PER 2015
References and further reading: http://www.theguardian.com/global/2012/apr/26/greece-europe-north-south-divide http://www.nber.org/papers/w15512 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8xAXJx9WJ8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_debt_crisis http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21627647-debt-some-euro-zone- economies-looks-unsustainable-back-reality http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11511457/What-happens-if-Greece-defaults-to- the-International-Monetary-Fund.html http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2015/03/14/if-greece-leaves-the-euro-then-spain-italy- and-germany-would-follow/
Should raising GDP be the primary objective of economic policy?
Adam Burton
Gross Domestic Product or GDP is always a key objective of economic policy. Increasing GDP could deal with problems such as unemployment and inflation. Focusing on the United Kingdom, however, one could argue that there are other objectives that the UK should focus on such as inequality, which is ever increasing. Also global warming is a huge problem nowadays that the government and the world has to face soon otherwise there will be irreversible consequences. Thirdly, immigration is an important topic nowadays as there are more
immigrants coming into the UK than ever before and it could be argued there are many problems coming with them. Finally there is a huge need to reduce the current budget deficit. Lowering the deficit could lead to increased consumer confidence. Inequality is a big issue for the UK. As the current UK government is following the policy of austerity, they are making huge cuts around the whole country as well as raising taxes. These raising of taxes are effecting the poor more than the rich as the rich can still afford to pay for the things that the government have raised the tax on, such as the increase of VAT from 17.5% to 20%, whereas the poor can no longer afford to pay for it.
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