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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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Greater government spending means that more is done to improve the material and non material well-being of the citizens.
According to Singapore Budget 2017 Summary, government had spent on measures to deepen people's capabilities. This will allow people to improve on their skills and techniques, making them more efficient and productive. This would result in increase of labour productivity hence increasing the quality of labour. This would result in the increase in LRAS hence resulting in LRAS to shift rightwards. Thus, resulting in the increase of real GDP. In addition, more goods and services for citizens to consume hence material SOL increases.

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Greater government spending does not lead to increase in standard of living of the country's living. As per the article on the increase in taxes,  the Singapore  government's spending on healthcare, social services and public infrastructure is increasing. Due to the increase in government expenditure, the government is increasing taxes of the people so as to increase tax revenue. Hence, price of goods and services increases. This leads to people having lower purchasing power and lesser ability to afford goods. Hence, there is a decrease in the amount of goods and services consumed.This decreases consumption and hence, decrease AD. Therefore, there will be a fall in AD curve and a leftward shift of AD. Thus, there will be a decrease in material SOL and so, greater government spending does not improve SOL of country's citizens.

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Si Yuan
Greater government spending can cause in decrease in standard of living (SOL) of the country. From the article, as government increases spending, the government would increase taxes to increase its revenue. This leads to decrease in purchasing power of consumers as they are less willing and able to consume goods and services, thus leading todecrease  in consumption.

Moreover, government would also increase tax to producers. This lead to increase in expected future cost of investors, thus discouraging investors to invest in Singapore. Therefore investment of the country decreases. Decrease in consumption and investment lead to decrease in aggregate demand(AD), leading to decrease in quantative SOL of the  country.

Besides, it is difficult for the government to determined the exact amount of money it should spend to maximise economic growth. When government overspend, the country might face Budget deficit whichoccurs  when expenditur exceeds revenue. This lowers quantity of goods and services available because government might cut back on its spending in various sectors to improve the deficit. Therefore, quantitative aspect of SOL decreases.

Therefore, increase in government spending does not neccessarily improve standard of living of the country.

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Greater government spending in Singapore leads to an improvement of the standard of living of a country’s citizens.

As part of budget 2017, household measures such as the personal income tax rebate and GST vouchers will increase the level of consumption of people due to the increase in current disposable income. As such, there would be an increase in purchasing power of the people, leading to the people having a higher ability to consume, hence, increasing the quantitative aspect of standard of living.

The availability of more short modular courses and e learning, as well as the strengthening of On-the-Job skills utilisation would lead to an increase in would increase the quality of the workforce, raising labour productivity, which accelerates potential growth. The increase in both potential growth and actual growth from the increase in AD will lead to an increase in economic growth as a whole. Increasing economic growth will increase firms and consumers confidence, as businesses will be more confident of higher expected profits, encouraging them to increase investments. Households are more confident of future job security, as well as expectations of higher increase in salary, leading to an increase in consumption. Further economic growth resulting from the increase in investment and consumption would result in an increase in national income, increasing the quantitative aspect of standard of living.

Greater government spending on healthcare and education would also increase the qualitative aspect on standard of living. With Singapore facing the problem of having an aeging population whom are highly prone to contracting illnesses, subsidising healthcare or making healthcare more affordable for our elderly counterparts would improve their state of health, which leads to a healthier population. Increase in investments into preschools will also increase the quality of education of Singaporeans, as preschoolers are exposed to better resources for learning, which may greatly impact their future. A higher quality of education would reduce future stress levels as people do not have to worry about not being able to secure jobs or their financial stability. Hence, the qualitative aspect of standard of living will increase.

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Greater government spending will improve standard of living is  because the government have already map out where the nation's money is going and from the budget government bodies can access where are some areas that they need to place more budget and where lesser budget.  As mentioned in the article government will be spending more on public infrastructures , health care and social services, this means like government is planing to put emphasis on these sectors will will benefits the whole community as the country's citizens can enjoy more and better goods and services. With better health care services it will improve the qualitative aspect of standard of living.
Singapore Budget Summary also mentioned that they will spend more to help and support families for example, by increasing CPF house grant, to ensure everyone in the community will benefit hence the improve of standard of living will not limit to a few groups of people.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the standard of living of a country's citizen. In Greece, the overspending of the government has resulted in a financial crisis. As seen, the increase in government spending may lead to a budget deficit instead, causing a decrease in business confidence of investors and investments decreases. Secondly, there may also be a rise in taxes to fund the government spending. The increase in taxes decreases the level of disposable income and hence purchasing power of the citizens. As citizens can spend less on goods and services, consumption decreases. The decrease in investments and consumption will lead to a fall in AD. The AD curve shifts leftwards and the real GDP decreases. Hence, the material standard of living of a country's citizen will decrease.

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Greater government spending does not improve the SOL of a country's citizens. This can be seen from the financial crisis in Greece, where the government expenditure exceeds the revenue received, resulting in a budget deficit. This led to the increase in taxes to repay their debts. This caused much unrest in the citizens and this resulted in riots on the streets. This decreases the non material SOL of the citizens as this might increase their stress levels as their minds will not be at peace with the fact that the rioters that might strike anytime and anywhere. Thus, the non material SOL decreases.
Moreover, it is stated that the overspending of the government eventually led to high unemployment rate, which rose to 25%. This means that more people would not receive an income, which means that they will have less money. Their purchasing power then decreases, and the amount of goods and services consumed decreases. Thus, material SOL decreases.

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Standard of living (SOL) measures the material well-being and non-material well-being of its people, and it comprises of the quantitative and qualitative aspects of living standards.
Greater government spending improves the SOL of a country's citizens as a higher spending of the government's budget is allocated to areas such as education, healthcare and technology. In Singapore's budget 2017, money was spent on the Skills future Initiative which is aimed to raise the skill level of workers and employees through training programmes and workshops. This will raise labour productivity and help lower unit labour cost, thus resulting in a increase in LRAS due to the increase in quality of labour. Furthermore, a more productive workforce will attract investments due to expected rise in future costs, thus resulting in a increase in AD. The rise in LRAS and AD will thus lead to a rise in general price level and real GDP, thus improving the SOL of a country's citizens.

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Greater government spending might not necessarily increase a country's standard of living, but instead could result in a decrease in standard of living. For instance, the budget deficit and financial crisis in Greece is brought about by the excessive spending by the government. In order to relief the budget deficit, the government have  resort to means such as increasing tax rates imposed on the citizens. This would mean a greater tax revenue and hence, an increased budget for the government to repay their financial debts. However, with an increase in tax rates imposed on the citizens, this would result in a decrease in qualitative standard of living of the citizen. With reduced available income and wealth of the people,  their purchasing power will likewise decrease. Consumption, a factor of the aggregate demand would fall, hence a fall in aggregate demand as a whole and an overall fall in the standard of living.

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Greater government spending leads to an increase in the SOL of a country's citizens. With greater government spending on healthcare, the qualitative SOL of a country's citizens will increase. Singapore has an ageing population, meaning that there are more elderly who are at higher risk of getting ill and obtaining injuries. Thus with better healthcare, the elderly and the rest of Singapore's citizens will have better health and higher life expectancy, thus improving qualitative SOL.

According to the Singapore Budget 2017 Summary, the government plans to spend more on short modular courses and e-learning. This will enable citizens to develop new skills and improve current skills, as well as gain new knowledge. Additionally, strengthening of On-the-job skills utilization would help workers to apply skills better in their jobs. These programs would improve the productivity of the workforce, resulting in an increase in LRAS, leading to a rise in real GDP. There would be more and better goods as services for the citizens to purchase and enjoy, thus the quantitative SOL of a country's citizens would increase.

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The standard of living measures both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the well-beings of its people.
It is stated from the article that the Government would be investing on infrastructure such as the rails and ports which would benefit the citizens directly by upgrading such facilities. This improves the qualitative aspect of SOL by bring about convenience. The qualitative SOL is further improved by investments into fields such as healthcare, technology and also education. investing in healthcare would lead to an increase in life expectancy as the citizens would be able to have better healthcare services , hence and increase in the qualitative aspect of SOL.

In Singapore's Budget 2017/2018, it is also stated that the Government would be spending money on initiatives such as Skills Future initiative. Investment in this area would enable workers to be equipped with more skill set and hence increasing not just their efficiency at work, but too the range of job that they are able to work/compete for in the job market. The increase in quality of labour which is a factor of CELL would mean that there would be an increase in LRAS and in turn leading to the increase in NY. The increase in NY would then mean that the citizens are having greater income and this more disposable income at one instant thus increasing their purchasing power. Hence leading to an increase in the quantitative aspect of SOL.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens. It is true that increased spending leads better infrastructure, and more work schemes in Singapore. However, overspending can also lead to financial crisis of a whole country, for instance, Greece. When spending exceeds revenue, budget deficit will result. Firstly, budget deficit will lead to decrease in business' confidence which decreases investment from foreign countries. Material SOL will decrease. Secondly, to solve the problem, government has to raise taxes to consumers, decreasing the level of disposable income of the individuals, purchasing power decreases and hence, consumption of goods and services decreases leading to a further decrease in material SOL. Lastly, such financial crisis means that unemployment rate will increase. Income of individuals will decrease. Purchasing power decreases as well. Therefore, non-material SOL decreases.

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Greater Goverment spending might not necessarily increase the country's standard of living. This is because greater goverment spending might result in an increase in taxes, for example, when the Singapore Goverment wanted to raise goverment spending, to compensate for the increase in spending, they increased the taxes. Hence, this increase in taxes would mean that the disposable income of the citizens would decrease. This would lead to a decrease in the purchasing power of the citizens which would in turn lead to a decrease in material SOL

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Greater government spending means that there is an increase in government expenditure, which may result in an increase in AD.
According to extract of the case in Singapore, the government is able to spend more on infrastructure such as roads and healthcare. As the chances of longer lifespan is increased, and people can travel more conveniently to have more leisure time.This allows the citizens to have more access to healthcare. Hence,  this improves the qualitative aspect of standard of living.

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Greater government spending also means that there is more deficit. ( Gov budget = Taxes - spending). Thus, as seen in the cases of both Singapore and Greece, there is a

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Greater government spending improves the SOL of a country's citizens. Increased in government spending means more resources are directed to areas such as healthcare, education, housing, etc. For example, with more resources directed to education, more people of all ages are able to receive better education, such as subsidies are provided for low-incomes, provide scholarships for students for further their studies, and awarding students for performing well in school. Hence, with higher educational level, they are also able to find high paying jobs in the future, which improves the SOL of the citizens in the long run. Also, with more resources allocated to healthcare, the citizens are also able to receive higher quality healthcare services. With a better health, the workforce will be more efficient, results in better economy, and hence, the SOL of the citizens improves.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country. Even though greater government spending can lead to an increase in AS which can result i higher GDP to improve a country's real GDP which may increase the goods and services that the people  get to enjoy, other factors with that come with government spending would lead to decrease in SOL of a country.

In Greece's debt crisis, over spending of the government's budget led to a budget deficit.
Firstly, as such taxes had to be spent to repay its debt, decreasing tax revenue to be spent on improvement of quality and quantity of factors of production and technology (decreased AS).

Secondly, amount of taxes had to be raised as well to compensate for the deficit which decreased consumers' disposable income, reducing their purchasing power thus decreasing their ability to consume goods and services.
The increase in corporate taxes would reflect on companies' ability to employ workers due to the burden of the tax which would drain the funds used to hire workers. As such, unemployment occurs as companies would no longer be willing to pay workers due to decreased available funds of firms. Existing workers may also experience a pay cut as a result of this. With these factors, consumption decreases due to consumers experiencing lower disposable income, reducing their ability to consume goods and services (decreased C, decreased AD).

Thirdly, due to the debt crisis, pessimism would result as business confidence decreases leading to investors pulling out from investment as they expect future demand to fall. This was evident in 2009 when Greece's credit ratings lowered, investors feared causing the fall in  its country's investment. (Decreased I, decreased AD)

Due to these factors of greater government spending causing Greece's budget debt in 2008 as an example, overall AD and AS fell leading to a fall in real GDP which decreased the amount of goods and services for citizens to enjoy, leading to a decrease in quantitative SOL.

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Greater government spending does not necessarily improve the SOL of a country's citizens. The Greece financial crisis back in 2008 showed that overspending of the government's budget will lead to budget deficit. Since the government is in debt, the price of goods and services will increase so as to allow the government to collect more taxes in return. With lower purchasing power,  citizens are discourages from purchasing more goods and services, hence this might lower the Standard of Living (SOL) of the citizens.
Besides, the Greece financial crisis back in 2008 also threatened the tourism industry, with 14 million tourists visiting the country. Lesser tourists would choose to avoid visiting Greece due to the country being politically unstable. Investors are less willing to invest, because not only are their investments in a vulnerable state, there is also a higher possibility of a less stable exchange rate. Hence, lesser tourists results in lower qualitative aspect of living standards.

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Greater government sending improves the SOL of a country's citizen. Increase in government spending would mean more investment in different sectors such as Education and Healthcare. As stated in the Singapore 2017 Budget , there personal income tax rebate as well as top ups to GST voucher fund and medifund. This would mean that the healthcare cost decreases and the consumption of citizens will increase, causing AD to rise. Furthermore, there is also the Skills Future Initiative aimed to improve workers skill level. This cause a increase in the quality of labour causing LRAS to increase. The increase of both LRAS and AD will cause national income to increase as well, leading to a increase in SOL of the citizens