The monetary and fiscal policy implemented during the Great Recession

Introduction The stability and vigor of any economy is very important to individuals living within that country, especially when it comes to determining prices of items, employment and lending interest rates. The economy usually undergoes different business cycles; these cycles include either a period of expansion (boom) or a period of contraction, which is referred to as the recession (Weaver 1).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The monetary and fiscal policy implemented during the Great Recession specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These economic convulsions normally occur in the ordinary course of business and they are usually unpredictable. Some of the most famous economic contractions to ever hit the planet were the great depression of the 1930’s in U.S.A, the Asian currency crises of the late 1990’s and lately the great Recession of Dec 2008-June 09. The long term growth of any economy is usually controlled by the government using both fiscal and monetary policies. These two tools are known as Macroeconomic policies which the government manipulates over the long run and short run in order to ensure that the economy achieves optimal performance (Colander 29). Monetary policies aim to control the supply of money and interest rates within the economy by setting a floor or ceiling on the amount of money supplied at the economy at any one given moment (Weaver 17). Fiscal policies on the other hand is a macroeconomic tool which a government steers the path of the economy by fluctuation the levels of government expenditure and revenue election which is also known as taxation. Both monetary and fiscal policies are important tools that enable the government through economists to carefully plan on how to counter the negative effects of either a recession or economic contraction. The Great Recession The great recession of 2008-09 is considered to be the worst recession that hit the Ame rican economy since World War II, furthermore the fact that the American economy was entering into recession was scaring the rest of the world’s biggest economies and trade partners this wide spread panic threatening to lead to a financial contagion. The beginnings of the effects of the recession were felt in the Q1 (first quarter) of 2008 whereby by March over 63,000 Americans did lose their jobs. In Q3 the effects of the recession were rampant and many businesses around America started closing down due to bankruptcy claims, at the same time the American public spending had plummeted by over 6.3% and the economy of the United States Gross domestic product went down by 0.5%.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the same Q3 of 2008 more that 156,000 American had lost their jobs (Roberts 29-40). During March 2009 the full effects of the recession were seen worldwide with America’s closest allies and business partners facing the hit and having their economies also plunge into economies contractions. During the same time the American unemployment rate had hit 8.5% and close to 5.1% million Americans were now jobless (Auerbach 6). This meant that America was now in a lot of trouble because the Citizens were less liquid and had little or no money to spend, the same applied to businesses and not only were small to mid level commercial enterprises affected by this but also the giant business now felt the hit and their quarterly earnings together with share prices went down. Some of these corporations included A.I.G insurance, GM General Motors, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns. When citizens and businesses of an economy do not spend due to luck of enough disposable income then speculation ceases to exist and an economy which does not spend will definitely not grow but shrink (Roberts 79-82). The American government was forced to intervene because it could no longer sit by and watch the economic prowess of their country go down the drain the government used Macroeconomic policies to restore the public and investor confidence in the American Economy by bringing it back to track. The Government comes to the rescue Fiscal Policies The American government through the Federal Reserve decided to introduce a $ 787 billion stimulus package as a part of its fiscal policy to stimulate spending within the American economy. The American government aimed at increasing the amount of money which was in the hands of Americans. By this way then Americans would have more money to spend on goods and services within their borders. Most of the money from the package leaked and trickled down into the economy through unemployment benefits for those who lost their jobs and other social welfare provisions and domestic expenditure in education, health care, and infrastructure together with the energy sector (Auerbach 1). According to Maynard Keynes, a renowned economist, when the government counters the contraction of an economy during a recession, increased government expenditure can be a way by which the government can increase aggregate demand within the economy. An increase of funds in the economy will mean that there are more funds which individuals can use to purchase goods within the American economy, this way even the business men and entrepreneurs together with corporate establishments will also have more need to increase business activities and order more suppliers from other vendors.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The monetary and fiscal policy implemented during the Great Recession specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In other words the spending and demand of goods and services as a result of increase government spending will encourage repeated economic activity that will send a shock wave through the economy and revive business activities (Auerbach 3). The expansionary monetary policy which is also called by economists as easy money was brought about by the Barrack Obama’s administration in order to ensure that local American bushiness would no loner close down because the American consumers lacked funds to stimulate demand, the economists under this regime believed that increased expenditure as the result of the fiscal policy would end up increasing the amount of money that the American public held and this would force them to demand goods and services. Another fiscal policy adopted by the American government during this period was reduction of taxes especially through tax incentives which were also designed for both individuals and companies. Under this scheme, individuals would either save on taxes as a result of tax cuts or receive government cheques of tax incentives. Some of this tax benefits and incentives included new payroll tax incentives where individual taxation was reduced in homesteads that increasing the amount of money available to individuals once they were paid (Auerbach 6). The government reviewed Expansion of child tax credit by extending $1,000 credit to families with children even those families which were not able to pay taxes before. At the same period families with children in collage also got tax incentives in order to promote spending in education, home buyers also got tax incentives through the Homebuyer credit scheme where the government wanted to encourage individuals to buy homes and revive the real estate sector. Unemployed individuals who were enjoying unemployment benefits had their taxable income coming from unemployment benefits also reduced (Roberts 172-177). The government also extended tax incentives to individuals who used more friendly sources of energy and building materials in their homes. Companies on the other hand were allowed to adjust loses running up to five previous years and file for tax refunds, tax credits were also extended to companies which have adopted renewable energy and green practices and some companies also got tax credits and refunds through adjusting the depreciation of their assets.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The move of the American government to offer tax incentive to both the corporate world and individuals was to increase the amount of disposable income in their hands in order to elevate aggregate demand within the American economy. Monetary Policies When the great recession hit America, the government was forced to carry out radical monetary policies in order to pull out the economy out of the recession. The economic bubble that came with the recession interrupted the demand and supply of money together with interest rates. The subsequent contraction of the economy forced the Federal Reserve to adopt an expansionary economic policy that would enable the cash tight economy ensures that the supply of money in the economy was appropriate for recovery. The government besides initiating a $787b went further to bail out banks which had lost numerous funds and had even run out of capital to cater to the largest deposits of their customers (Roberts 82). The rapid revival of the economy mean t that the Federal Bank initiated a nationwide response that would guarantee the increase in supply of money and this would decrease the interest rates. The recession made it hard even for individual and companies to borrow credit because the shortage of money meant that the cost of borrowing had gone up and this led the entire nation to a liquidity problem and individuals/corporate did not spend a lot of money because they feared borrowing. The government thus introduced a bail out package of $ 700B, this bailout plan was necessary and proved fruitful because most of the time it is the banks which serve as the financial intermediaries in a country’s financial system to control the amount of the money in the economy and this provided an avenue by which the Federal Reserve could regulate the supply of money within the economy (Roberts 254). By this way, the Federal Reserve would easily control or influence the interest rates and encourage the American public to borrow money fr om the American Banking system, thus the individuals would spend the money in recurrent expenditures and speculation and encourage growth of the economy. The net effect of this bailout would be stabilization of prices and interest rates, this way business and economic activities would increase steadily and this would reduce unemployment rates in the long run through encouraging repeated expenditure which will push companies into employing more individuals in order to expand their business. Conclusion The moves made by the American government and the Federal reserve contributed a lot towards ensuring that the American economy recovered from the recession more quickly and less scathed. Had the government not reacted as first as it did and used the available macroeconomic policies to bring the expansion effect in the economy at the time of the contraction, then not only would America be affected but the effects of the recession would have been even harder on other countries of the worl d. Works Cited Auerbach, Alan. â€Å"Fiscal policy in recession: US fiscal policy in Recession: what’s next?† CESifo Forum 2/2009. 2009. Web. Colander, David. Macroeconomics, 8th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print. Roberts, Michael. The Great Recession. New York: Lulu Enterprises Inc., 2009. Print. Weaver, Frederick. Economic literacy: basic economics with an attitude. Maryland: Rowman Littlefield Publishers, 2007. Print. This essay on The monetary and fiscal policy implemented during the Great Recession was written and submitted by user Zayden Tyson to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Hoedads Tool and the Cooperative

Hoedads Tool and the Cooperative Hoedads are wooden-handled, mattock-like hand tools used to plant bare-root trees by the thousands quickly and mainly used by experienced crews. They are designed for steep slopes, versus the dibble, a straight-bladed, metal-handled tool with a foot platform used to plant trees on flat ground. When comparing the use of the dibble and the hoedad, a USFS study in the Western Gulf Region of the United State (2004) shows that neither method is superior to the other. The study concluded that tree planting survival, first- and second-year height, groundline diameter, first-year root weight, and first and second-year growth was found to be the same. The hoedad does speed up planting when used by an experienced user with a strong back. The Hoedad Revolution This hoedad tree planting tool inspired a name given to tree planting cooperatives of environmentalist tree planters who planted millions of tree seedlings from 1968 to 1994. During this period, new-generation tree planters used the hoedad exclusively on hundreds of thousands of regenerated forest acres. The timber industry and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) provided both land and incentive monies during this period to encourage reforestation of cutover lands. It opened up opportunities for private contractors to enter the tree planting business. There was money to be made for someone who enjoyed the outdoors, was in good physical health and could plant 500 to 1000 trees per day on steep ground. Both the hoedad tool and tool users called hoedads  were of some influence on the forest practices of the USFS and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). These spirited men and women managed  to change the stereotypical male forest worker image.  They questioned the practice of single-species reforestation and detested the wide use of herbicides and pesticides. They did extensive lobbying at national and state levels for increased funds for reforestation and promotion of sustainable forestry practices. Enter the Cooperative In addition to tree planting, these Hoedad cooperatives did precommercial thinning, firefighting, trail building, technical forestry, forest construction, resource inventory, and other forest-related labor. They grew in numbers  working in every state west of the Rockies and  Alaska  and living in the most remote areas in the mountains of the West. They later traveled through the Eastern US to planting job sites where programs like the Forest Incentives Program (FIP) were paying private forest owners to reforest and manage according to multiple-use principles. The most notable cooperative was  based in Eugene, Oregon.  Hoedads Reforestation Cooperative (HRC) was the largest of the co-ops, was established by a Peace Corp volunteer and thrived as a tree planting cooperative for over 30 years. These Independent tree planter contractors were able to make millions of dollars (and plant millions of trees) through these planter-owned cooperatives. HRC disbanded in 1994, largely because of a dramatic decline on federal lands in reforestation and other timber harvest associated forestry work. According to Roscoe Caron, a former tree planter and Hoedad president, HRC was also instrumental in breaking the males-only ethic of forest work, questioning the wisdom of monoculture reforestation and challenging the liberal use of herbicides. In celebration of the 30-year Hoedad reunion (in 2001), the Eugene Weekly and Lois Wadsworth compiled some of the most detailed information on Hoedads to date for the article Tree Planters: The Mighty Hoedads, Back for a 30-year Reunion, Recall Their Grand Experiment.

Behavioural theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Behavioural theories - Essay Example Different theories may vary depending on the manner in which they are tested and developed. For instance behavioural theories are theories that attempt to give an explanation concerning the reasons behind the changes in a person’s patterns of behaviour. Behavioural theories cite personal, behavioural, and environmental traits as a key factor in the determination of an individual’s behaviour. In recent studies, there has been a demand for the utility of these theories in education, health, energy, international development, and criminology areas with the wish that when the behavioural theories are understood, then the services that are given in this area would be improved (Nutbeam, 2000). This paper explores different behavioural theories and the understanding of behaviour. Recent studies have shown that that the key theories, which are the baseline for the current understanding of the behaviour theories, were documented in the 1980s. Some of these theories include icek Ajzen’s and Martin Fishbein works on the ‘reasoned action theory’ (Ajzen, 1985). ... esearch towards the understanding of behaviour change management alngside widening the base of the research so as to revise the current theories whose key focus is on initial changes (Akers, & Krohn, 2009). Certainly, the behavioural theories focus on a variety of factors that attempt to give an explanation of behavioural change. Example of these theories include social, cognitive theory, reasons action theory, learning theory, transtheoretical theory, health process action theory, and the planned behaviour theory (Bandura, 1989). There are some specific elements that could be applied in these theories. One key example of the elements is self efficacy, which can be applied to almost all these theories. Self efficacy is a person impression concerning his ability in performing a challenging task like going through surgery. Such an impression relies on factors such as a person’s prior success in that task, tasks that are related, the physiological state of an individual, and the persuasion source from outside (Bandura, 1989). Self efficacy is believed to be a prediction of the level of efforts that an individual will release in maintaining and initiating a change in behaviour (Elton, 2003). Learning theory, on the other hand, is a theory that originated from behaviourists such as B.F Skinner. The theory argues out that behaviour that is complex could be learnt slowly by modification of behaviours that are simple (Skinner, 1957). In this theory, reinforcement and imitation have a significant role to play. In this respect, an individual will learn through copying the behaviour that he observes in other people. Additionally, rewards are useful in ensuring that the desired behaviour is repeated. Whenever behaviour comes about due to reinforcement and imitation, there would

Corporate governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Corporate governance - Essay Example This paper attempts to find the relevance of agency theory in explaining the rise of corporate governance worldwide. In order to achieve this, it will include two other frameworks of the firm as benchmarks: stewardship theory and stakeholder theory. The starting point for this paper is to give the different accounts of the rise of corporate governance using various reliable sources. The next step is to highlight the other two frameworks of the firm and explain how they can be used in protecting the shareholders’ investments. The chosen frameworks will then be compared with the agency theory in order to establish which of the three frameworks best describes the rise of corporate governance. There are various factors that can be used to explain the rise of corporate governance. Such factors include: Separation of ownership from control; the rise of prominence of institutional shareholders; insufficient checks on powerful executives which led to scandals; the treatment of companies as separate legal entities; corporate failures caused by insufficient controls; remuneration of executives; economic globalisation; and financial crisis These factors have been considered in UK by different reports that provide specific measures on corporate governance. Such reports include: Cadbury report, Hampel report, Higgs report, the combined report, and UK stewardship report. The rise of corporate governance can be illustrated in depth by looking at the contents of these reports because they address the above factors of the rise of corporate governance. This report was provided by Cadbury committee on December 1992 to address the financial aspects of corporate governance. The code principles are based on integrity, openness and accountability. Cadbury report requires that boards of directors should be accountable to their shareholders and both should play

Philosophy of social work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Philosophy of social work - Essay Example I have not only answered these questions, I feel that I have elaborated on them and asked further questions to the principal answers, in order to explore them on deeper levels. I feel that the resulting answer reflects not a simple, pre-determined response to the question; it rather reflects a step by step response to the question – a response I did not know I would provide until I had assessed and recorded it. In relation to philosophical concepts, a single, predetermined answer is not possible, or rather lacking as a response. Rather, my staged self-exploration provides a deeper understanding of my philosophical approach to social work. Before I attempt to define my own personal philosophy of social work, I feel that a more ample beginning is required; a much more basic start from which I can build the foundations of my personal philosophy. I feel that I must define the term ‘social work’; what it means to me, how I interpret it and adopt it in my work. For to do this is to have constructed a basis when properly answering the question ‘what is my philosophy of social work?’ To explore the personal definition of the very concept I seek to explain my philosophical outlook upon, I explore the methods and basic contexts within which I try to define the term. I bring everything together neatly, which was once jumbled and unexplored until now. So, the beginning: what is social work to me? How do I define it and with what frame of mind? To help others, to bring those in need to an equal level with others, to achieve and maintain justice, to keep a constant compassionate and optimistic outlook, to ensure liberty, to restore and assign rights. This is social work....to me. And when further trying to define these terms and meanings, I find that I am further developing and utilising my philosophical outlook, and discovering how I approach these definitive tasks. It appears to be more than a simple answering of the question; it is more

Commentary for leaflet

Commentary for leaflet My elective was youth justice, within this elective I have chosen the topic of youth crime prevention. The preventative service I am communicating to service users in my leaflet is street-based youth work, this links into risk aspect of the whole family teaching.  Ã‚   The audience that my leaflet is aimed at is 13 to 17 year olds who are socially excluded and are at risk of offending and turning to crime. My audience are also difficult to reach through other services and agencies. My leaflet is advertising a preventative street based service for young people. The purpose is to draw in young people and offer them interesting and alternative interactive and challenging options so that they turn away from involvement in crime. This service is an effective way of youth workers building a rapport especially with young people who do not use centres and have not been previously reached by other means of youth prevention. Government guidance has given me insight and understanding into the links between street based youth work with crime prevention. Government guidance, Transforming Youth Work: Resourcing Excellent Youth Services (2002) has identified that youth work is a key aspect to prevention of crime. The guidance sets out that a contribution of youth service is tackling anti-social behaviour and crime. (pg4). Emphasis is placed on working with young people who may pose a risk of committing anti-social behaviour. The reason I chose this particular focus is that it is a preventative service already offered to young people in hopes of reducing crime, yet it is not as recognised and I feel that it can be an effective method where harder to reach risk groups can involved. Research was published by Joseph Rowntree foundation on the role of street-based youth work in linking socially excluded young people into education, training and work. Crimmins et al (2004) found that street based youth work had been successful in reaching and working with large numbers of the most socially excluded young people (pg 1, Crimmins 2004) The Youth Action Plan was a plan that looks at tackling youth crime. On discussion of prevention, the Youth Action plan recognises focus needs to be given to a smaller minority and to early identification.   Part of the prevention is to tackle unemployment, increasing opportunitiesin a much more targeted and individual way (Youth Action Plan, 2008, pg 1) as part of tackling youth crime, street based teams of youth workers will be in place to tackle groups of young people involved in crime and disorder (Youth Action Plan, 2008pg 7) Street based youth work, promotes development, especially social development. It is designed to be inclusive, empowering and needs led. It can be broken into three separate distinct branches these being mobile, outreach and detached youth work. My leaflet is promoting mobile and detached work. In the leaflet my focus is on activities that we provide as a service as well as opportunities that can be followed, for example, training, education, etc. This is to encourage young people to approach our mobile unit and this is where further work would be undertaken. By advertising potential benefits for young people when they work with street based youth workers, like activities, for example, DJing, sports, bowling, is ensuring that hard to reach youths are also interested. As a result of this, the content of the leaflet is an explanation of what we do, why we do it and examples of what has been provided in the past. The designs is very contemporary and is designed to attract the eye of a young person so they may find it interesting enough to pick up, this is why I have incorporated bright colours with graffiti style writing and pictures to grab attention and attract the reader to reading the leaflet. I chose a leaflet designs that folds in 3 times again as a means to attract and draw the reader in by the cover. The leaflet is also directing the reader to a group on face book and videos on YouTube. These are two known applications that young people use. This was confirmed by the young people I piloted my leaflet to. There are various literatures that relate to prevention of youth crimes and risk of turning to crime. J Margo (2008) explains three different levels of prevention in offending. The secondary level is relevant to my leaflet. The secondary level is more specific and is aimed at target groups who present risk factors. The approach looks at different stages and looks at those who have offended and those who are likely to offend. Street based youth work is a preventive scheme which targets risk groups in who are hard to reach through other agencies. Risk taking is recognised as part of our development, and to take positive and negative risk is very much part of this human development. Sharland (2006, pg 254) argues there has been evidence that presents the nature and success of the transition to adulthood are much influenced by class, culture, material and social resources. As a result of these influences those less privileged struggle harder, are more exposed to risk and more likely to take it. This is that there are structural disadvantages that lead people to take risks and lack of community resources that can be a factor that leads young people to turn to crime. These disadvantages can be related to lack of parents employment, educational qualifications, poor parenting, etc. These pre-existing factors can have an impact on young people and as a result young people with these structural disadvantages are at a risk of turning to crime.( White and Cuneen (as cited in Youth Crime and Justice) 2006 ) Issues of social exclusion of young people is relevant to why youth crime takes place, this exclusion is linked also to marginalisation and disempowerment. As a result of risk factors discussed, young people can be at the risk of being marginalised due to their parents status in the community, this being for example, and lack of employment. As a result young people may feel disempowered and as a result turn towards crime. (Youth Justice Board, 2001) To inform me on the leaflet I piloted my completed leaflet to a group of seven teenagers these included family members and friends in the age range of 13 to 17. In doing so, I collected feedback which led me to make adjustments. In the draft, It was reported that the colours used were too bright, there was too much information and not enough pictures. The final draft was piloted and positive response was seen. I have also looked to sources from the internet and other similar services to be able to guide my direction with the leaflet. A source that informed my leaflet greatly was information from a street based service that is provided by Derbyshire Youth Service. This guided my understanding of street-based youth work and explored the idea of reaching risk groups. Derbyshire Youth service, see street based youth work as having a preventative purpose but recognises young people and encourages them to get involved. The activities that are offered has given me an insight into the content of my leaflet and what activities I could offer. When examining my leaflet in retrospect I found some positive and negative points. The content in my leaflet is very basic and easy to read and understand. This is deliberate, as pointed out when piloted. It is designed this way to ensure that those reading will be able to read the whole leaflet without losing interest and it is also supposed to encourage young people to want to seek further information. However, this could also have a negative impact. The basic information could attract the youngest of my target group but may isolate the eldest, as they may prefer more depth and detail. I have also found that in retrospect the colours and background art used may overload the reader and may be off putting when trying to read the content. In designing this leaflet, there were issues that had an impact on what was included. Due to the restriction in space, all information could not be fitted in. As a result of restriction, there was not a possibility to aim the leaflet and individual from different diverse backgrounds, this is the reason I attempted to keep the leaflet neutral as possible. Within my target audience, there can various sub audiences identified, for example, class, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, disability and gender. These social groups are also significant when designing a leaflet and each group has issues that need to be addressed and affect a service however due to space constrictions, it was impossible to address these individually. In my leaflet, I was aware of these issues indirectly and kept them in mind when designing the leaflet and content. Overall, I feel that my leaflet will reach my target audience and will attract them to involvement with street based youth workers.

An Unbreakable Union Essay -- American History, Politics, Lincoln

An Unbreakable Union As Abraham Lincoln was sworn into the office of President of the United States of America, the nation was deeply divided, with several states having seceded to form the Confederate States of America. He promised to â€Å"preserve, protect, and defend† (Doc #1) the Union and its federal forts and property in the Confederacy that were being dismantled and appropriated by the South. Lincoln further promised in his address that â€Å"no State can lawfully [leave] the Union† (Doc #1) and that he would reassert the laws of the Union in the rebellious states. What role did Lincoln take in the events between his inauguration and the outbreak of the Civil War? Was he preparing for peace, or planning for war? Lincoln took a direct role in the events leading to the outbreak of hostilities. Not only did he attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution and open dialogues with Southern officials, he tried to rein in his advisors who challenged his positions, and cemented his administra tion’s stance on the question of secession. Prior to Lincoln’s inauguration in March, Lincoln played direct and indirect roles in the events that shaped the beginning of a civil war. Although the future cabinet members around him urged him to make statements to convince the South he had no intentions of abolishing slavery in their states, he did nothing of the kind, refusing to make public statements until he was sworn into office. He refused to do this because he was already on record for saying he had no constitutional powers (until he was made president) yet, and because he felt it would be a sign of weakness to be compelled to repeat his sentiments over and again, and to be kept on the defensive: â€Å"they would seize upon almost any letter I could wri... ...secession, he was prepared for the possibility of war, but had no plans to attack the South. He made offers with the South to trade the forts for assurances of peace, and even ordered his men to surrender if it would save their lives. While Lincoln’s decision to supply the fort with provisions was a provocation and led to a Confederate attack, Lincoln never made the order to fire on the South first, and he took steps, continuously, to avoid a conflict and try to reason with the Southern government. Lincoln had no plans for war, and his reinforcement of Fort Sumter was to affirm its status as a federal fort, not to force the Confederacy into starting a war. Both sides had an aim: whether it was to gain complete independence or pull back the secessionist states into the Union, neither was willing to back down, and the responsibility for the war rests on both sides.