The business cycle is a series of cycles that define the economies and a business’s stages of expansion and contraction. The first stage of the business cycle is the Boom stage, this is where there is high level of customers spending, there are high levels of business confidence, and an increase of profits & investment. Unemployment is also low as the business creates jobs. The next stage is the Recession stage, this is where the high levels of customer spending start to decrease and business confidence means that lower profits and the business will have to start cutting back on investments which starts to increase unemployment as the business is forced to cut back on resources. The next stage is Depression, this is where there is a lengthy period of declining Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – this is where there is little to no customer spending (there is some increase in the rise of employment).
Recession- The recession is an opposite of boom stage. The unemployment increase, most of firms are losing confidence and stops invest or expand. They may change their planning and started to survive. The customers are likely to save money then spend and the percentages of loans are high and may increase. Individuals are losing jobs and the government have to spend more money of benefits.
According to Keynes, why might deflation create problems for an economy? ▪ In expectation of increased spending, too many entrepreneurs would begin businesses and most would fail. ▪ The cost of repricing goods would increase costs, and therefore reduce profits, for businesses and they would cut production. ▪ People would drop out of unions because unions would become ineffective at keeping wages of members high. ▪ Consumers might expect prices to fall further and cut back consumption now.
At this time they would need to provide cheaper price to attract their consumers and to increase the demand. They would have to reduce the number of staffs as it may become difficult to pay wages. This leads to rise in unemployment. During recession businesses also tries to get loan from the bank and the bank wants to see their financial statements and if they find out that the business is not capable of paying the money back then they won’t lend any money therefore, the business may have to find new way of catching customers attention. For instance, they may be able to start up with a new idea.
Protectionism endanger a consumer’s right to choose from a wide variety of goods and services. The defense argument is that it protects higher prices, lower quality goods, economic stagnation and among other things. It is a form of purism when it comes to the trade barriers being in place. It is defended that is in place because consumers to purchasing foreign made products will cause unemployment here in America. The theory is that jobs are lost when we are tempted by cheap foreign goods.
The unemployment rate consists of the labour force and number of people actively seeking work whom are unemployed within the labour force. The unemployment rate is calculated by :The number of employed x100 / Labour force. Between 1970 and 1983 there was a rise in this rate that peaked around 10%; this rise could have been attributed due to weak economic conditions that did not produce enough jobs for the supply of labour. From 1992 to 2007, Australia saw a gradual decline in the unemployment rate most likely due to prosperous economic conditions facilitating strong jobs growth. 2) Based on reading the chapter and our lecture discussions, you should be able to identify an “error” in Figure 11.2 (page 247).
A firm’s performance is negatively impacted because it hires fewer employees, which decreases output and profit. Consumers and taxpayers end up paying for such costs through higher prices. The ability of the United States to stay globally competitive is diminished, thus efforts to cut costs push many companies to send jobs abroad. In the long-term, members of a union also become affected due to changes in the market environment—e.g. new entrants, including foreign competition within the domestic boundaries, so they may have to adapt to such changes by accepting lower wage rates.
(Overall decline of market / demand) and the increasing price sensitive of customers. • Strong international player filling the needs of the booming industrial economy abroad leading to fact that Fortis is not yet ranked under the world TOP 10. Question 2) • Overall declining industrial economy in U.S lead to a decrease in demand and to high cost pressure within the industry. Given that, Fortis’s customers are becoming more and more price sensitive and less willing to pay premium prices. Additionally, the continuously increasing steel prices leading to higher production costs and impacting product’s margin.
Unemployment rates were steadily on the rise just a few months ago and corporate profits are at all time highs. This will lead to companies not hiring workers and a sluggish job recovery rate. Technology is replacing the uneducated worker at an alarming rate as machines increase labor productivity faster than other areas of the economy can absorb the now surplus of labor. This doesn’t mean we need to slow technology, just that we need to be a more educated society. Another link to the great depression would be the precious metals market.
Some believe that raising the minimum wage would hurt people by making it harder to find jobs, when it actually will create more job opportunities for Americans. How does our economy expect families to live comfortably making $7.25 an hour? With inflation constantly on the rise the worth of money is becoming less and less valuable. Why can we not raise the minimum wage if everything else is increasing in price? The minimum wage needs to be updated to correlate with the times and value of the American dollar.