EVERYTHING (Book & Economics Help) Flashcards
Deficit Removal Policies - Evaluate the use of Exchange Rate Policies
Depends if the country is a country that naturally imports, could purely be inflationary and counter the desired effect of lowering prices due to cost-push and demand-pull inflation.
Exchange rate policy is linked too…
Monetary Policy
What does the J Curve show?
Shows the one lags between a falling currency and an improved trade balance.
Show the J Curve Diagram.
What is the Marshall Lerner Condition?
States that a depreciation of the exchange rate will lead to an improvement in the trade balance, provided that the sum of the Price Elasticity of Demand for imports and exports is greater than 1.
What does it mean if the Marshall Lerner Condition is not obeyed?
Policy is ineffective, Change I Price doesn’t lead to the desired change in demand.
What is meant by Protectionism?
Represents any attempt to impose restriction on trade in goods and services.
What are the different forms of Protectionism?
- Tariffs
- Quotas
- Voluntary Export Restraint
Forms of Protectionism - Tariffs
Is a tax or duty that raises the price of imported products and causes a contraction in domestic demand and an expansion in domestic supply.
Forms of Protectionism - Quotas
These are quantitative limits on the level of imports allowed or a limit to the value of imports permitted into the country.
Forms of Protectionism - Voluntary Export Restraint.
This is were two countries make an agreement to limit the volume of their export over an agreed time period.
Evaluative points for Protectionism.
- Naturally are an importing country
- Retaliation
- Can lead to inefficiencies if firms are protected they are less efficient which can RAISE prices.
What the government can do to remove a current account deficit?
- Investment in Infrastructure
- Deregulation of Markets
- Subsidy for business
Government policies to remove current account deficits - Investment in Infrastructure.
Government could invest in roads and transport links which have positive Externalities on the firm, because they will be less congestion.
Government policies to remove current account deficits - Deregulation of Markets
Can attract new businesses into the economy by lowering corporation tax.
Evaluate the use of Deregulating Markets to improve the Balance of Payments.
Evaluate the use of Deregulating Markets to improve the Balance of Payments.
Explain the affect of a fluctuating exchange rate of the Balance of Payments.
- Appreciation in the exchange rate would make exports less competitive and imports more competitive.
- Therefore with fewer exports and more imports there would be a deficit on the current account.
Explain what is meant by a Current Account Deficit.
Occurs when the value of imports is greater than the value of exports.
What are the different Policies to remove a Current Account Deficit?
- Devaluation of exchange rate (make exports cheaper – imports more expensive)
- Reduce domestic consumption and spending on imports (e.g. tight fiscal policy/higher taxes)
- Supply side policies to improve the competitiveness of domestic industry and exports.
Policies to Reduce a Current Account Deficit - Devaluation.
- Involves reducing the value of the currency against others.
- If there is a devaluation of the currency, the price of imports increases and therefore demand of imports fall.
- Exports will become cheaper, and there will be an increase in the demand for exports.
- Which would lead to an improvement of the Current Account.
Evaluative points of using Devaluation to correct the Current Account Deficit.
- Marshall Lerner Condition (Devaluation will improve the BoP only if the combined Elasticity of Demand for IMPORTS and EXPORTS is greater than 1)
- Depends upon the ELASTICITY of demand for exports and imports.
- J Curve (things get worse in the short term before they get better in the long term)
- Can lead to imported inflation, which can make a country less internationally competitive.
Policies to Reduce a Current Account Deficit - Deflationary Policies.
- These are policies aiming at reducing the growth of aggregate demand and reducing inflation.
- They can include a tightening of fiscal policy or monetary policy which will reduce aggregate demand.
How can Monetary Policy be used to Remove the Current Account Deficit? Explain.
- Increase interest rates
- Higher interest increases the cost of debt, leaving people with less disposable income because debts like mortgages become more expensive, therefore consumers import less.
- Higher interest rates reduce AD reducing the rate of economic growth thus inflation, and making UK goods more competitive.
What is Tight Monetary Policy?
Increasing interest rates
Evaluation of monetary policy for reducing current account.
- An increase in interest rates will tend to cause hot money flows and therefore an appreciation in the exchange rate. Which makes exports less competitive, and imports more attractive.
- Depends of the performance of the economy, if the economy is performing week then a rise in interest rates may not actually reduce AD, because of high incomes and confidence
How is Deflationary Fiscal Policy used to reduce the Current Account Deficit?
Government could raise taxes, this would reduce consumer disposable income and reduce spending on imports.
What are the advantages of using Deflationary Fiscal Policy to remove the Current Account Deficit?
- Doesn’t affect exchange rates
- Improves government finances
Evaluate the use of Deflationary Fiscal Policy to solve a Current Account Deficit.
Conflict with other macroeconomic objectives – with lower aggregate demand (AD), growth is likely to fall causing higher unemployment.
How do Supply Side Policies Reduce the Current Account Deficit?
- Can improve the competitiveness of the economy and help make exports more attractive.
E.G - if the government pursued a policy of privatisation and deregulation it may help to increase the efficiency of the economy because of the profit motive in the private sector. This increased efficiency would translate into lower costs of production and more exports
Evaluate the usefulness of Supply-Side Policies to remove a Current Account Deficit.
May take considerable time to have an effect.
How could Lower Wages remove a Current Account Deficit?
Lower wages will reduce costs of production and improve competitiveness.
Evaluate the usefulness of Lower Wages for removing a Current Account Deficit.
Lower wages will also lead to lower aggregate demand and could lead to deflation and low growth.
How could Protectionism remove a Current Account Deficit?
The government could increased tariffs and quotas on imports. Would reduce imports and therefore improve the current account.
Evaluate the usefulness of Protectionism on removing the Current Account Deficit.
- May lead to retaliation – with other countries placing tariffs on our exports – so exports could decrease.
- Protected by tariffs – domestic industries may become uncompetitive because there is less incentive to cut costs.
What is meant by the UK Budget Deficit?
Annual amount the government has to borrow to meet the shortfall between tax revenue and government spending.
What is the UK’s National Debt?
86.5% of GDP
What are the different Forms of Protectionism?
- Tariffs
- Quotas
- Voluntary Export Restraints
Explain the different Forms of Protectionism.
- Tariffs - Is a tax that raises the price of imported products and causes a contraction in domestic demand.
- Quotas - These are quantitative limits on the level of imports allowed or a limit to the value of imports permitted into the country at a certain time period.
- Voluntary Export Restraint - this is where two countries make an agreement to limit the volume of their exports to another over an agreed time period.
Evaluate the use of Protectionism to remove a Current Account Deficit.
- Naturally an importing country
- Retaliation
- Can lead to inefficiencies if firms are protected they are less efficient which can RAISE prices
How can Government Investment in the Domestic Industry remove the Current Account Deficit?
- Improving transport links can have positive Externalities on the firm, because it reduces congestion and reduces a Firms costs.
- Deregulating Markets - Can attract new business into the economy by offering lower corporation tax.
- Subsidy for Businesses - Targeting Export led industries
Evaluate the use of Government Investment in Domestic Industries.
- Expensive and doesn’t help the debt
- Deregulating markets, the new firms may just send money back to their own country so it may not work.
- On its own may have little effect
How do Supply Side Policies Remove a Current Account Deficit?
- It works against cost-push inflation which increases supply and lowers price.
- Improved the competitiveness of the economy and helps make exports more attractive
Evaluate the use of Supply Side Policies to Remove a Current Account Deficits.
- May take a considerable amount of time to have an affect
- Conflict with other policies
- Conflicts with the DEBT
How could Deflationary Fiscal Policy be used to Remove a Current Account Deficit?
Contractionary Fiscal Policy
Evaluate the use of Deflationary Fiscal Policy to Remove a Current Account Deficit.
- Could increase unemployment
- Negative impact on domestic industry
- J Curve
Deficit Removal Policies.
- Raise interest rates
- Contractionary Fiscal Monetary or Fiscal Policy
- Want to lower AD, which would lower price
- Lower demand means less imports and exports more competitive because they are cheaper.
How could Expenditure Reduction Policies to Remove a Current Account Deficit?
- Increase Income Tax
- Cuts in government spending
Evaluate the use of Expenditure Reduction Policies to Remove a Current Account Deficit.
- Only works if Marshall Lerner Condition is true
- J Curve
How can Current Controls be used to Remove Current Account Deficits?
Limit the amount of foreign currency someone can exchange into pounds, it limits someone’s spending power abroad.
Evaluate the use of Currency Controls to Remove a Current Account Deficit.
Difficult to control, creates a BLACK MARKET
Does a Deficit on the Balance of Payments really matter?
Auto Corrects itself ( A Floating Exchange Rate sorts itself out)
What can ignoring a Deficit of the Balance of Payments lead to…
- Structural Weakness
- Imbalanced economy
- Loss of output and employment
- Money flowing out and problems financing the debt
Why might a Country have a Current Account Surplus?
- Export Orientated Growth
- FDI
- Under valued exchange rate
What is meant by Exchange Rate?
Is the rate at which one currency trades against another on the foreign exchange market
What is meant by a Floating Exchange Rate?
When the value of the currency is determined by market forces – supply and demand for currency
What is meant by a Fixed Exchange Rate?
Where the government seeks to keep the value of a currency at a certain level compared to other currencies.
What are the factors that influence the Exchange Rate?
- Exchange Rates
- Economic Growth
- Inflation
- Confidence
- Current Account Deficit/Surplus
How do Interest Rates affect the Exchange Rate?
Higher interest rates encourage hot money flows and demand for currency causing an Appreciation.
How does Economic Growth affect Exchange Rates?
Higher economic growth will cause an appreciation in the currency, because markets expect higher interest rates – when growth is rapid.
How does Inflation affect Exchange Rates?
Higher inflation makes exports less competitive and reduces demand for currency. This causes a depreciation.