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For HBLE, you will have both a morning (AM, before 12pm) task and an afternoon (PM, from 12 - 7pm) task.

AM: Look through the given resources and note down the key points. Then, craft a paragraph for either the thesis or anti-thesis to the following discussion question:
"To what extent does greater government spending improve the SOL of a country's citizens?"

If you see that many have already written paragraphs for the thesis, try writing the anti-thesis instead.  Remember to use PEEL to guide your writing.

When posting, use your name as the title (otherwise your teacher can't check if you've completed your work).

PM: Read through the arguments written by your classmates. Then, comment on an argument made by one of your classmates (more if you wish).  In your comment, you may:
1. Question assumptions made
2. Write a counter-argument
3. Elaborate on the extent

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Greater government spending means that / leads to ______________. [this is a sample]

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Singapore Budget 2017 explained in 3 minutes

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Singapore to raise taxes as government spending increases

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Singapore to raise taxes as government spending increases

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Greek budget surplus beats creditor targets at 3.9%

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Greek budget surplus beats creditor targets at 3.9%

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Standard of living (SOL) can be classified into two categories: Material and non-material SOL. Government spending can come in many different forms, and depending on how the funds were used, it can affect both the material and non-material SOL of citizens.

A higher material SOL would entail more goods and services being available for consumption for an individual. Material SOL can be measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced domestically, of a country, and it is made up by the sum of consumption expenditure, investments, government expenditure and net exports. If the government increases expenditure in the form of providing subsidies for goods like healthcare and education, not only does the GDP of the country increase, but this also makes the goods cheaper than before, and with the same level of income, consumers are able to purchase more of the good than before. Since consumers are now able to afford more goods and services, it can be concluded that increased government spending in the form of subsidies can indeed improve the material SOL of citizens in a country.

Similarly, an increase in government spending can lead to an increase in non-material SOL as well. Non-material SOL measures the non quantifiable, personal well being of an individual, which is constituted of factors like levels of stress, pollution levels, amount of leisure time available, to name a few. Government expenditure can also take the form of pumping in funds into building new rail lines, building more schools and investing in better equipment and medical treatments. Taking the example of government spending on building more rail lines, the convenience that comes with the expansion of rail lines serves to increase the non-material SOL of citizens. This is because

the increased connectivity brought about by the larger area of coverage by trains allows individuals to commute from one place to another with more ease. The same can be observed if the government spends on conducting research and development to come up with new treatment methods; the quality of healthcare in the society increases, and citizens are less likely to fall sick, leading to a better physical health and increasing their non-material SOL.
As such, we can see that greater government spending does indeed improve the SOL of a country's citizens, both the material and non-material aspects.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens.

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This is because, it depends on what the government is spending on. In the case of Greece, the government might have overspent its GDP, resulting in a severe budget deficit that is worsening over the years as shown on the graph. In all years between 1990 to 2019, its budget deficit are higher than the eurozone average, which shows how severe the budget deficit in Greece is.

Therefore, a budget deficit would mean a fall in material SOL as there are fewer goods and services available for consumption in the long term/future.

Since government have to collect more tax through coporate tax, or even result to loaning from EU and IMF.It would mean that the profit margin of firms will drop and will also experience higher cost of production, hence, firms will resort to firing employees, resulting in high employment in Greece, and hence loss of income for many people, resulting in a fall in material SOL as they do not have the ability to consume goods and services unless they have savings. This thus affect non-material SOL negatively as people experience increased stress level and unhappiness as they worry about future living.

Thus greater government spending comes with careful planning and foresight about the future economy. The inability to carefully manage its finances and spending will result in devastating consequences as illustrated above.

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Greater govt spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens. SOL refers to material & non-material well-being of its people. Material well-being refers to amount of g&s available for consumption while non-material well-being includes pollution levels, literacy rate and amount of leisure time.
Taking Greek govt as an eg, years of overspending its GDP turned out to be disastrous as 2008 financial crisis emerged, resulting in massive budget deficit. As Greece's credit rating was lowered, confidence among investors fell drastically along with huge rise in cost of future loans which left the Greek government helpless. To remedy the situation, govt received loan from EU & IMF in return for austerity measures which included: increase VAT tax & corporate tax rate. Govt also had to reduce incentives for early retirement as well as raising worker contributions to the pension system.
Increase in VAT tax & corporate tax would result in a increase in COP for firms, where firms would have to fire its employees in order to protect its profit margin. In addition to unemployment which lowers income (purchasing power) of citizens, price of g&s will increase which would decrease overall consumption rate in Greece. As amount of g&s avail for cons falls, material well-being falls -> SOL is not improved.
As a result of unemployment & rise in price of g&s, social and political instability arises with riots and protests against the government. As such, non-material well-being of citizens also fall -> SOL is not improved.

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Standard of living refers to the measure of qualitative and quantitative living standards of a country’s people. National income statistics like real GDP per capita is an indicator of the quantitative aspect of SOL. real GDP per capita is the market value of all final goods and services produced by all residing in the same domestic economy regardless of their nationality, over a period of time, usually a year, and is adjusted for inflation and population change.

As Singapore is an affluent country, it is normal for its people to consume large amount of goods and services as they have high purchasing power. Hence, by increasing taxes such as the Goods and Service Tax, it will allow the government to gain more revenue from its people. The revenue can then be used to improve many infrastructures in the country such as, our port facilities, transportations, as well as subsidies for more affordable healthcare. Hence, these government spending improves the SOL of a country’s citizens. With improvement in public infrastructures like transportation would mean greater ease and efficiency in getting from places to places. While providing subsidies for healthcare would allow Singaporeans to consume more healthcare to keep themselves healthy. In addition, by consuming more units of healthcare would mean greater material well-being as well. Therefore, government spending in Singapore improves the standard of living of Singaporeans.

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Greater government spending improves the SOL of a country's citizens

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Greater government spending improves the SOL of a country's citizens

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x Greater government spending improves thequalitative SOL of a country’ citizens if the spending is geared towards increasing the consumption of citizens. Such examples of government spending on citizens would be subsidies on school fees and healthcare subsidies such as MediShield Life. For example, in Singapore, the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) was set up to enable poorer families to be able to afford education and thus have similar opportunities to those of better income households. FAS allows for subsidised school fees and school materials such as textbooks to be provided to those of a lower income household so that they would not be in a financial strain. This could lead to an increase in their qualitative SOL as parents do not have to feel stressed out about their children’s education fees and thus would allow them to worry less, decreasing stress levels.By providing education subsidies, the Singapore Government is also able to raise literacy rates as more people are able to afford education thus leading to an increase qualitative SOL.

Government Spending could also increase quantitative SOL if the spending is aimed at improving the production of goods and services. An example would be that of government spending in the development of better technology and services that come in the form of grants. As Singapore is heavily dependent on the export of goods and services like electronics and financial services, an increased government spending in these areas will lead to further advancement in the fields as companies are able to engage in R&D to manufacture more efficient goods and services. As such, this increase the X component of the national income formula resulting in greater net exports. Thus, GDP will increase which means that there are more goods and services available for citizens to consume thus increasing quantitative SOL.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens. SOL comprises of the quantitative (material) aspect as well as the qualitative (non-material) aspect of living standards. Material SOL refers to the amount of goods & services consumed while non-material SOL refers to the quality of life, taking into account of indicators such as literacy rate & level of pollution.
If government spending is not spent on

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Government spending is crucial to prepare a country in times of crisis, not only this, Government spending can also benefit its people in various way.
In every year's budget plan, there is a portion for improvements of infrastructure. Those infrastructures include better transport, better workplace and better housing. With all these, people can work more productively and also save time to spend with family and friends. Having more comfort facilities also makes people feel less stressed while working. In such way, people enjoying longer leisure time and less stress thus have a higher non-material standard of living.                       Nonetheless, government spending also goes to the improvement of education and healthcare. Education can be more affordable for everyone and in higher quality. Also, patients get to receive better healthcare and thus feel less painful and have higher chance of being cured. These result in higher literacy and longer expectancy.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens.

In the case of the United States, their government spending is 3.8 trillion as of 2015. 16% of these funds go their defense spending. Their defense budget is one of the highest in world, which is more than the next 8 countries combined. This shows how much money is spent on defense which is 3% of their GDP of 18.57 trillion USD as of 2016 as compared to the next biggest military spender, China, which spends only 1% of their GDP on military spending.This is further worsen by the fact that the US is 20 trillion dollars in debt. Some of which are held in bonds to other countries. Furthermore, it is the US that is the one engaged in offensive wars rather than defensive ones.Moreover, the HDI of USA is ranked 10 as compared to Norway and Australia which are both ranked 1 and 2 respectively, despite the US having more money to spend on improving the lives of their citizens. Therefore, this shows how the government's excessive spending on defense doesn't mean a better life for their citizens as they could be spending their money on better healthcare, which is currently controversial in the US.

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Gr8er government spending improves the material SOL of citizens if it is being spent to help citizens afford more goods and services. For example, in the case of Singapore, the government gives out GST vouchers which help people better afford more goods and services. Furthermore, the government also provides personal income tax rebates, which increase the amount of disposable income of people, leading them to have greater purchasing power and being able to afford more goods and services. Moreover, the government provides corporate incomme tax rebates, which causes cost of production of goods and services for firms to be decreased, thus more goods and services would be produced as it would be more profitable for firms, thus more goods and services available for the citizzens. Therefore, the material SOL of people increase.

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SOL can be broken down into material and non-material SOL and with greater government spending, it can improve both material and non-material SOL.

With greater government spending on citizens through subsidies on healthcare and education, it will increase material SOL because it is now cheaper to consume healthcare and education even without an increase in income thus meaning that an increase in government spending can improve material SOL.

As more consumers are able to consume healthcare and education, it means that more people can go for regular health check-ups and also be able to attend school. This will improve the quality of healthcare and literacy rate in a country hence also improving the non-material aspect of SOL.

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Government spending may not improve the SOL of a country's citizens.
In order for government spending to take place, money must be taken from the citizens first which may have adverse consequences. For instance, borrowing of money will consumes those that could be used for investments and may lead to high interest rates. This will cause the depreciation of national's currency and hence cause economic distortion, leading to lower SOL.
Government spending promotes negative choices. Many subsidize and programs encourage people to choose not to work. Unemployment insurance programs provide an incentive to remain unemployed. Flood insurance programs encourage construction in flood plains. These government programs may reduce economic growth and diminish national output because they promote misallocation or underutilization of resources. Thus lower SOL.

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However, greater government spending does not necessarily mean that it will improve the SOL of its citizens. For example, there was a government budget deficit which has been worsening across the years and the worst was after the 2008 financial crisis where it has increased from 113% in 2008 to 170% in 2011 as evident from the graph. Also, Greece’s budget deficit is way higher than Eurozone’s thus implying that there is a lesser amount of goods and services available for consumption hence meaning that there will be a drop in material SOL.

It does not improve the non-material aspect of SOL as well because “unemployment rose to 25%” which means that many were unemployed thus making future uncertain for themselves and their loved ones hence meaning that their non-material SOL drops because they are more stressed about providing for their family. Also, with riots erupting in the streets, it means that people will get more worried about their safety in the street hence meaning that they can be unhappy and stressed living in an unsafe environment, meaning that their non-material SOL is not improved.

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Greater government spending can lead to a better healthcare of its people and also better facilities that can potentially benefit the future of the country. With a greater government spending on healthcare services, more subsidies and grants can be given to encourage more people to consume the service. This is important as it can lead to more citizens to be early diagnosed when as the bill is no longer the biggest concern the patients have before consulting a professional. An example of subsidized healthcare services for the financially assisted is the CHAS scheme. It allowed the less fortunate citizens to receive medical consultation and medicine at a cheaper price. This increases the non-materialistic SOL when the citizen have a better and cheaper healthcare service through subsidy and grants. Also, greater government spending improves the SOL of its citizen as the material aspect of the citizen is well taken care of. An example would be SkillFuture scheme where the working adults are given $500 to upgrade their skills and make sure that they stay relevant to the society. This would give them more job opportunity and also reduces the chance of being retrenched as they have the skill sets that are important and needed for that particular job. This then increases their income as they are now more skilled than others or at least, previously. Thus this increase in government spending to provide grants for the improvement of skill sets would lead to a increase in material SOL.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the standard of living (SOL) of a country's citizens. In the example of Greece, a decade of overspending in their budget has caused them to experience a great budget deficit of 12.9% in 2009, more than 4 times the limit set by the European Union (EU). As a result, they had to cut down on spending in some areas like retirement incentives and also caused investors to be scared off. The SOL of citizens can be determined by both the material and non-material SOL. Material SOL refers to the amt of gds and svc consumers consume. One factor that affects this is the declining amount of investors willing to invest in Greece and the increasing costs of loans. Investors lack business confidence and hence choose not to invest, the increasing loan costs also deter investors from putting money in projects to expand their companies, leading to a decrease in investment in C+I+G+(X-M) and leading to a decrease in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. This implies that consumer have lesser purchasing power and can buy less gds and svc, leading to a fall in material SOL.
The Greece gov had to reduce incentives for early retirement and raise worker contributions to the pension system. When citizens don't get incentives for early retirement, they may choose to continue working at an older age. Working at the supposed retirement age may cause some health problems and fatigue, and this will decrease non-material SOL of the old people since they may have to visit the hospital for their ailments and may incur costly bills. Non-material SOL refers to the non-tangible environmental factors etc that affect the mental well-being of people. Hence, greater gov spending can lead to problems that will adversely affect the material and non-material SOL of citizens.

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Standard of living measures the material and non material well-being of an individual or a typical household. Government spending refers to the purchase of goods and services, as well as investment goods by the government.

Material well-being can be measured using the Gross Domestic Product, which is defined by the total amount of final goods and services available to the people. As Singapore increases it's government spending on infrastructure grows, it means that there are more amenities and facilities available to the people for use. Furthermore, government spending on areas like healthcare would increase the non material SOL of citizens. With more available healthcare treatments available, people would live a longer and healthier life. In areas like education, with more developments in the industry, more people can have access to education, which improves the country's literacy rates. This improves the SOL of a country's citizens.

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Standard of living (SOL) of a country refers to the well-being of a typical household or individual within the country. It encompasses both the the qualitative and quantative aspect of living. Material aspects of life refers to the amount of goods and services avaliable for consumption while non material aspect of life refers to the quality of life such as crime rates, life expectancy and etc. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are commonly used as quantitiative indicators of the living standards. GDP is the total market value, before deduction of depreciation, of all goods and services produced by all residing within the domestic economy, disregarding their nationality in a year.

Governement spending can affects both the material and non-material aspect of live of a country's citizens.

In the case of Singapore, greater government spending improves the material well-being of Singaporeans.

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Standard of living (SOL) refers to the well-being of an individual or a household, it includes material and non-material aspect of SOL. The material aspect refers to the amount of goods and services available for consumption while the non-material aspect refers to amount of leisure time, quantity of healthcare, literacy rate and level of pollution.

Greater government spending improves the SOL of its people. Government spending can be put into different sectors such as providing subsidies for healthcare so that consumers can afford for more quantity of healthcare, improving on education system and improving on the different modes of transport so that it would be easier to travel around. This will improve the non-material aspect of SOL. Government spending might also include investments in firms for them engage in research and development to reduce the cost of production of firms and thus passing these cost savings to the consumers, allowing consumers to consume more goods and services, increasing material SOL.

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Greater government spending improves the SOL of a country's citizens if they are spent on the citizens; subsidies or vouchers that will increase the citizen's consumption. For example, in Singapore, there is the GST ( goods and service tax) voucher given to Singaporean, it can be spend by the consumer on goods and services they want. Hence, with the GST voucher, citizens has higher purchasing power on top of their disposable income, and thus consuming more goods and services. Similarly, there is an increasing in CPF housing grant to subsidies the citizen's payment to get a house; this allows citizens to spend less on housing and can have more disposable income left to purchase more goods and services as well as getting to buy the house at a cheaper price.
Therefore, the above examples show that if government spending is spent on subsidizing the citizens' consumption, it will increase the citizen's consumption on goods and services and increase the material well being of them.

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Government spending can be financed by government borrowing, seigniorage, or taxes. Changes in government spending is a major component of fiscal policy used to stabilise the macroeconomic business cycle.
As seen in articles about Greek economy, in order to pay the national debt due to overspending, the Greek government had to increase tax and cut back on spending. Therefore, the material aspect of SOL of Greek citizens was not improved as a result of higher tax, decreasing their purchasing power, hence making them unable to consume more goods and services. Also, a high level of unemployment in Greece also means that the majority of Greeks do not hold a job to support their family, hence worsening their stress level and not improving their non-material SOL. Riots occured in Greece as a result of adopting austerity measure. This increases crime rates in the country and hence does not improve the SOL of Greek citizens.