AQA A2 Economics - European Context
Each of the AQA a2 economics papers contains data response questions where understanding and awareness of the context of the economics of the European Union comes into play. We have a EU Economy in Focus study companion which is published in updated form each year. Details are available here. One area for revision focuses on the analysis diagrams that might be used to support your answers to EU context questions, I have put together a listing of topic areas where a diagrammatic approach might pay dividends - it is not exhaustive of course, merely some suggestions that might be useful. It appears below:
read more...»A2 Macro: Chinese investment in the EU
There is much focus on Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa and Latin America - China is also making huge investments in Australia as my friend Mark Johnston writes about in this blog. Here Euro News looks at investment in the European Union by Chinese owned businesses. New motorways in Poland ahead of the 2012 European Football Championships, co-financed by the EU, are being built by Chinese companies. The Chinese are also buying up public debt, in Greece, Spain and Portugal.
EU Enlargement - Evaluating the Impact
Many of Europe’s newer member states have outperformed established EU countries since they joined the single market in 2004 and 2007. And as a result there has been a process of convergence in average living standards and improved employment opportunities. Europe’s new nations have injected extra dynamism into the region despite inevitable teething problems along the way.
For students revising aspects of EU enlargement here is a streamed version of a presentation I gave to a Tutor2u event in London a few weeks ago
A streamed version of the presentation is available here
PDF Handout of the presentation
Related news issues
Germany expects influx of Polish workers (BBC news, April 2011)
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The economic & social benefits of migration
My own students know that I am strongly in favour of open migration and oppose the government’s attempts to impose artificial caps on economic migrants from outside of the EU. A hat tip to Philippe Legrain for spotting this article from today’s Guardian which is heavily tilted towards the longer-term economic and social benefits of migrants for the UK economy. So David Cameron wants to talk about immigration? Bring it on As a partial counter-balance perhaps I should link you towards a piece in the Daily Mail by Andrew Green: Why is the BBC STILL so hideously biased on immigration? I have also linked below to some of our recent blogs on the migration issue. And here is a link to a presentation on the enlargement of the EU that I gave in London back in February 2011.
Focus on Poland
Poland is the largest of the central and eastern european countries (CEECs) to have entered the European Union Single Market in the recent enlargement process. And her macroeconomic record during and after the global financial crisis stands comparison as one of the best of the twenty seven EU member nations. Recession has been avoided and the economy is set to continue a long run of economic growth that is (slowly) bringing about a rise in relative living standards and a sustained fall in unemployment. The Guardian newspaper has been running a series on New Europe and this set of articles focuses on some of the challenges and opportunities facing Poland as Europe seeks to drag itself into a durable recovery phase.
Guardian - New Europe - Focus on Poland
Larry Elliott: Poland’s past and future mix in Gdansk, the start of the road to the 21st century
OECD Report on the Polish economy
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EU Economics - Video Resources for Teaching
I will keep this blog updated with a selection of video clips relevant to the study of the EU - please check below for some links and embedded videos
read more...»EU Economics: Guardian “New Europe” Interactive Data
The Guardian has a new series of reports, picture galleries and other resources on New Europe - much here of interest and value for students and teachers who want to broaden their understanding of what is happening within the European Union. Here is the link And you can follow their updates on Twitter.
5 Fresh Links: Videos to attract FDI
I am teaching European and Global context for A2 macro this term and one of the key topics is the economics of EU enlargement. The opportunities to attract inflows of direct investment is one of the major attractions for new EU countries as they enter the single market. Here is a selection of videos promoting FDI into a selection of European nations.
read more...»Links to articles on the EU Economy
I have put together a listing of suggested reading / articles on different aspects of the economics of the EU. This is available for download below as a pdf file.
read more...»EU Economics: EU Economy in Charts Jan 2011
Here is an updated twenty five slide streamed presentation on macroeconomic developments in the 27 countries of the EU with a particular focus on the Euro Area and UK/EU comparisons.
read more...»EU Economics: Estonia joins the Euro
The New Year sees the seventeenth country join the Euro with the arrival of Estonia into the single currency bloc. Read Estonians prepare to join the euro and ditch the kroon The Baltic State with just 1.3 million inhabitants experienced and then suffered an unsustainable inflationary boom in the years immediately after entering the EU in 2004 and that boom came to a spectacular end in 2008.
A2 Economics Revision - Microeconomics of Labour Migration
1) Explain the circumstances in which an economy may see a rise in net inward migration of labour (15 marks)
and
2) Evaluate the view that free movement of labour within the European Union improves the efficiency of British businesses (25 marks)
EU Economics Common Terms and Acronyms
A selection of key terms and acronyms that students may find useful when studying the economics of the EU
read more...»Foreign investment videos
Videos produced by governments seeking foreign direct investment can be a useful teaching aid when studying the drivers of FDI.
read more...»Revision Download - European Economy 2010
Here is a free revision download for teachers and students who wish to update their understanding of key topics and issues in the European Union…
read more...»Croatia and Iceland look to be in front line for EU entry
Croatian fans will be crying into their beers tonight with the news that they have failed to qualify for South Africa 2010. But their politicians seem to be making decent progress along the road to joining the European family of nations. The latest report on the progress made by countries seeking membership of the European Union suggests that Iceland and Croatia will be next in line to enter the EU single market. There is a report here from the Financial Times. And this article from the BBC reports the EU Enlargement Commissioner as saying that Croatia should complete entry talks next year.
Here are some links to previous blogs on EU enlargement
How recession has affected migration
The BBC has commissioned a special report on the impact that the global recession has had on flows of migrants workers in the world economy. Deteriorating employment prospects in many of the advanced rich economies has stemmed the inflow of migrants - Spain and the UK are two good examples here. But the ripple effects of the credit crunch have hit virtually every economy. Although much migration appears to be cyclical (and in many cases, seasonal in nature) many migrants have decided to stay put in their new country of residence in the hope of weathering the economic storm or because their chances of finding viable work in their home country have diminished too. One thing is sure, the scale of migrant remittances has fallen sharply and is likely to do so again in 2010 - remittances form a high percentage of GNP for many of the world’s poorest nations. This BBC report contains some very useful graphics that might be used to aid classroom discussion.
Economics Snapshot - EU Migrants in the UK Labour Market
Migrants from EU Accession Countries
2004-08
Average age 26.5
*1/3rd have been in higher education
*90% employment rate whilst in the UK
*Hourly wage of £6.80 compared to UK average of £11.90
*12% claimed benefits or tax credits
*6.5% lived in social housing
Source: Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration at UCL
Iceland votes to join the EU
Rocked by a financial crisis which led to the collapse of its currency and banking system, Iceland’s parliament has voted narrowly in favour of seeking accession into the European Union. This process is likely to take around 18 months, the EU is keen to fast-track Iceland into the single market. One of the main stumbling blocks will be negotiations over fishing quota and catch rules for the EU fishing industry within Iceland’s territorial waters. Fish and seafood accounted for 37% of Iceland’s exports in 2008. Will Icelandic accession be a great catch for the European Union?
Guardian: Will Iceland make it into the EU?
Europe Revision: Problems facing Eastern European Countries
Revision notes on some of the economic challenges facing new member states of the EU
read more...»Europe Revision: EU Enlargement
Revision notes on aspects of EU enlargement
read more...»The EU - Positives from the Polish Perspective
B
BBC reporter Jonny Dymond is travelling through the European Union in advance of the elections next month gathering opinions and comment from people in different member states. Monday’s report from Poland makes interesting reading as it gives a positive view of the single market from the point of view of one of the newer member states, which could provide some useful points for evaluation in the AQA ECN4 paper.
read more...»European Economy - Free Revision Update for 2009
Here is a free revision update guide for students preparing for A2 Economics exams this summer….
read more...»Zombie economies and threats to EU stability
Sean O’Grady writes about the financial fragility of the eastern European economy in his Independent column - I produced a short revision presentation this last week available here - and describes Turkey, Ukraine, Serbia, Latvia, Romania as zombie states “in the process of receiving IMF assistance to rescue their finances. More will surely follow.”
A key point to take away from the article is the varying extent to which countries inside the EU single market are dependent on trade as a source of income for their circular flow. O’Grady writes that
“The Germans are top among the older established large economies; 30 per cent of their income derives from exports. In Japan it is a surprisingly low 10 per cent: in the US and UK around 15 per cent. Now consider how much eastern Europe relies on exports. The Czechs’ reliance on exports – 80 per cent of GDP – makes most countries look isolationist. The Hungarians and Poles are also heavily reliant on trade. So the 13 per cent decline in world trade predicted by the OECD will have a potentially devastating impact on those already bruised economies.”
This makes it even more important for the EU authorities to be strong in preventing a descent into protectionism within Europe’s boundaries.
The FT today reports that the IMF is encouraging eastern European states to join the euro
Revision Presentation - Eastern European Economies
Here is the link to a revision presentation on some of the current macroeconomic challenges facing eastern European countries who have joined the EU single market over the last five years.
EU Revision: Challenges facing Eastern European Economies
The EU single market has enlarged on several occasions – the most recent being 2004 (ten new countries) and 2007 (two new countries). For many countries of ‘New Europe’ the accession into the EU has been an event of major economic and political importance.
Enlargement occurred during a period of strong economic growth (driven by fast-growing exports in an era of globalisation) and low inflation and interest rates. One can argue that this was an opportune time to widen the single market – macroeconomic conditions were favourable.
But progress made by new EU members has not been even – most have achieved a degree of income convergence and have managed to bring down unemployment levels. But there have also been underlying problems – notably property bubbles, rising inflation and the effects of depopulation as migrant workers from central and eastern European countries in particular moved west in search of work and higher incomes.
From late 2007 onwards the global credit crunch and ensuing international slowdown and recession has hit the EU hard. The Euro Area is export dependent (more so than the USA) and economic and financial difficulties have spread into many of the new member states.
This three page revision note is designed for students preparing for their EU paper this June.
EU_Revision_Eastern_Europe.pdf
Large and Small
The economic landscape of the twenty seven member nations of the EU is very different. I find that students preparing for the AQA European economics paper often have little idea of the relative size of economy as measured by GDP. Five countries together account for 72% of EU27 GDP (Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain). Ireland - for nearly twenty years the Celtic Tiger but now in real macroeconomic distress - accounts for only 1.5% of EU GDP.
And if we add together the national income of
Romania
Czech Republic
Hungary
Slovakia
Luxembourg
Slovenia
Bulgaria
Lithuania
Latvia
Cyprus
Estonia
and
Malta
We get a ‘combined economy’ which contributes 4.7% of EU national income ..... equivalent to a country the size of the Netherlands!
Presentation on EU Enlargement
I have updated my revision presentation on aspects of the economics of EU enlargement. This can be downloaded as a PowerPoint using the link below.
Presentation
European_Union_Enlargement.ppt
Investing in Poland
Have you noticed on Sky News a new advert featuring regularly looking to attract inward investment into Poland? It is short (just 30 seconds) but puts across some of the potential benefits from relocating to central Europe - and I used it in one of my lessons today on EU enlargement - it is available here. This second advert reinforces the point - together they might be a useful starter video for a lesson on inward investment in ‘the heart of an enlarged EU”. The Invest in Poland agency is here.
Barriers to labour mobility in Europe
The BBC website has updated developments in restrictions introduced by national governments for the movements of workers within the European Union. The free movement of labour is one of the key foundations of the single market but in the wake of EU enlargement, many governments have introduced limits often in the form of quotas - funny how these ‘temporary’ controls often become semi-permanent! And any form of restriction creates an incentive to by-pass the control. There is more detailed background information available from the EurActive website.
