the main thing is that the economy is improving. Still, this is not fast enough for some people, who criticize the government for either not doing enough or simply getting involved at all. European governments have taken a different road to the United States; they have largely shied away from stimulus packages and instead focused on austerity measures. The problem with this is that it does not encourage growth; people are not encouraged to spend because the economy is often experiencing negative growth. In my opinion, Keynesian economic theory should be encouraged because of the help it provides to the economy. The government can be thought of as a guide that only gets involved in the economy when it is absolutely necessary to. As long as the government does not abuse...
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...In history and economics class, we Challenger students always wonder “Why hasn’t anyone noticed this injustice” or “why is no one doing something about this?” However, there are many individuals currently who make themselves visible and accessible to the common public and voice their opinions about the government. One of those individuals who has made an amazing effort to educate the public is Thomas Woods, an Austrian economist. Thomas Woods has contributed greatly to the United States’ fight for liberty and recognition of rights. Woods is a supporter of nullification, a concept introduced by Thomas Jefferson. Nullification is the belief that a state shouldn’t be forced to follow an unconstitutional law. If states follow unconstitutional...
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...government spending, raise taxes, and reduce the money supply. Such policy actions put macroeconomic theory to its best use by leading to a more stable economy, which benefits everyone. | Critics of active monetary and fiscal policy emphasize that policy affects the economy with a lag and that our ability to forecast future economic conditions is poor. As a result, attempts to stabilize the economy can end up destabilizing. It might be desirable if policymakers could eliminate all economic fluctuations, but that is not a realistic goal given the limits of macroeconomic knowledge and the inherent unpredictability of world events. Economic policymakers should refrain from intervening often with monetary and fiscal policy and be content if they do no harm. | 2. Whether or not the government should fight recessions with spending hikes rather than tax cuts | Advocates of increased government spending to fight recessions argue that because tax cuts may be saved rather than spent, direct government spending does more to increase aggregate demand, which is key to promoting production and employment. Monetary policy is the first line of defense against economic downturns. By increasing the monetary supply, the central...
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...typically mastered after a debater learns to deliver a good rebuttal. If a debater is using a case line, a reply must be used. Two examples are used below to illustrate the differences between a rebuttal and a reply: Resolution: This house believes that low taxes are preferable to extensive government services Negative case line: Social Services are beneficial to society in both an economic and humanitarian sense. A sample Negative rebuttal: Ladies and Gentlemen, we have shown that lower taxes should not come at the price of social programs. Our opponents stated that taxes are too high, but they are not as high as many other places. Our opponents also argued that things like our health care system are not working and we should let people pay for better service. However, this also means some people get no service like in the United States. Do we want a country of people who are petrified about losing their health benefits? We on the negative do not want to live in that kind of world. You may think that our opponents are correct when they state that many people abuse social services. But what about the child who needs to eat or the elderly woman on a fixed income? Are they abusing the system? No! As my partner has proven, the vast majority of Canadians need the social services they get. Finally, the Affirmative has argued that lower taxes will stimulate growth in the economy and we will all be better off. As I stated in my first speech, what lower taxes...
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...worldwide economic downturn that left many homeless and even more jobless. The depression originated in the U.S., but affected many countries throughout the world. The time period of The Great Depression varied depending on the country, but first began in the late 1920’s. It ended in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s when the Second World War began. It devastated virtually everyone, rich and poor, people of all occupations. The term was first coined by British economist Lionel Robbins who wrote a book in 1934 called “The Great Depression” but popularized by President Herbert Hoover in a statement: “I need not recount to you that the world is passing through a great depression.” The cause of The Great Depression is still an open debate amongst economists and historians. Theorists can be split into two major categories: classical economists and Keynesian economists. When classical economists theorize The Great Depression, they focus on how central banking decisions lead to overinvestment and an economic bubble, or on the supply of gold which backed many currencies at that time. Keynesian economists, on the other hand, blame underconsumption and overinvestment or government and banking incompetence. Many agreed that the main event which spurred The Great Depression was the crash of the stock market in 1929. Known to most as Black Tuesday: the most famous stock market downturn in American history, October 29, 1929 was the day the stock market collapsed and started an economic slump...
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...Mariah Head S.I. Leader PSCI 1050.002 mariahhead@my.unt.edu Exam 3 Review This review is not all-inclusive. In addition to studying the material on this review, you should study your lecture notes, the textbook and the LearnSmart Activities. 1. Income tax is an example of which type of tax? a. Progressive b. Regressive 2. The principle of ___________ was the policy of making a military, political and ideological commitment to vulnerable countries in order to prevent the spread of communism. a. Containment b. Deterrence c. Marshall Plan d. War Powers Act 3. The theories of which economist helped justify the increase in government spending during the New Deal? a. Ben Bernanke b. Alan Greenspan c. Adam Smith d. John Maynard Keynes 4. Which of the following entities prepares the budget for Congress? a. Appropriations Committee b. Department of Monetary Management c. Congressional Budget Office d. Budget Committee 5. The conduct of international relations is known as a. Coercion b. Threats c. Subterfuge d. Diplomacy 6. When the government spends more than it makes in a fiscal year, it’s called: a. Deficit b. National Debt c. Surplus d. Balanced budget 7. The expenditures that the government is legally required to pay are called: a. Deficit spending b. Mandatory spending c. Discretionary Spending d. Required spending 8. Governors on the Federal Reserve serve a ___...
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...INTRODUCTION TO MACROECONOMICS E202 $ ¥ Dr. David A. Dilts Department of Economics Doermer School of Business and Management Sciences Indiana-Purdue University-Fort Wayne June 1, 1993 Revisions: May 1994, December 1995, July 1996, November, 2000, May 2003, May 2006 PREFACE This Course Guide was developed in part because of the high cost of college textbooks, and in part, to help organize students’ studying by providing lecture notes together with the reading assignments. This Guide is provided to the student online at the Department of Economics website. Jayla Heller, the Department’s secretary has been kind enough to go through all of the frustration and hard work to put the guide in the appropriate format and put it online. To her goes my gratitude. The department, neither school, nor the professor make anything whatsoever from this Guide. In fact, the department’s budget and the professor’s own resources are used in the writing of the Guide, and the numerous draft copies that are produced in the revisions of this document. Like the sign in the Mom and Pop bait shop on Big Barbee Lake says, “This is a non-profit organization, wasn’t planned to be – it just worked out that way.” Well, actually it was planned to be a non-profit enterprise in this case. The professor also wishes to acknowledge the fact that several students have proposed changes, improvements, caught errors, and helped to make this document more useful as a learning tool. Naturally, any errors of omission...
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...America and the world, but they are mistreated by some people who are lazy and would rather take a government check at the end of the day instead of work. Even though food stamps raise the unemployment and obesity rates, they still aid people who can not afford them and are high in demand while the economy is low. Food stamps have been around since the Great Depression; the program was setup to help those who can not afford to feed themselves or their families. Food stamps serve all kinds of different families who need help buying food. “The Program serves 46 million people, almost as many people as medicare.”(Levenstein & Mittelstadt, 2012, P. 1). And “Food stamps were first conceived during the Great Depression of a Keynesian approach to priming the economic pump.” (Levenstein & Mittelstadt, 2012, P. 2). From here, people can tell that the numbers are growing and that is not necessarily a good gear to hit. According to Splet (1994) “Federal government expenditures for food assistance subsidize the distribution of over 100 million meals a day.”(P.1). Food aid is definitely a known program that anyone could get help from. Unfortunately food stamps were not this good of an assistance, like today’s present time. “The high point came in 1994, when 75 percent of all eligible people were on the rolls; the low point was in 1999, when only 58 percent were getting help.” (Lieberman, 2003, P.4). This is merely a small conclusion that people can interpret about the pastime of food aid...
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...Chapter 1 theories and methods. 1.1 Scientific Method in social science Describe some of the major areas of study in the social sciences: The major areas of study in social sciences are Political Science, Biology and Psychology, Geography, Sociology, anthropology and history. What was the main debate among the scholars in the social science department? The main debate among the scholars is which of all of the above areas of study are the most important and relevant when it comes to individual formation and thinking in reguards to social sciences and what causes people to become the people that they are. Location? Biological and Psychological make-up? Influence from higher powers (Political Science)? Or ancestry and our history? What factors do you think are the most important in shaping a human being? I truly believe that there is not really one factor that outweighs another, it is a mix of all of them. Perhaps Psychological factors may have more to do with it depending on an individual, however the Psyche can also be changed and manipulated quite easily according to events and a whole list of other things. How do the textbook authors define the scientific method? The purpose of the scientific method is to obtain evidence that is verifiable and subject to replication and to make no judgment about even the most seemingly obvious “facts” until original suppositions are overwhelmingly supported by proof. The basic technique of the scientific method is a special kind...
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...A Short Memorandum on Law, Regulation, and Consumption Dr. Bronwen Morgan A. Standard Economic Approaches A highly simplified standard (neoclassical) economic account of the relationship between law, regulation and consumption would posit that, first, the arena for consumption is constituted at a background level by law. General legal rules of contract provide the framework within which consumption choices are made, while general legal rules of tort, or wrongful harm, provide a post-hoc means of remedying a range of the possible damage or harm that might flow from consumption choices. Regulation enters the picture in both specific and general ways, all of which aim essentially to pre-emptively correct market failures that might harm vulnerable consumers. General statutory consumer protection rules (for example prohibiting certain terms in standard contracts, or unfair pressure in situations of unequal bargaining power) are supplemented by sector-specific statutory attempts to mitigate or prevent particular harms and risks that might be suffered by consumers, whether through poor water quality, contaminated food, morally offensive publications for children or the like. In this picture, regulation is the skeleton that gives shape and structure to a well-functioning market society. Regulation, as Karl Polanyi argued so eloquently many decades ago, constitutes the market. Neoclassical perspectives have in recent years adopted the Polanyian appreciation of the importance...
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...support constitutionalism and consent? (Jan 02) Constitutionalism is a belief in limited government brought about through external (usually legal) and internal (institutional) checks on the exercise of power. Consent is the idea that govt power should be based on the agreement of the governed, usually expressed through regular and competitive elections. Liberals support constitutionalism and consent because they fear that govt may become a tyranny against the individual, based on the assumption that power is inherently corrupting and concentrations of power will lead to absolute corruption. This assumption is rooted in the liberal view of human nature: as individualism implies self- interest, those with power over others are apt to abuse it for their benefit and at the expense of others. Liberal constitutionalism is expressed through support for various external and internal devices, such as codified constitutions, bills of rights, the separation of powers, federalism or devolution, and so on. Liberal support for consent is evident in support for electoral democracy in general and, more specifically, sympathy for referendums and proportional representation. 2. Distinguish between negative freedom and positive freedom, and explain the implications of each for the state. (Jun 02) Negative freedom is the absence of external constraints upon the individual, usually understood as non-interference. It is manifest in freedom of choice and consistent with privacy. Negative...
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...ABSTRACT This paper is intended to provide critical responses to the weaknesses of globalization and corruption in the world that we are currently living based on the mixed economic worldview which is my personal economic worldview which threatens to undermine the stability of economic and political development on both a national and global scale, and which requires both immediate and wide-ranging policy interventions. The recent concern with corruption is attributable, not to any substantive increase in corrupt practices, but rather, to the re-framing of corruption in light of broader shifts and transformations within the global economy. The historical context of globalization covers centuries. This paper reviews the types, forms as well as the consequences of corruption. The paper also reviews the issues associated with globalization and the effect it has on the lives of various individuals. It questions the view that, under certain conditions, corruption may enhance efficiency and argues that though corruption may benefit powerful individuals it will indubitably lead to greater inefficiency and a waste of resources at a macro-economic level. Table of Contents ABSTRACT i INTRODUCTION iii BACKGROUND iv Forms of Corruption vi 1.1 Bribery vi 1.2 Theft and fraud vi 1.3 Embezzlement vi 1.4 Nepotism vi 1.5 Conflict of Interest vi 1.6 Favouritism vii Types of Corruption vii 2.1. Grand corruption vii 2.2 Political corruption vii 2.3 Corporate corruption...
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...it on its financial sector? This will be the focus of the first part of this essay and it concludes that with increasingly liberal policies becoming conventional wisdom in British politics, the continuing expansion of the financial sector is inevitable. The second part will analyse the consequences of the Financial Crisis and how the UK’s dependence on the financial sector is, within this context, a momentous drawback. However, the third part of this essay will explore the idea that although better regulation and governance is necessary, the UK should maintain its dominance in the financial sector as it has become inherent to British economic culture and offers comparative advantage over other economies. ________________ Political ideology and resulting policies are very influential in promoting or reducing the magnitude of certain economic sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining or financial industries. The remarkable expansion of the British financial sector is therefore a direct result of policies that facilitated and enhanced its growth. ‘[A]ll markets are socially and politically constructed (…) The appearance of markets, their scope, operation and regulation – and even their all too frequent failure and need of rescue – have inevitably social and political dimensions, influenced by national culture, politics,...
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...Fall 2012 CHAPTER 1: THE CHALLENGE OF ECONOMICS 1 CHAPTER 1: THE CHALLENGE OF ECONOMICS Definitions and Questions All economic questions and problems arise because human wants exceed the resources available to satisfy them. Scarcity: - The condition that arises because the available resources are insufficient to satisfy wants. o Our resources are limited but our wants are unlimited. - Scarcity: Lack of enough resources to satisfy all desired uses of those resources The Central Problem of Scarcity Our materialistic wants and desires continue to grow. - Newest camera phone - Larger television - Bigger house - Exotic vacation Why can’t we have everything we want? - Our wants exceed our resources. Economics and Opportunity Cost Economics – the study of how best to allocate scare resources among competing users. Opportunity cost – The value or price of the most desired goods and services that are foregone in order to obtain something else. - The next best alternative that you give up. Factors of Production Resource inputs used to produce goods and services. The four resources: - Labor, land, capital and entrepreneurship Resources are factors of production. Economic resources – all natural human and manufactured resources that can be used in the production of goods and services. Land – arable land, forests, minerals, energy (oil deposits and coal), water, air, wild plants, animals, birds and fish. Labor – all the physical and intellectual talents that can...
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...International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 1 No. 12; September 2011 Does There Exist Okun’s Law in Pakistan? Khalil Ahmad1 Assistant Professor Economics Department University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Sumaira Khalil Student of PGDAE Economics Department University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Allah Ditta Saeed Assistant Professor Economics Department University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan Abstract This study tests the relevance of Okun’s law to Pakistan economy. For this purpose, two versions of Okun’s law —‘the difference’ version and ‘the gap’ version — were tried using annual time series data on growth rate of gross domestic product and unemployment for the period from 1974 to 2009. As the variables included in both the models were stationary at the level, the ordinary least squares method was employed to extract the coefficient of Okun’s law. Neither of the models witnessed existence of Okun’s law to Pakistan Economy. The study recommends further research on the issue incorporating the possible interaction between inflation and unemployment. Further, government agencies collecting and maintaining socio-economic data should make utmost effort to collect and publish accurate and reliable data in Pakistan. Key words: Okun‘s Law; ‗the Difference Model‘; ‗the Gap Model‘; Pakistan; GDP; Unemployment Introduction Variations in unemployment are inversely related to variations in output in any economy. This relationship...
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