Essays on Eurozone

Introduction

The European Union is the result of the flow of economic integration in the world. It was created in 1958 and became a powerful economic group. Within the framework of the Union, the benefits of mutual trade are established, the general economic policy is carried out, and restrictions on the movement of goods, capital, and labor are constantly removed (Krugman, Obstfeld, and Melitz, 2014). The creation of the EU was due primarily to the fact that in Western Europe after the Second World War, the contradiction between the international character of modern production and the narrow national and state ...

1. The Financial Crisis: Avoidable but Inevitable Theoretically, the financial crisis could have been avoided as investigation findings revealed . Under the circumstances however, the crisis was an inevitable consequence of everything that was going. The Federal inquiry concluded that the 2008 financial crisis could have been avoided. The crisis was the result of “widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street”. It was the result of “greed, ineptitude or both” on the part of government and the private sector. Among the persons found responsible for the crisis included Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and, ...

The journey towards the European Union (EU) integration has experienced several turnings. This section of the essay will detail some of the core turning points in the EU integration. Establishment of a Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was a major turning point in EU integration. The Treaty of Rome defined the specific objectives of the CAP. The CAP was introduced in 1962 (Folmern.p). The establishment of the CAP was enshrined to the state of food shortages after World War II. The aim of the CAP was to build a common European Community market and to cut off tariffs on agricultural ...

Report for McDonalds

Italy and Russia

Figure 1: GDP per Capita at Constant Prices Figure 2: GDP Growth (Annual %) Figure 3: Inflation Rate CPI Figure 4: Unemployment Rates Figure 5: Policy Interest Rate (%) Figure 6: Russia Interest Rate (%) Figure 7: Current Account Balance in Italy (% of GDP) Figure 8: Current Account Balance in Russia (% of GDP) Figure 9: Russia Interest Rate

List of Tables

BUSINESS OVERVIEW McDonald’s Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries across 36,538 outlets. Founded in 1955 by Ray Kroc in Des Plaines, Illinois, 80% of the ...

McDonalds has come to create a network in both Italy and Russia. Italy seems to have better balance of payment and government balance indices, interest rate, trade policy instruments and not needing to lose over currency rates while dealing with Eurozone importers, and even unemployment and GDP growth rates. However, unemployment and the lack of growth indicating poor economic performance and social welfare situation may advantage the brand in Russia through better low-cost labor availability and consumer reorientation on less expensive restaurant offerings. Overall, neither of the country is the ideal market for the brand, yet both have their ...

Abstract

Do the imbalances in current accounts still matter in today’s deep global financial markets that exhibit two-way gross economic flows that dwarf the new outcomes provided by current accounts? Contrasting the adult perception of the world and complete markets, extreme current account imbalances indicate severe financial and macroeconomic stresses, particularly as was the case in the mid-2000s. The increasingly massive valuation differences in nations’ net global investment standards and positions, as well as risk allocations, cannot be relied upon to offset the variations in regional wealth systematically as implied in the current accounts. The same conditions that warrant ...

Introduction

Business growth requires the adoption of various corporate levels strategies such as diversification into new markets. With that, it is necessary to identify the most suitable market regarding market demand and policies. That is because the country’s productivity determines the living standards, hence, the demand while policies determine ease of doing business and the productivity level. In that view, this report presents a recommendation and analysis of the most suitable country for Apple to expand to for its iPhone brand. To achieve the objective, the report presents a summary of the country of choice followed by an overview ...

On May 4, 2016, the New York Times printed an article by Paul Krugman in which he posited his opinion on Real Exchange Rates and European Adjustment. The author pondered initially what the correlation between real exchange rates and trade adjustment would look like. His question arises from common criticism he hears, that devaluation of the local currency either has not worked or is not needed. Krugman then shows a graph (see Appendix) which clearly displays that Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain (countries that have experienced currency devaluation) have experienced a higher change in the current account than European ...

Question 1.

The European Integration has undergone several changes to be what it is now. Several incidents and treaties marked the turning points for the EU in its infancy years to create a more stable and unified European cooperation. The Marshall Plan formed in 1948 consolidated democracy in Europe after the German defeat in the WW2 (Dinan 1122). The United States proposed the plan to speed up economic development in the transatlantic region. The plan saw the creation of the OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation) liberalize trade and the Coal and Steel Community to oversee the extraction of coal in ...

The European Union was created from a series of treaties and agreements between member states meant to achieve a Common Market and harmonize and promote different elements and aspects of the states. However, unlike the United States and other federal units, member states of the European Union have a higher level of autonomy and choice in deciding whether to accept European policies or not. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the approaches of two European member states to European Policy Issues. The two countries under review are Britain and Germany. The policy framework of both the ...

Introduction

Germany is a leading and developed country of the Europe and has a remarkable influence on the economic structure and policies in the Europe. The country has an area of 357021 square kilometers and a population of 81.4 million people. The economic structure of Germany is social market structure. The country is rich in highly technical and skilled workforce, low levels of corruption and high capital stock. The major reliance is on the exports, and the country is the third largest exporter in the world. The economy of Germany is largest in the Europe, and the makes a fifth ...

What position should Jason Sterling take on European sovereign debt? Why? What are the advantages/disadvantages of using credit default swaps to profit from this crisis? What are the potential risks? Are there any lessons for Jason that can be gleaned from previous crises? The aim of Jason Sterling is to assess novel information so that he has the ability to trade on prior to the trading close for the week period. This was because the growing debt crisis in the sovereignty of the Europe would be the hot topic or the primary notion that the leaders and representatives from ...

On first January 1999, eleven European countries decided to denominate their currencies into a single currency. The 1991 Maastricht Treaty had established a convergence criterion for countries wishing to join the European Monetary Union (EMU). The criterion was designed to be a foundation for qualifying for the EMU and related to the size of national debts, interest rates, inflation and budget deficits. The Euro system consisted of the European Central Bank with eleven central banks of the participating states presuming the roles in monetary policy (Mody et al. 2012). In 2002, the Euro took the form of coins and ...

Introduction

Current problem: Greece’s economy was in the brick of falling and other nations had to look for a way to stabilize their economy. Thesis statement: During an economic meltdown, there is no winner or loser since it affects everyone in one way or another. Coming together to save a failing economy is the only way out of a financial meltdown

Background

Greece was heavy in debt and could not borrow more to settle its creditors. The failing economy spiked major concern to its investors (Mattich, Could Greek Deal Be Bad For Eurozone Growth? par 1). Major Point 1: Despite ...

Introduction

Gross domestic product (GDP) and Gross National Product (GNP) is the indicators of the general economic condition of a country. These indicators give a description of the general economic and financial welfare of the nation, because the higher the level of production means higher level of the country's well-being. The subject of the study of the GDP and GNP is economic units - residents, producing goods and services for the end-user over a certain period of time (Investopedia, 2003). The indicator of GDP and GNP are very important for the economy as a whole. They are used to describe ...

Today, the economy of Europe is comprised of more than 733 million people in the 48 nations. The wealth of states in Europe varies like in other continents although the majority of the poorest are well up compared to the poorest states in other continents particularly in regards to living standards and GDP. Across Europe, the difference in wealth can be determined through a nominal GDP. For instance in 2010, Europe had a GDP of $19.890 trillion which was 30.1% of the world’s GDP. Germany has the largest national economy in Europe, which is ...

Business environment in Europe

The idea of a unified Europe has been in existed and constantly resurfaced since history. The economic and political stability within the region has been supported by the idea of a unified Europe. The main objective for the European Union has been to ensure peace among all the nations. The rules governing the business environment in Europe ensure that there a freedom of movement for capital, people, goods and services. However, these rules are not sufficient to create a free market business environment. Fee market can be achieved with a restructuring of policies governing the environment for doing business.

So far, the creation of a ...

Introduction

Every country in Europe has had intense debates over whether or not to adopt the Euro as a common currency. Adopting the Euro as a common currency in Europe has distinct advantages and disadvantages for member countries.

Advantages

With the US Dollar showing signs of weakness, nations across the globe would consider the option of switching to the Euro as the currency for international currency transactions (Kotabe and Halsen 73). The advent of globalization has made conventional currency frameworks such as adjustable pegs redundant. Increased cross-border capital inflows have made it increasingly difficult for countries to adjust their monetary policies. ...

The outsourcing in the textile and clothing industry is in a continuous movement and evolution, which was speed up by the rapid technological development, globalization or economic liberalization of various geographic areas.

The various shifts in the global sourcing in the textile and apparel industry have been hand in hand with the global social and economic shifts. Gereff (2002) notes that the history of sourcing was shaped in the fifties, when US and Western Europe countries where importing from Japan, which later imported from the Asian Tigers Hong King, Taiwan and ...

Slide 2

Introduction There are several reasons for choosing the Declaration of Independence of Germany. Primarily there has been the development of the mindset to see Germany as a saint; this paper focuses on bringing to light the issues that persist in the country, some issues that have been the cause of the separation of many countries. In spite of which this country remains. These problems persist in the current status quo. Thus, the country presented itself as a viable option for this project.

Slide 3

When in the course of Human events the government fails to uphold its basic fundamental responsibilities, people feel ...

Overview of the South African Economy

South Africa is a country located in the Southern tip of Africa. The country is the 25th largest in the world by area the 24th largest by population with 51 a population of million, (Central Intelligence Agency-CIA, 2013). It is Africa’s most prosperous economy and the World Bank ranks it as an upper-middle class income economy. Lately, various global economy agencies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank consider South Africa as a newly industrialised country (CIA, 2013). The country is now part of a team of countries that form BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and ...

In this section, I will provide a comparison of the inflation rate and economic growth of Belgium and the Eurozone. The inflation rate is defined as the percentage change in the price index from the preceding period. It captures the rate of change of prices calculated on a monthly or annual basis. The data on the inflation rate for Belgium and the Eurozone are presented below which I obtained from the news release of Eurostat (2013).

Meanwhile, economic growth is defined as the increase in the capacity of the economy to produce goods and services, compared from one period to another. ...

The financial crisis of 2008 had one of the most devastating impacts on the world economies. The American economy may have been the source of the crisis but the impacts affected almost every country in the world. There are several global implications that resulted from the crisis. This includes the developed economies in Europe and the developing economies in the rest of the world such as Latin America and Africa. The global impacts can be divided into two; the consequences of the crisis on developing nations and on developed nations.

The developing world suffered a great deal during the financial ...

Economics

The European countries are facing lower growth rates, just as they faced in history. The austerity measures have brought pain to the euro zone, and these measures provided no relief. The euro zone countries are reducing their spending by the double digits. Such reduction is increasing unemployment in Europe. The eurozone countries are trying to find the possible ways that are suitable for countries that are stagnant economically for the prosperity of the countries. In order to achieve the better growth for the economies, the countries are adopting austerity. Austerity is the intentional deflation of the domestic prices and ...

Abstract

Hong Kong Disneyland has been opened for over a period of ten years .It is beautiful and attractive place to visit. Being so famous it still has many problems till today. Below discussion describes the issues faced by the Hong Kong Disneyland.

ISSUES FACED BY HONG KONG DISNEYLAND ARE AS FOLLOWS:

- With over emphasis on China market, Hong Kong Disneyland has focussed on China market for a long period. With the opening of Shanghai Disneyland this year, Hong Kong Disneyland predicts that they will lose 50 percent of tourist’s attendance. - Brand image of Hong Kong Disneyland is diluting because it has created too many issues like ...

Abstract

The study is directed at examining the various elements of business that are adopted by companies in their operations. Two organizations in the airline industry have been chosen as the subject of the study to help in achievement of the study objectives. These organizations are; British airways and Emirates airlines. These are giant organizations in the airline industry which have been able to perform excellently in a highly competitive airline industry. This is a definite sign that they adopt the most effective concepts of business operations to keep them on top of other organizations in that industry. The paper shall, therefore, ...

The interview subject in this case is a job seeker who resides in the United Kingdom. The study seeks to find out how the Eurozone Crisis has impacted the job seeker because this economic situation has had an immense impact on the economy of the UK. The Eurozone crisis has been a continuing crisis which has affected a majority of countries in the European Union since the beginning of 2009. The crisis was caused by a combination of multifaceted factors which include; the financial crisis of 2008, globalization of finance, real estate bubbles, international trade imbalances, fiscal policy strategies relating to government spending ...

Major Factors that have led to its Economic Success and Decline

The United Kingdom economy has experienced major changes in the past few decades, which has shifted the factors of economic growth from physical factors such as machinery and manual labor among others to an economy driven by ideas, skills and knowledge. This can be adopted to provide an explanation of the significant growth of the financial services while the manufacturing sectors have also experienced a significant decline. The UK economy is currently driven significantly by the business services sector, which comprise lawyers, specialists, consultants and estate agents. Therefore, the knowledge based industries comprise the most important group in the UK ...

The European Union was hit hard by the economic crisis. According to the statistics published by the European Commission, the business investment rate keeps falling in the euro area. The unemployment rate is very high and keeps stable at 12.1% in the Eurozone and 10.9% in the European Union. The Eurozone government debt is about 92.7% of GDP and the forecasts made by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are not that good, predicting just 1% economic growth in 2014. Besides the economic problems of the European Union, there are many other current issues regarding the European ...

- Globalization and burgeoning technology/innovation that shrink product-life-cycles, coupled with global competitor’s quality and price, brings goods to the USA adding to 80-90% mega-competition for most consumer goods sold in USA, compared to <25% in 1950’s. Equally, global companies compete severely and challenge US firms abroad. - The U.S. and Eurozone economies play major roles in the world economy and are crucially important for each other’s prosperity. The two sides combined account for around 40% of world GDP, over 25% of world trade, 60% of world foreign direct investment flows, and 60%-70% of ...

Economics

Introduction The economic outlook of the world in 2011 and 2012 was bleak. The International Monetary Fund prophesied an uncertain economic recovery in April 2011. The reasons for uncertainty in 2011 were two fold: slower recovery in the advanced economies of the world and an increase in fiscal and financial insecurity (IMF, 2011). The situation improved through 2012, but risks remained. The Euro went through a period of acute crisis in the later part of 2011. Market worries about fiscal sustainability in Italy and Spain led to a sharp increase in sovereign yields, resulting in decreased confidence and slowing down ...

The Challenges faced by the European Union

This paper discusses two specific challenges that the European Union (EU) is facing currently. One is the democratic deficit and the second challenge is the euro crisis. The ‘democratic deficit’ can be defined principally as the disagreement regarding the lack of democracy in the European Union as well as in several of its other bodies. It is apparently claimed that due to this democratic deficit, the European Union and all of its other bodies are unapproachable to the common people as their functioning methods are extremely complex in nature. At each and every single stage of the process ...

(Tutor’s Name)

Drug abuse (also known as ‘Substance Abuse’) is rampant in various parts of the world. It poses unique challenges to a society that is preoccupied with the business of living. It not only affects the quality of life of an individual, but also has a bearing on the social fabric of the community at large. The dependence on drugs shows a deep-seated weakness of the human mind for mood enhancers. One feels transported to a different plane initially. However, dependence sets in with repeated and prolonged use. The western hemisphere shows similar traits in this regard. Europe in general and ...

Abstract

This paper aims to highlight some important and significant incidents of the Eurozone Debt Crisis that occurred for the year 2013 and 2104. It also signifies the efforts of the concerned authorities in the similar timeline to curb the drastic effects of the of the debt crisis on the Eurozone as a whole. With more stringent regulations the authorities try to control and eliminate the ongoing debt crisis. With a reduction in the investment worth billions and ever increasing stringent policies and control, the euro debt crisis is still nowhere near to its solution. Rather than curbing the debt crisis ...

EU audit reform (December 2013)

Introduction The European Union’s (EU) internal markets commissioner, Michel Barnier, signed the December 2013 EU audit reform into law. On December 17, 2013, EU member states and the European parliament came into a preliminary agreement about the new regulation on audit. The compromised texts were endorsed by COREPER in December 18, 2013. On that same date, commissioner Barnier welcomed the agreement reached between the two bodies on the reform of the audit sector. He claimed that the agreement formed the first step towards increasing audit quality and attracting more investors, which was an essential ingredient for economic growth ...

Trying hard to overcome the current financial difficulties, the European Union is preparing to launch a new stage of integration, which aims to develop a common economic policy and the creation of a federal economic government of the Eurozone countries. London, however, is not going to participate in the transfer of the relevant authority to the central structures of the Community. Moreover, the UK intends to withdraw from a number of common areas of activity of the European Union in order to strengthen the position of the national parliament. Theoretically, the kingdom wants to remain in a single economic zone of the EU, but ...

Introduction The Eurozone crisis also known as Euro crisis is an ongoing crisis since late 2009 after the great recession of 2009 affecting the Eurozone countries. This was after a New Greek government revealed of the previous government misleading reports on government budget data higher than expected deficit levels. The result was devastating eroding the investors’ confidence hence the bond spreads rose to unsustainable levels. Moreover, the countries fiscal position and debt levels of some member countries escalated to unsustainable levels (Vittori, 2013).As the threat of debt default by the government rose, the Greece government in May 2010 received ...

Introduction

Situated between the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean, Iceland is one of the Nordic countries falling into the European continent. The population of the country is 321,000 and the total area of the country is 40,000 sq. mile. Iceland is the least densely populated country in Europe. The capital city of Iceland is Reykjavik which is also the north most capital city in the world. In 2008 when a global financial meltdown started in US after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Icelandic economy was hurt badly by the crisis. This resulted in the whole banking sector of Iceland ...

Introduction 3

1. The Impact of Globalization on Humanity 3 2. The Impact of Globalization on Business World 4 3. The Impact of Globalization on Environment 5 4. Discussion of WTO and Trading Blocks 7 5. Discussion of the Current Events in Eurozone 7

Conclusion 9

Introduction The impact of globalization was discussed in many studies. Many authors asked oneself a question whether it is good or bad for humanity, business, and environment. However, the answers differ: some scholars argue that globalization makes positive impact on human lives and other aspect, others state that globalization is harmful. An answer ...

Greece-Euro Crisis: A Background

In 2001, Greece became the 12th European nation to get the membership of the EU, and endorsed the Euro as its single currency of the continent. The country got the EU membership that would put Greece strongly placed in Europe. Nevertheless, even then a number of economists were afraid that the Euro's stability could be affected by the inclusion of weaker countries from the European region. With the aim of qualifying for Euro membership, Greece was required to adopt stringent austerity steps, mostly through massive cuts in public expenditures. When the euro was launched in global financial markets in ...

Article 1: Marketing to Teenagers: The influence of Color, Ethnicity and Gender

Summary The teenage market is an important customer segment in the US as well as global market. Teenagers usually don't have any financial responsibility on their shoulder and that gives them a significant buying power. Most of the teenagers spend their money on clothes, jewelry, food, entertainment and beauty products. Teenagers are usually more tech savvy than the previous generations and spend a considerable amount of time on the internet, video games, phones, television and social networking sites. They accrue money for spending by getting paid for jobs and receiving allowances and monetary gifts. Brand loyalty is very important for ...

In his essay “Europe’s Perfect Storm: The Political and Economic Consequences of the Euro crisis,” Jan-Werner Muller argues that theresults of euro crisis had adverse impacts on the economic and political powers of some of the countries. Muller bases his argument on the regional imbalances between several European Union member states with his argument based on the rising Euro related crises which he states that they are the results of conflicting political agendas and economic imbalances experienced in the North and Southern parts of the European Union countries which were stimulated by the biased EU laws. The claims ...

In recent news, the Greek Debt Crisis continues to escalate further given Greece’s continues debt despite the bailout funds provided by the EU, IMF, and the World Bank. Considered as one of the primary reasons for the on-going Eurozone crisis, the Greek Debt Crisis showcases not just the Greek government’s incapacities to improve its economic status but also the impact of an unstable economy to the remaining members of the Eurozone. Prior to the announcement of the Greek debt crisis, experts had already seen Greece’s economic instability that would prove fatal in the long-run and led ...

The European Debt Crisis or the Eurozone Crisis of 2007 up to the present time is considered as one of the major declines of the European market since the inception of the European Union in 1993. What was considered an ideal move to unite the integrating the European countries into one currency, it became a disaster that has made these same integrating countries experience bankruptcy due to the depreciating rate of the Euro. Not only did the crisis escalate into financial debt and economic instability, it had also influenced as to how the European Union competes with the international market ...

Location

The Eurozone Debt Crisis The Eurozone crisis is essentially a problem of over-borrowing by some countries and their inability to pay these debts. These countries are unable to pay the debts because their economies are not performing well enough so government and banks cannot generate enough revenues from internal economic activities. At the same time, the collapse of some US financial institutions severely aggravated the situation. Banks and government completely lost their investments. The Eurozone crisis began as early as 2005 when some countries began having problems paying their debt from private banks. The problem escalated when some ...

The Eurozone crisis began as early as 2005. The problems were mostly related to internal economic problems mainly low productivity. The crisis took a plunge in 2008 as many financial institutions in the US—like Lehmann Brothers—collapsed. Many governments and banks lost their investments in these institutions. In turn, these governments and banks began to fail in paying for their own loans. Because they were unable to pay their debt, they could not find any source of funding so entire economies. The economic crisis was not solely the result purely of the collapse of financial institutions. Some economies— ...

Introduction

Austerity is an economic term used to define fiscal policies of reduced spending achieved through cutting of deficits mainly in public service provision and benefits. These policies are in most cases used by governments in an attempt to reduce the amount of money spent on deficits; in several instances, austerity policies are used together with tax increases. This is done to increase long-term financial solvency for investors. As is the case with other economic policies, the implementation of austerity policies has both supporters and critics. Those who support austerity policies argue that by reducing the government’s expenditure, it ...

Abstract

Since 2007, the European markets continued to experience a decline as several European nations had felt the consequences of applying the unstable Euro into their countries that had influenced the nation’s economic instability as seen in the case of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In recent news, the European debt crisis continues to prevail as the Eurozone reaches its all-time low for the past5 years as both strong and weak European markets now enter a state of recession that affects the entire world market. With the current European Debt Crisis continuing to influence the European markets, the United States may ...

Impact of sovereign debt on the performance of international equity markets

Introduction This essay analyses how sovereign debt problems initially faced by a few relatively small economies could trigger a wide impact on financial markets. The impact of the spill-over effect of sovereign debt is examined by using Greece as an example, whose economic GDP is only about 2% of the Euro Zone economy but its debt crisis has had a damaging impact on the financial markets across Europe and other parts of the world as well. The essay specifically examines the international performance of the bond market, thus analysing the extent to which the poor bond performance of one country ...

Switzerland and the EU

Since the early 16th century, Switzerland has remained untouched by regional and international conflict as it stood alone as a neutral territory and became a sanctuary for people wishing to stay away from wars and conflict throughout the region. With the major World Wars and regional conflicts settled, Switzerland was expected to have joined the European States in forming its very own regional organization, the European Union, to maintain the peace in the region and rebuilt what was lost in the conflicts. However, it was unexpected that Switzerland had not acceded to the EU given that other neutral territories such as ...

Issue

According to financial experts and economists, global effects of the debt crisis are likely to excavate if the situation continues. They say the economic recession will be worsening unless the situation is taken serious and measures put in place to avoid this. Although there are many vigilantly optimistic analysts today, there are still fears that global economic might soon collapse.

Background/Situation Analysis

Today, many countries in the world are faced with the debt crisis that hastened from the credit collapse of 2008. Despite the fact that the governments did not initiate the global debt crisis, in many countries it has ...

The European sovereign debt crisis dominated international financial markets during 2010-2012. Economies fell into recession and financial market volatility was high. Critically analyze how the government debt problems initially faced by a few relatively

Introduction

The European financial crisis has extended beyond borders and is now affecting other countries in various condiments. China and United States of America are the most affected nations because they depend a lot on European countries for exports. The world is facing a critical problem brought about by the financial crisis, and financial experts are yet to determine the solution to this problem. The global economic meltdown of ...

Introduction

The European financial crisis has extended beyond borders and is now affecting other countries in various condiments. The world is facing a critical problem brought about by the financial crisis, and financial experts are yet to determine the solution to this problem. The global economic meltdown of 2008 found the European Union struggling with the unshakable financial crisis that has been slowing the growth of European currency, the Euro. As the crisis enters its third year, the European and the whole world is worried whether it would end up affecting the world economy leading to world financial crisis (European Commission ...

This topical article written by Matthew Chance and Oliver Joy – two London-based British CNN journalists – covers one of the latest manifestations of the extensive unrest and disquiet evidenced in more than one European country. This is because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Eurozone, which comprizes those European countries having the Euro as their currency. Greece is the worst affected, with the most critical national debt situation, although other countries such as Italy and Spain also have a major debt problem, and may – like Greece – have to request a “bailout”. The article reads as though the readership is ...

The William Boston’s article titled “Merkel Backs Bond Buying Program” reports the move by the German Chancellor, at a summer news conference in Berlin, to back the process of buying bonds by the European Central Bank (ECB) in a move that could only be perceived as an endorsement of the ECB president, Mario Draghi, in a manner that would not in any way undermine the position of Germany’s Central Bank (The Bundesbank), whose president, Jens Weidmann, has been a strong critic of the bond-buying process. According Boston, Merkel, while professing her incertitude about the ability of Europe to establish a common regulator for ...

The crisis in Europe has exposed the deep gap in the European countries’ competitiveness. Southern European countries are lagging far behind other European nations such as Germany and France. Principally, Europe must address the two macro-economic imbalances which is at the heart of this long standing crisis. These are the external and fiscal problems. (Farhi, Gopinath & Itskhoki, 2012) The consumer confidence, as of June 2012, decreased by 0.5 point to -19.8, while it remained for almost a year below its long-term average of -12.8. This weakening is based on the EU consumers' more negative assessment of their general economic ...

Regional Analysis

According to De Lombaerde and Van Langenhove (2007), regional integration is a scheme that connects states to foster interaction between their local and regional components to form an organization that conforms into a state-led organization. Regional integration also pertains to the joining of various states within the region to create a larger entity. The success of regional integration depends on the state’s willingness and loyalty to the regional group, sharing their sovereignty and openness in accepting policies that would require them to open their sovereignty. Integration deeper than the average connection is noted to be very difficult if it pertains to ...

Economic integration and the creation of a fiscal union

There are five levels of economic integration. These are the Free trade, customs union, common market, economic union and political union (Paul-Rodrigue, 2012). Free trade between countries allows for removal of tariffs in trade between member countries. Examples of free trade areas are North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Customs unions are characterized by common external tariffs among member countries. In a common market, the factors of production move freely among member countries. Economic Unions are characterized by a common currency, common monetary and fiscal policies and harmonized tax rates (Paul-Rodrigue, 2012). Member countries ...

The global financial crisis adverse effects started in mid-2007 with the credit crunch that deepened in the year 2008. These effects initiated the most severe economic crunch since the Great Depression. It affected the economies of various countries and there geographical reach (Berkman, Gelos, Renhack and Walsh, 2009). Most developed and developing countries most of which that have developing markets encountered high levels of financial strain and slow economic actions. The aim of this research paper is to identify in detail the several ways in which the global financial crisis refigured international relations. The paper explains the role played ...

The global financial crisis of 2007-to-date is cited as being among the worst ever to affect the world since the credit crunch of the 1930s popularly known as the Great Depression. Coupled with the financial crises, a massive sovereign debt crisis advanced among leading national investors all over the globe and the most affected were the majority of European governments. The Eurozone crisis made it difficult for most nations to re-finance their debts leading to the creation of rescue packages and bailouts to prevent the collapse of economies that were in between the depth crises. Member states within the European ...