Oct 20th 2011, 21:11 by R.A. | WASHINGTON
TODAY'S recommended economics writing:
• Builders to deliver record low number of housing units in 2011 (Calculated Risk)
• After Keynesian macroeconomics (Greg Mankiw)
• Debt crisis overshadows brighter data (Real Time Economics)
• Better to let immigrants buy homes than to demolish them (Ezra Klein)
In this blog, our correspondents consider the fluctuations in the world economy and the policies intended to produce more booms than busts. Adam Smith argued that in a free exchange both parties benefit, and this blog's aim is to encourage a free exchange of views on economic matters.
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The definition of inflation is continuously rising in the general-price level and it exists in different form in the economy such as demand-pull and cost-push inflation.
Demand-pull inflation means an excess of total spending over the current rate of output at prevailing prices. An excess of aggregate spending over output will chase to reflect almost entirely in price increases. This sort of circumstances is called as the inflationary gap.
Now the governments of euro-zone or PIIG (Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece) current expenditures over revenues means government confronting the situation of large budget deficit gap in the economy. This huge budget deficit require to fulfill by only two ways such as to curtail in current expenditures, and to get borrowing from public or international financial institutions under the debt policy by issuing bonds and certificates with certain warranty.
Unfortunately, PIIGS’ countries could not maintain the paid assurance due to large scale corruption in the economics activities. So debt rating stand to down-ward and no one financial institution as well countries prepare to take further risk to provide loans to meet the equilibrium budget except France and German calls to bail-out these countries to come-out financial crises.
However, it is not permanent solution despite to take austerity measures through effective fiscal policy plans. By this measures government to immediate control on current expenditure and increase the saving rate to invest in public sector development program to boost the growth rate for creation of employment in the economy.
". . . financial innovation is more likely to be destabilizing in more complete financial markets and when it concerns derivative assets."
Truer words were never spoken when it comes to real markets. The process of shifting risks will always increase overall systemic risk.
Klein makes an excellent point. Why not let someone come here who is willing to buy a house which is standing empty? Who cares if it costs $500K or just $150K? If it's standing empty, who is hurt? And the owner, obviously, is helped.
But even the suggestion by Klein (that just investing to create 5 new jobs is sufficient -- vs. the 10 that the Senators are pushing) goes too far. If someone comes here and buys a house, they have already helped the economy (not to mention the balance of payments) by paying the owner for an asset which is otherwise dropping in value -- even if it isn't about to be destroyed. Which puts more money into circulation, and so improves the economy.
And if they live here, they are spending yet more money on everything from groceries to utilities to property taxes. Why worry about forcing them to explicitly create some number of jobs that you can count? If their custom allows businesses to stay open and maintain or increase staff, what does it matter that you can't put a precise number on that? Not to say that they should be hampered from starting businesses and employing people, just that we shouldbn't waste time and effort trying to count exactly how much they are contributing.
Now if only I believed that any such proposal (even if flawed as the Senators' proposal is) had a chance of getting passed. But I see no propsect of that happening until after the next elections. (After all, it might help the economy -- which isn't allowed because that might have unwanted electoral consequences.)