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I used to think that Europe was a prosperous continent, that have large and attractive market. Therefore, countries that are located in that particular continent will have strong and sustained economics growth.

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But now, i think that Europe's economy is improving. Even though they might have implement some inappropriate policies in the past, however they have improved their policies. Hence i think that they are probably able to solve their recession.

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I used to think that Europe has a large and strong economy. this is because it is a big country and has a strong currency. However after watching the videos and article i came to realize that Europe as a whole is experiencing economic problems like recession.

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3 policies to help solve problems:

1. Supply-side interverntionist policies
2. Expansionary fiscal policies
3. Expansionary Monetary policy

1. Supply Side interventionist policies would be good to solve the recession in Europe. By funding education schemes and retraining of workers, Europe can reduce structural unemployment as it can retrain workers to other industries. However, limitations still do apply. Older people might be reluctant to go back to school and learn, thus making the implementation of policies difficult. Moreover, good unemployment benefits encourage people to stay unemployed, and thus increasing unemployment.

2. Expansionary fiscal policies would not be a very good idea in the case of europe, due to europe having major budget deficits and already extremely low tax rates. Negative outlook on the european economy also reduces multiplier effect to a very large extent, due to people not willin got spend as much in times of crisis.

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Europe is a large economy and will typically have a large multiplier effect and also they are experiencing both weakening CA and KA.
Therefore demand-management policies like expansionary fiscal and interest rate policy will be effective to a large extent. This is because the stimulation of the AD will bring about a multiple increase in employment, hence national income. Therefore the increase in internal demand through consumption will improve immediate problems in the short-run. This can allow the recession to be solved. However this policies do not target the main cause of recession Europe which their negative business outlook and weakening of foreign countries.

Hence, we come to the use expansionary exchange rate and interest rate policy to improve the BOP of Europe. By decreasing exchange rates through exchange rate ceilings or through indirect effect of interest rates cuts, currency of Europe is able to maintain at a low level where export competitiveness can be achieved. This allows for increase in (X-M), hence improving the CA deficit and strengthening BOP. This targets the problem of weak foreign countries but at the expense of worsening the business outlook.

These policies need to be supplemented with supply-side policies, with better infrastructure FDI can increase hence improve KA and also allow for increased productive capacity.

In a nutshell, the Europe recession has many aspects and through different policies combined and adopted, there will be sustainable growth that can improve the recession of the economy.

This shows that the right policies need to be implemeneted to solveeconoomic issues

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If we compare the economic recovery of the United States since the Great Recession with that of Europe - or more specifically the eurozone countries - the differences are striking, and instructive. The US recession technically lasted about a year and a half - from December 2007 to June 2009. (Of course, for America's 20.3 million unemployed and underemployed, and millions of others, the recession never ended - but more on that below.) The eurozone had a recession of similar length from around January 2008 to April 2009. But it then fell into a longer recession in the third quarter of 2011 that lasted for another two years, and may only be exiting that recession currently.

This makes a big difference in people's lives. In the eurozone, unemployment is at near record levels of 12.1%; while in the US, it is currently 6.7%. Despite the incompleteness of these measures, these numbers are comparable. And, of course, in Spain and Greece unemployment is 26.7 and 27.8%, respectively, with youth unemployment at an intolerable 57.4 and 59.2%.

How are we to explain these differences? The United States was, after all, the epicenter of the world financial crisis and recession in 2008. But US policy-makers responded to the recession with different policies. Most important was monetary policy: the Federal Reserve lowered short-term interest rates to about zero in 2008 and has kept them there since. The Fed also signalled its intention to keep these interest rates at these levels for a long time. And venturing into uncharted territory, the Fed engaged in three rounds of "quantitative easing", or more than $2tn of money creation. This enabled the Fed to stimulate the recovery by lowering long-term interest rates, including the crucial home mortgage interest rate, which helped recovery in the housing market. After some stimulus in both areas, the eurozone governments also engaged in more and earlier budget tightening than the United States did; and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown a clear relationship (Figure 6) between this fiscal tightening and reduced GDP growth.

Now the question is why our European brothers and sisters have been so unfortunate as to be subjected to much more brutal economic policy than what we have experienced in the United States. While there are many nuances, there are also some simple but critically important reasons. Most vital is the accountability, or lack thereof, of the people and institutions making the decisions. In Europe you have the so-called "troika" - the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Commission, and (more recently recruited) the IMF. These are much less accountable to eurozone residents - especially but not limited to those of the most victimized countries (Spain, Greece, Portugal, Ireland, and Italy) - than even the relatively unaccountable Federal Reserve and US Congress and executive branch are to Americans.

Even worse, the European authorities have pursued a political agenda, and this involved actually using the crisis to promote certain "reforms" that the citizens of the victimized countries would never vote for. This is not a conspiracy theory: Exhibit A is a review of 67 IMF reports on the 27 European Union countries during the four years from 2008 through 2011. These reports, based on consultations with the respective governments, show a remarkably consistent pattern: reduce the size of government, reduce the bargaining power of labor, cut spending on pensions and healthcare, and increase labor supply.

Some examples: in all 27 countries, the IMF recommended budget tightening, with spending cuts generally favored over tax increases. In 15 countries there were recommendations on healthcare: 14 were to cut spending. In 22 of the 27 countries there were recommendations to cut pensions. In half the countries, the IMF also gave advice on employment protection; in all of them, the recommendation was to reduce employment protections. Reducing eligibility for disability payments or cutting unemployment compensation, raising the retirement age, and decentralizing collective bargaining were also recommended.

The IMF is not an independent entity, and its European directors hold sway on matters of European policy. So these papers tell us the political agenda of the troika, not just the IMF.

It is not surprising that these are the kinds of policy changes that we have seen during the last few years in the weaker eurozone countries like Greece, where real healthcare spending has been cut by more than 40%; or Portugal, where the number of private sector workers covered by union contracts has shrunk from 1.9 million to just 300,000.

But perhaps even more remarkably, this evidence tells us why the ECB allowed repeated and severe financial crises in the eurozone to take their toll both on the eurozone and the world economy for nearly three years. Not until July 2012 did ECB President Mario Draghi utter those famous three words - "whatever it takes" - which, backed up a few weeks later by the new "Outright Monetary Transactions" program, put an end to the threat of financial meltdown.

Until then, the European authorities saw the crisis as an opportunity to implement their favored "reforms". As the IMF put it in a 2009 report (pdf):

Historical experience indicates that successful fiscal consolidations were often launched in the midst of economic downturns or the early stages of recovery.

All this is not to hold up the US recovery as an example; it is disgraceful that we have fewer people employed than we did six years ago, and a lower proportion of employed workers than we had at any time going back to the 1980s. It is also unnecessary: the media is filled with nonsense about cutting deficits and debt, and our government is also slowing growth with unnecessary budget cuts. And all this when our federal debt has a net interest burden of less than 1% of our national income, about as low as it has been in the era after the second world war. But the eurozone experience shows how much worse it can be when people lose most of their control over their government's most important economic policies.

After more than 20 European governments changed political leadership during the prolonged crisis, the pace of the destructive budget tightening there is finally winding down: from about 1.5% of GDP in 2012, to 1.1% in 2013, to 0.35% in 2014. But who knows how many more years it will take to reach normal levels of employment. That is what democracy, on economic issues, looks like in the eurozone: operating, barely, in painful slow motion.
Topics

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Why has Europe's economy done worse than the US? | Mark Weisbrot

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If we compare the economic recovery of the United States since the Great Recession with that of Europe - or more specifically the eurozone countries - the differences are striking, and instructive. The US recession technically lasted about a year and a half - from December 2007 to June 2009.

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But now , I think Europe has a lot of structural faults and its policies implemented to help solve its macro problems has not been necessarily effective . The economy is slowly crumbling and as a result , needs to rely on supply-side policies to boost its longevity and make the Euro-zone competitive globally again .

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BOB not in our group lol

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Pooooot

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http://finmin.nic.in/workingpaper/euro_zone_crisis.pdf

http://www.investors.com/news/economy/more-ceos-see-global-economy-getting-worse/

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Europe is a large economy . It is largely based on exports in the past . Now , the structural changes would be that it has cut interest rates and has begun quantitative easing to begin stimulating growth in the Euro-zone due to the poor economic performance it had . Also , it is also not helping as the world economy is worsening , leading to foreigners choosing to buy their own imports rather than exports from other countries . This has worsened (X-M) overall for Europe , in which it needs to find ways to make its exports internationally competitive again .

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But now, i feel that i had a misconception on Europe as a stronger pound does not mean a stronger economy. Furthermore, their economies are relatively weak to countries in Asia and they seem to have the problem of all 4 macro problems which is quite undesirable. Thus, perhaps they could implement a mixture of policies(Not only monetary policy but also together with supply side policy.) and learn from one another so as to improve their economies further.

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I used to think that the crisis in Greece only affected the greek economy and the effect to its neighbours was very small. However, after reading the articles, i realised that the crisis in Greece had many adverse effects on its neighbours and the members of Eurozone due to them sharing the same currency and economy.

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Problem country is facing:

-Another Macroeconomic problem that Europe is facing is its high unemployment rate as seen in the extract " Unemployment rate in the Eurozone area: 11.5% (July 2014)." and that the country is suffering from deflation "The continent seems to be stuck in a deflationary spiral and is facing a prolonged double dip recession. "

Potential sources of these macroeconomic problems:

As mentioned earlier, Europe is most likely having poor economic growth and also that government expenditure is low as seen "Hardest hit debtor countries, such as Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy are facing stringent budget cuts – which are depressing demand."
Hence, AD falls and firms experience an increase in inventories, reduce production and output and hire less workers, causing unemployment rate to fall. (Graph is as per above).

Furthermore, when unemployment rate falls, level of disposable income of the people fall and the tax revenue  of the government falls. This reduces their funds for further expenditures, Causing G to fall and since AD=C+I+G+(X-M), AD will fall further , worsening the unemployment rate.

Another cause of unemployment is structural unemployment, due to as in the extracts "

Inflexible labour markets

Generous unemployment benefits which encourage frictional unemployment.

Geographical immobilities

Strong labour market regulations which discourages firms from investing and taking on new workers. "

Thus, workers may find their skills irrelevant in certain jobs and thus unable to stay employed, increasing the unemployment rate.

-Next, there is deflation in Europe as when there is a recession, AD falls as explained earlier and and the GPL falls from P1 to P2. Since they are consistently experiencing weak economic growth,  GPL will keep falling and thus they are having the macro problem of deflation.

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Unemployment in many European countries has risen sharply due to the credit crunch and global recession. The worst hit countries include Spain (ES) and Greece (EL), who both have unemployment rates of over 24%. In the past few months, there has been a slight reduction in European unemployment, but the prolonged period of mass unemployment is leaving significant social and economic problems for the whole Eurozone.

Unemployment rate in the Eurozone area: 11.5% (July 2014)

EU-28 Unemployment is slightly lower at 10.2% (July 2014)

Total unemployment in the EU-28 is 24.850 million (July 2014)

The Eurozone (EA-18) jobless total is now 18.409 million. (link) The highest since records began.

Youth unemployment rates in the EU 27 is 21.8% (July 2014)

The lowest unemployment rates are in Austria (4.9 %) and Germany (4.9 %). The highest rates are in Greece (27.2 % in January 2014) and Spain (24.5 %).

By comparison, unemployment in Japan is 3.6%, and in US 6.8%. UK unemployment is 6.5%

Eurostat unemployment figures

Causes of European unemployment crisis

After falling to 7.5% in 2008, the prolonged recession of 2008-13, has caused a sharp rise in unemployment. The continent seems to be stuck in a deflationary spiral and is facing a prolonged double-dip recession. Hardest hit debtor countries, such as Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy are facing stringent budget cuts - which are depressing demand.
Will Eurozone break up?
But, in the Eurozone, there is little relief available to boost demand. Countries are unable to devalue. Monetary policy set by the ECB has been unflinching in targeting low inflation and offering little monetary easing - despite the prolonged recession. Also, depressed demand throughout the region is making it difficult to grow through increasing exports. Even northern Europe, which has had large current account surpluses are engaging in modest austerity. The result is that demand has remained depressed across Europe.

Despite its potentially damaging social and economic impact, throughout the 2008-13 European crisis, unemployment has had a relatively low profile - European policymakers have always given the impression they are more concerned about appeasing bond markets and low inflation than tackling the more pressing problem of unemployment. There has been a reluctance to tackle the fundamental deficiency of aggregate demand which is leading to lower growth and falling employment. Efforts to reduce unemployment have centred on talk of more flexible labour markets. This may be part of the solution for structural unemployment, but increasing labour market flexibility alone cannot deal with the cyclical unemployment.
Structural unemployment
As well as the current demand deficit (cyclical) unemployment, Europe has struggled with persistent structural unemployment for the past two decades. High natural rates of unemployment have been blamed on:

Inflexible labour markets

Generous unemployment benefits which encourage frictional unemployment.

Geographical immobilities

Strong labour market regulations which discourage firms from investing and taking on new workers.

Unemployment Rates in the European Union

Click to enlarge

Spanish Unemployment

Spanish Unemployment ECB

European Unemployment Eurozone vs Non-Eurozone economies

Source: Eurostat

Youth unemployment rates in EU

Youth unemployment rates count the % of young people actively seeking work unable to find work. It ignores the large student numbers and this is one reason why youth unemployment rates are higher.

Youth unemployment ratios calculate the share of unemployed for the whole youth population. Eurozone Youth unemployment ratio is 9.8% (2013 Q4) compared to Youth unemployment rate of 23.8%
Unemployment rates by country July 2014

Source Eurostat

EU Employment rates
Related

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European unemployment crisis - Economics Help

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Unemployment in many European countries has risen sharply due to the credit crunch and global recession. The worst hit countries include Spain (ES) and Greece (EL), who both have unemployment rates of over 24%. In the past few months, there has been a slight reduction in European unemployment, but the prolonged period of mass unemployment is leaving significant social and economic problems for the whole Eurozone.

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Problem country is facing:

From the article attached, it shows that Europe is having the problem of keeping a healthy BOP as well as weak economic growth, as seen "To the extent that this setback to stock markets undermines consumer and business confidence, it is likely to drag down growth. The slowdown in China and emerging economies, which account for a quarter of euro-zone exports, will also harm the recovery by hurting exporting companies."

Potential sources of these macroeconomic problems:

This is due to a worsening Ca and Ka and weak foreign countries.
- Firstly, due to the poor business expectations of Europe's economy, foregin firms and investors are not willing to invest there, leading a fall in FDI and thus a fall in capital inflows. Also, local firms might want to relocate their plants elsewhere, causing an increase in the outflow of capital. Thus, they reinforce each other to cause a worsening Ka.

-Secondly, when the economies of countries responsible for a huge number of exports of Europe is weak, they will have a fall in disposable income, a fall in purchasing power and their demand for Europe's exports will fall, resulting in a fall in export revenue and as AD=C+I+G+(X-M), when (X-M) falls, AD will also fall, resulting in weak economic growth. When AD falls, AD curve shifts leftwards from AD1 to AD2. Firms experience and increase in inventories, and decrease production and output, hiring less workers and real national income falls. Along with the multiplier effect, there will be a multiple fall in production, output and national income, and real GDP falls from Y1 to Y2. There is a contractionary impact on the economy and thus negative economic growth.

Furthermore, When (X-M) falls,  there will be a worsening Ca and if this persist, it can result in a Ca deficit, ceterus paribus and together with the fall in Ka, they will cause a weakening BOP.

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THE recovery in the 19-strong euro area is continuing but it is nothing to write home about. Growth had picked up to 0.5% in the first quarter of 2015 (compared with the final quarter of 2014), the strongest performance since the upswing started in the spring of 2013. Since then, however, the pace of expansion has slackened, to 0.4% last spring and an average quarterly rate of 0.3% in the second half of last year. Indeed, euro-zone GDP in the final quarter of 2015 was still below its pre-crisis peak of early 2008 whereas America's was almost 10% above its peak of late 2007.

The sluggish pace of the recovery has been especially disappointing given the fact that the euro area has benefited from a double fillip. First, the fall in energy prices caused by the collapse in the oil price acted in much the same way as a tax cut, boosting consumer spending-the main engine of the recovery. Second, the European Central Bank has carried out quantitative easing-creating money to buy financial assets-since March 2015. Together with the introduction of negative interest rates in June 2014, this has brought the euro down and kept it weak, helping exporters and contributing to a big current-account surplus of 3.7% of GDP in 2015.

The outlook for growth in 2016 now looks feebler and more uncertain following the sharp falls in European equity markets, particularly of banking shares, since the start of the year. To the extent that this setback to stockmarkets undermines consumer and business confidence, it is likely to drag down growth. The slowdown in China and emerging economies, which account for a quarter of euro-zone exports, will also harm the recovery by hurting exporting companies. Germany will be particularly affected since the Chinese market has been a lucrative one for its exports of investment goods and luxury cars. Despite these brakes a recovery of sorts should remain intact, for three reasons. Renewed declines in oil prices will further boost household budgets. The European Central Bank is poised to loosen monetary policy still further when its governing council meets in March. And spending on refugees, especially in Germany, will provide a modest fiscal stimulus.
Our interactive graphic (updated February 18th 2016) enables readers to inspect the health of European economies (including the nine member states of the European Union that do not belong to the euro) in a variety of ways, including data on jobs and the public finances as well as GDP.

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Our interactive overview of European GDP, debt and jobs THE recovery in the 19-strong euro area is continuing but it is nothing to write home about. Growth had picked up to 0.5% in the first quarter of 2015 (compared with the final quarter of 2014), the strongest performance since the upswing started in the spring of 2013.

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I used to think that Europe is a strong economy in general in the past due to the high export revenue it had from trading with other countries . Its comparative advantage with its goods had led to Eurozone being one of the strongest economies in the world .

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I used to think that Europe was a very prosperous continent and consist of many countries with the most powerful economies in the world. This is further fueled by the fact that the pound is extremely strong in the Forex market. However, after econs lesson, i realised that most of their economies are suffering. For example, Spain having a BOP deficit for many consecutive years and Italy with negative economic growth.

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Now, I want you to think about how your ideas about Europe's economy has changed as a result of what your team has been discussing whilst completing the task above. Again in just a few sentences write down what you now think about  Europe's economy. Start your sentences with,

“But now, I think…”

Each of you must post your response in the space below this box.

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Task 3: Based on the findings from Task 1, One of your team members will need to address the policies to solve this problem.

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Task 3: Based on the findings from Task 1, One of your team members will need to address the policies to solve this problem.

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Explain and evaluate the use of 3 policies

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Task 2: One of your team member will also need to find out the current nature or structure of your economy, supported with research (eg news paper articles or video)

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Task 2: One of your team member will also need to find out the current nature or structure of your economy, supported with research (eg news paper articles or video)

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For example, is it a small and open economy? Is it a large economy? Is the economy an export-driven economy? Is it undergoing any structural changes? Please upload the links here too.

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 Task 1: Two of your team members in your cabinet need to identify the top macroeconomic problems your country is facing. Other than the video clip and newspaper provided in this page, you will need to do research (eg news  paper articles) and thereafter post in this wall.  Explain the potential sources of these macroeconomic problems your country is facing.

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 Task 1: Two of your team members in your cabinet need to identify the top macroeconomic problems your country is facing. Other than the video clip and newspaper provided in this page, you will need to do research (eg news  paper articles) and thereafter post in this wall.  Explain the potential sources of these macroeconomic problems your country is facing.

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Please write your response here, or you may just add new post. Use economic analysis (for example ADAS analysis) in your answers where possible.

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THE world economy is not in good shape. The news from America and Britain has been reasonably positive, but Japan's economy is struggling and China's growth is now slower than at any time since 2009. Unpredictable dangers abound, particularly from the Ebola epidemic, which has killed thousands in West Africa and jangled nerves far beyond. But the biggest economic threat, by far, comes from continental Europe.

Now that German growth has stumbled, the euro area is on the verge of tipping into its third recession in six years. Its leaders have squandered two years of respite, granted by the pledge of Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank's president, to do "whatever it takes" to save the single currency. The French and the Italians have dodged structural reforms, while the Germans have insisted on too much austerity. Prices are falling in eight European countries. The zone's overall inflation rate has slipped to 0.3% and may well go into outright decline next year. A region that makes up almost a fifth of world output is marching towards stagnation and deflation.

Optimists, both inside and outside Europe, often cite the example of Japan. It fell into deflation in the late-1990s, with unpleasant but not apocalyptic consequences for both itself and the world economy. But the euro zone poses far greater risks. Unlike Japan, the euro zone is not an isolated case: from China to America inflation is worryingly low, and slipping. And, unlike Japan, which has a homogenous, stoic society, the euro area cannot hang together through years of economic sclerosis and falling prices. As debt burdens soar from Italy to Greece, investors will take fright, populist politicians will gain ground, and-sooner rather than later-the euro will collapse.

This parrot has ceased to be

Although many Europeans, especially the Germans, have been brought up to fear inflation, deflation can be still more savage (see article). If people and firms expect prices to fall, they stop spending, and as demand sinks, loan defaults rise. That was what happened in the Great Depression, with especially dire consequences in Germany in the early 1930s.

So it is worrying that, of the 46 countries whose central banks target inflation, 30 are below their target. Some price falls are welcome. Tumbling oil prices, in particular, have given consumers' incomes a boost (see article). But slowing prices and stagnant wages owe more to weak demand in the economy and roughly 45m workers are jobless in the rich OECD countries. Investors are starting to expect lower inflation even in economies, such as America's, that are growing at reasonable rates. Worse, short-term interest rates are close to zero in many economies, so central banks cannot cut them to boost spending. The only ammunition comes from quantitative easing and other forms of printing money.

The global lowflation threat is a good reason for most central banks to keep monetary policy loose. It is also, in the longer term, a prompt to look at revising inflation targets a shade upwards. But the immediate problem is the euro area.

Continental Europe's economy has plenty of big underlying weaknesses, from poor demography to heavy debt and sclerotic labour markets. But it has also made enormous policy mistakes. France, Italy and Germany have all eschewed growth-enhancing structural reforms. The euro zone is particularly vulnerable to deflation because of Germany's insistence on too much fiscal austerity and the ECB's timidity. Even now, with economies contracting, Germany is still obsessed with deficit reduction for all governments, while its opposition to monetary easing has meant that the ECB, to the obvious despair of Mr Draghi, has done far less than other big central banks in terms of quantitative easing (notwithstanding this week's move to start buying "covered bonds").

If there was ever logic to this incrementalism, it has run out. As budgets shrink and the ECB struggles to convince people that it can stop prices slipping, a descent into deflation seems all too probable. Signs of stress are beginning to appear in both the markets and politics. Bond yields in Greece have risen sharply, as support for the left-wing Syriza party has surged (see article). France and Germany are trading rhetorical blows over a new budget proposal coming out of Paris.

Joining the bleedin' choir invisible

If Europe is to stop its economy getting worse, it will have to stop its self-destructive behaviour. The ECB needs to start buying sovereign bonds. Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, should allow France and Italy to slow the pace of their fiscal cuts; in return, those countries should accelerate structural reforms. Germany, which can borrow money at negative real interest rates, could spend more building infrastructure at home.

That would help, but not be enough. It is a bit like the early years of the euro debacle, before Mr Draghi's whatever-it-takes pledge, when half-solutions only fed the crisis. Something radical is needed. The hitch is that European law bans many textbook solutions, such as ECB purchases of newly issued government bonds. The best legal option is to couple a dramatic increase in infrastructure spending with bond-buying by the ECB. Thus the European Investment Bank could launch a big (say €300 billion, or $383 billion) expansion in investments such as faster cross-border rail links or more integrated electricity grids-and raise the money by issuing bonds, which the ECB could buy in the secondary market. Another possibility would be to redefine the EU's deficit rules to exclude investment spending, which would allow governments to run bigger deficits, again with the ECB providing a backstop.

Behind all this sits a problem of political will (see article). Mrs Merkel and the Germans seem prepared to take action only when the single currency is on the verge of catastrophe. Throughout Europe people are hurting-in Italy and Spain youth unemployment is above 40%. Voters vented their fury with the established order in the EU's parliamentary elections earlier this summer, and got very little change. Another descent into the abyss will test their patience. And once deflation has an economy in its jaws, it is very hard to shake off. Europe's leaders are running out of time.

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THE world economy is not in good shape. The news from America and Britain has been reasonably positive, but Japan's economy is struggling and China's growth is now slower than at any time since 2009. Unpredictable dangers abound, particularly from the Ebola epidemic, which has killed thousands in West Africa and jangled nerves far beyond.

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Video Clip on Eurozone economy: Italy

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How did Italy become more sceptical about membership in the EU? FT Rome bureau chief James Politi visits Parma in northern Italy and asks students, shop owners, the mayor and business people about the matter.

Transcript

See our accessibility page for more information about transcripts

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How did Italy become more sceptical about membership in the EU? FT Rome bureau chief James Politi visits Parma in northern Italy and asks students, shop owners, the mayor and business people about the matter. See our accessibility page for more information about transcripts

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Videoclip on the Eurozone Economy

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The European Central Bank has jolted investors with a bold package designed to stimulate the eurozone's economy, cutting interest rates to a new low and expanding QE. FT economics editor Chris Giles talks to FT editor Lionel Barber about whether it will be enough.

Transcript

See our accessibility page for more information about transcripts

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The European Central Bank has jolted investors with a bold package designed to stimulate the eurozone's economy, cutting interest rates to a new low and expanding QE. FT economics editor Chris Giles talks to FT editor Lionel Barber about whether it will be enough.

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Task 4: Based on the findings from Task 1,2 & 3, the group leader will evaluate and synthesize (similar to writing evaluative conclusion) whether the use of these policies will be effective in addressing these macroeconomic problems. 

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Task 4: Based on the findings from Task 1,2 & 3, the group leader will evaluate and synthesize (similar to writing evaluative conclusion) whether the use of these policies will be effective in addressing these macroeconomic problems. 

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You may wish to use specific judging criteria to assess the suitability of these policies.

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As an economic advisor (group leader), your role is to recommend and justify whether the use of policies have been effective in tackling recent macroeconomic problems faced by your country. Your job is to discuss with a panel of ministers (your team members) to do research and to propose solutions (policies) to solve these problems. Thereafter, you need to evaluate if the use of these policies  are effective or appropriate for your country.

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Before commencing the activities (Task 1 to 4 below) spend 3 minutes to think of this question:

You may have some initial ideas about Eurozone economy. In just a few sentences, I want you to write what it is that you used to think about Eurozone economy. Take a minute to think back and then post your response in the following format:

“ I used to think that Europe is ..........................

Each of you must post your response in the space below this box.