...Introduction Over the last 12 months, the excessive sovereign debt problems in Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain which all are members of European Union led to a crisis in the global financial system. As the European Monetary Union members use the Euro as the common currency, they do not have abilities to use independent monetary policy, the solution of this debt crisis which can influence the whole global financial system becomes to difficult to be found. Chart 1: How country debts and budget deficits compare [pic] Source: Eurostat Newsrelease Euroindicators 2010 According to the Chart 1 above, the debt of Italy is 115.8% of GDP and Greece (115.1% of GDP) is closely followed, while Ireland has the highest budget deficit of 14.3% of GDP and next is Greece (13.6% of GDP). However, the European Union member states were required to have 3% for the ratio of the actual government deficit to GDP as market prices and 60% for the ratio of government debt to GDP at market prices (Treaty on European Union, 1992). It is clear that all member states shown above broke the standard of Treaty on European Union and have excessive deficit and debt relate to the GDP. Government debt is defined as the government borrowing in order to satisfy the short-term liquidity needs or the longer-term budget capital expenditures (Edirisuriya, 2010). The government debt usually can be caused as an accumulated governmental deficit over several years or several decades. A large scale of...
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...the fiscal state the European Union is in, it is important and interesting because it is still current affairs and there are various factors and decisions that have helped the path that the crisis is going in, this essay will look at the crisis but on the implications and problems that European union face as well as what they have faced already and whether the European Central Bank are doing enough to improve the situation and what their plans are for the future. A sovereign bond serves as a floor for interest rates banks charged for loans and for the pricing of other financial contracts and securities. The global financial crisis led to the deterioration of government budgets and finances as nations utilized public expenditures to provide stability and stimulus. The Eurozone suffered because of heavy borrowing practices, property pebbles and living above their means. The Eurozone debt crisis started because Greece who had borrowed heavily in international capital markets over the past decade were turned against by investors this is because Greece in 2009 admitted that they had double the amount of debt that was allowed in the Eurozone limit. Ratings agencies started to downgrade Greek bank and government debt, and there was fear of Greece defaulting and not being able to pay back its debts but the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou insisted otherwise however this was not true and would later lead to packages of emergency measures to halt the rising financial market tensions...
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...multinational firm which is operating in UK and it has several stakeholders which can be categorized into two groups, internal stakeholders and external stakeholders and also Next plc as an organization has it aims, objectives and goals which they target to achieve in future though they have achieved some in present too. Economic system is an organized way on how allocation of resources in an economy is done, how goods required by the consumers have been produced and how it is distributed, basically there are three types of economic systems where in all three economic system allocation of resources is done by different parties. Economic policies are implemented by the government the economy, both policies that the government use have a direct impact on country’s economy. Next plc as an organization also can affected when the government implements economic policies to the country’s economy. Next plc exports products to other countries and by doing this it enables international trade to take place. International trade brings several advantages to Next plc but it also must face certain issues due to international trade. Certain countries over the...
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...What role does the IMF play in the European Debt Crisis? Causes and Implications A number of economic misfortunes that started in 2002 created a European fiscal dilemma, including increasing debt experienced by the banks and governments of several European countries. It is believed that the uncontrolled debt led to the fiscal predicament that extended to grave proportions. Currently, at least 16 European countries are in debt. Among the countries most affected are Greece, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal. All of the countries in the Eurozone share a monetary currency called the Euro Dollar and have closely connected economies. Implications that have come about as a result of the Euro debt crisis may include Economic changes in Europe, Government bailouts, Stress to banking systems, and further economic deterioration. Role of the imf The IMF could play a very useful role in any comprehensive solution by providing some of the firepower to reassure the markets, and, more importantly, by supplying discipline to the execution of the rescue plans through enforcing conditionality on loan disbursements. The staff of the International Monetary Fund said in its latest assessment that the crisis in the euro area has reached a critical stage, and urged the 17 countries of the Eurozone to remain strongly committed to a vigorous and complete monetary union, including a unified banking system and more fiscal integration. The IMF has offered solutions for short term support to the Eurozone...
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...FISCAL POLICY IN GERMANY AND IN GREECE DURING THE RECESSION IN 2008-2009 By Mohammad Waqas Approved _________________________________________ (……………………………..) A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelors of ……. May 2011 Abstract Recession has been a highlighted feature of the world economy over the past few decades. Recession has added importance to the discretionary fiscal policy because monetary policy and automatic stabilizers could not pull back the economy from recession on their own. The case of EU countries is of great significance in times of recession because of certain common policies which the member states have to follow. The research is theoretical in nature synthesizing previously done studies in the same field. Fiscal policy in Germany and Greece during the recession in 2008-2009 is being analyzed to come up with the better policy measure. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….3 TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………….….4 1.INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………….………………5 2. OVERVIEW………………………………………………………….…………….9 3. RECESSION IN EUROPE 2008-2009…………………………………………..11 3.1. Recession in Greece………………………………………...…………...…..13 3.2. Recession in Germany……………………………………...…………...…..17 4. EU FISCAL POLICY………………………………………………………....….20 5. POLICY TOOLS………………………………………………………………….23 6. FISCAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS …………………………………………….25 6.1 Greece ………………………………………………………………………..25 6.1.1 Pre Crisis...
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...------------------------------------------------- Policy Paper, spring 2012 ------------------------------------------------- Is a Greek exit from the European Union inevitable? 0909512 Table of Contents Pg. List of Illustrations 3 Executive Summary 4 1.0 Introduction 5 2.0 The Economic Cost and Benefit for State Membership of the EMU 5 2.1 Benefits of EMU Membership & Mechanisms 5 2.2 Costs of EMU Membership 7 3.0 Contextual Factors: The Profusion of Dept 10 3.1 The Eurozone Crisis 10 3.3 Greece- The Forefront of the Euro Area Crisis 13 4.0 Alternate Policies and the Effective Consequences 15 4.1 Predicament 15 4.2 Abetting Dependent on Austerity 16 4.3 Creditor-Led Default 17 4.4 Debtor-led Default and Greek Haircuts 19 4.5 Greek Exit 20 5.0 Recommendation 21 Appendices: Appendix 1: Preferential liberalization References List of Illustrations Pg. Illustration 1: The cost of EMU- Diminishing Domestic Flexibility to Asymmetric Macro Shocks 7 Illustration 2: Cost and benefit of Monetary Unions 9 Illustration 3: Evolution of Nominal Unit Labor Costs in the Eurozone Pre to the US Credit Crunch 9 Illustration 4: Current Account Balances in Percentage GDP 10 Illustration 5: Core Bank Exposure to the Weaker Eurozone Member States 12 Illustration 5: Holders of Greek Government Bonds and Dept (in...
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...I. Introduction According to European Commission (2011a), a new common currency in Europe was announced on the first day of January 1999. At that time, there were eleven European countries decided to join the Euro and the Euro was introduced instead of their own currencies. The Euro has been adopted as a main currency of the country members, including Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. In order to be accepted to use the Euro, these countries had to agree with the conditions called “convergence criteria” about the price and exchange-rate stability, long-term interest rates, total government debt, government budget deficits, and central bank independence. These aspects will be discussed specifically in this essay. In the early stages of announcing and using the Euro, four members of the EU still remained separate from the Euro, namely Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, and Sweden. Later, in 2000, Greece changed its decision to accomplish the agreement. In 2001, it started adopting the Euro. At the present time, there are 17 out of 27 EU countries using the Euro as an official currency, which makes it become one of the most important currencies in the world. In the future, apart from Denmark and Britain, all other members of the EU will adopt the Euro. It should be known that only Latvia and Romania have a target date for joining the Euro in 2014 and 2015 respectively (European commission, 2011b). This essay...
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...analyse the current state of the European Monetary Union. The European Monetary Union or the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is the successor to its predecessor: The European Monetary System, and attempts to deliver an economic system which is unified and cohesive for all the members of the European Union. Perhaps the most notable and drastic change implemented under this systematic collection of policies is the adoption of the Euro currency over the national currencies of the member states out of which only the United Kingdom and Denmark have chosen to not follow in the footsteps of their fellow member countries. The European Monetary Union is essentially a complex but involved coordination of a common monetary policy amongst all members of the European union, accommodating fiscal and economic policies and most notably the currency common to all members, the Euro. This decision to form an exclusive and unified front was undertaken in December, of 1991, in the city of Maastricht in Netherlands and was later more firmly integrated in the Maastricht Treaty on the European Union. It has been designed as a tool to implement the full economic integration of the European Union and to complete the integration as one system, which started in 1957. Through this integration, the European Union hopes to gain the benefits of having a larger sized failsafe net, internal and cohesive efficiency combined together with the European Monetary Union, it would provide a robust and...
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...the common market, the economic junction and the complete economic integration. The European Union is on the penultimate stage, which is the economic union. The objective of this essay is to know more about the European monetary union and other touch points that are to be the EMU, the process, countries belonging to the European Union but not part of the EMU and its reasons. Economic union is a common market that removes restrictions on trade between countries. The currency is the same and a central authority controls fiscal policies. It has a single currency and monetary policy. The objective of this stage is that members actually are formed as one nation and its features are a common fiscal common currency, harmonized tax rates, the pooling of foreign exchange reserves, and monetary policy. (Cerdeira, 2009) The EMU is a major step in the integration of the economy of the European Union. It involves the coordination of economic and fiscal policy of the same coin policies, some countries took the next step to the next stage and adopted the euro as its currency, and these countries are part of the euro area. (EC, 2014) " One Market, One Currency " is what the European Commission defined as a geographical area where the economy is a single currency and where risks can be managed and has flexibility among country. This would make cuts of a country being adversely affected by an external shock, but the EU was having more social and employment laws that reduce market flexibility...
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...macroeconomic stability in that area? The Euro-zone is an economic and monetary union that currently has 17 members. These 17 members have established the Euro as their official currency, which has as main consequence that the monetary policies are under the command of the European Central Bank. The main advantage of this is that they have a fixed exchange rate, so they don´t have to face the international volatility of the currency market. However as their monetary policies depend on the European Central Bank, loosing effectiveness in their own fiscal and monetary policies, making it harder to face economic crises, especially when you have a weak economic framework, which was the case of Spain. If all the economies where homogeneous then it would be easier to apply the policies, but as each member is very different we have a problem due to the macroeconomic disparity among the members. If the recession occurs at the same time, it is easier to develop the monetary policies, and even if in some countries there is recession and in others not, the asymmetry can be accommodated through the members, however due to the huge disparities among countries it is not that easy. The recent crises have increased the awareness of the huge disparities that we can find in the members. These differences, which relays on the diversity of the members, have risen the question of the viability of the Eurozone. Although the monetary unification is a very ambitious plan it has many difficulties, given...
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...ten years since the final decision to move to the third and final stage of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), and the decision on which countries would be the first to introduce the euro. To mark this anniversary, the Commission is undertaking a strategic review of EMU. This paper constitutes part of the research that was either conducted or financed by the Commission as source material for the review. Economic Papers are written by the Staff of the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs, or by experts working in association with them. The Papers are intended to increase awareness of the technical work being done by staff and to seek comments and suggestions for further analysis. The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not necessarily correspond to those of the European Commission. Comments and enquiries should be addressed to: European Commission Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Publications B-1049 Brussels Belgium E-mail: Ecfin-Info@ec.europa.eu This paper exists in English only and can be downloaded from the website http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications A great deal of additional information is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu) ISBN 978-92-79-08236-8 doi: 10.2765/50808 © European Communities, 2008 Economic governance in an enlarged euro area Iain Begg1 European Institute, London School of Economic and Political Science Abstract: Ten years on from...
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...is integrated to the economies of its adjacent countries. This linkage plays a very important role in the global movement of goods and services, labor, investment funds, and technology. That is, when a country defaults on paying its debt, it not only affects the country in default, but also initiates a global economic crisis. In my research paper, I will tell the tale of eurozone debt crisis, which has created a global hysteria in the current world economy. In the research that follows, I will start with a brief history of the eurozone, how did eurozone face the debt crisis, and what might be ahead for the global economy, amid the ongoing European financial crisis. Eurozone is a term designated for all the countries that share a common single monetary policy managed by the Euro-system comprising the Frankfurt based –European Central Bank (ECB) and the central banks of member states....
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...single-currency bloc expected to be negligible. Problems in some of the Eurozone’s big economies are worrying analysts. The situation in Italy, for instance, is quite dramatic, with the economy stagnating. In France, high public deficits are a big worry; such a policy could not be continued for much longer. Underperforming fellow Eurozone nations could affect Germany’s own economic growth prospects, since they are the customers for most of Germany’s exports; it is expected that Germany’s gross domestic product will expand by just 1 percent in 2015. Despite the evident problems in Eurozone, Germany and France are determined to restore a confidence to the Euro.’ Discuss the statement, and use examples to justify your opinion. 1.0 Introduction The Global Financial Crisis or the ‘great recession’ as it is now known has been widely regarded as the worst global recession since the end of the Great Depression (Drezner, 2014). The events following the collapse of the US housing market and the subsequent financial meltdown has had consequences on a global scale, nowhere is this more evident than in the Eurozone (Allen & Ngai, 2012). The Eurozone, made up of 19 EU member states that have adopted a common currency and monetary policy, have faced increasing levels of public debt, economic stagnation and civil unrest (Ucler et al. 2015). Problems are further compounded by the fact that there...
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...The Euro is an individual currency that has theoretically been in operation in eleven countries that are members of the European Union. It was introduced in theory in January in the year 1999. The plans for arranging a single currency solidified on 1st January, 2002, when 12 EU member countries stopped using their own individual currencies and declared the Euro as their only currency. The EU has offered to let Britain hold a public vote on whether Britain should use the Euro as part of its economic involvement in the EU. Ever since the Euro has been introduced, it’s performance has been poor when it is compared with the values of the British Pound and the American Dollar. The Euro is a single currency arrangement that came into theoretical operation between 11 members of the European Union in January 1999. On January 1st 2002, 12 EU members got rid of their own currencies and introduced the Euro as their sole currency. If Britain joins the Euro, it will likely be in 2003. The government has offered the British public a referendum on Britain's entry into it though some ministers have clouded the issue as to whether Britain's entry (or not) will be a political or an economic decision. Jack Straw, Home Secretary, has stated that a decision will almost certainly be a political one whereas the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has stated that the 'Five Tests' will determine whether we join the Euro - i.e., any decision will be an economic one. The Euro’s record since its introduction...
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...Eurocrisis? What eurocrisis? This August, the streets of Florence, Barcelona, and London were full of Europeans on their (unimaginably long) holidays, acting with apparent disregard for the dire predictions in the press of a European Union (EU) on the verge of bankruptcy and dissolution. Meanwhile, financial markets backed off from their attacks on the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) while those porcine countries moved forward with significant reforms, slashing their deficit and debt levels. German growth in the last quarter has driven eurozone growth to above U.S. levels, giving pause to euroskeptics and glee to euroboosters on both sides of the Atlantic. And yet the EU is far from out of the woods. The past two years of global economic upheaval have sorely tested the EU’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and its crowning achievement, the euro. At base, the problem is simple: the EU is an outlier in political and economic history, and markets do not know what to expect from its unique combination of a single currency and separate nation- states. The eurozone crisis reveals the challenges of the EU’s sui generis political status—no longer a mere collection of nation-states, yet not a fully fledged federal entity. What, then, should we expect for the future of European integration? What does the stillunfolding eurozone crisis mean for the larger geopolitical position of the EU? Absent a crystal ball, any response is necessarily hazy and conjectural....
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