Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Ghana Environmental Sciences Essay

Poverty And Environmental Degradation In Ghana Environmental Sciences Essay The relation between poverty levels and environmental degradation has been widely debated inside academic circles. The theoretical linkage between poverty and environmental degradation has for some time been shroud in ambiguity. Environment degradation and poverty are closely interrelated and inseparable, particularly in developing countries. Awareness and concern about environmental degradation have grown around the world over the last few decades; these concerns are shared by people of different nations, cultures, religions and social classes. In recent years economic researchers have become increasingly aware of the important implications that the state of the environment has for the success of development effort. .(Michael P Todaro, Stephen C Smith, Economic Development) it has been asserted that the interaction between poverty and environmental degradation can lead to a self perpetuating process in which ,as a result of ignorance or economic necessity, communities may in advertently destroy or exhaust the resources on which they depend for survival.(Michael P Todaro, Stephen C Smith, Economic Development) According to Michael P Todaro and Stephen C Smith, environmental degradation can have severe consequences on the poor in developing countries. They further conclude that since the solution to environmental problems involve enhancing the productivity of resources and improving living conditions among the poor, achieving environmentally sustainable growth is synonymous with achieving economic growth. Poverty is considered a great influence on environmental degradation. In many regions of the developing countries, regional overgrazing has resulted in destruction of grazing lands, forest and soil. In addition air and water have been degraded . It has been hypothesized that as people become poorer, they destroy the resources faster . By so doing tend to overuse the natural resources because they dont have any means of survival except through the natural resources. They therefore tend to depend more on natural resources. An increase in poverty gives rise to an equal increase in environmental degradation thereby necessitating the need to improve the quality of living. Ghana is located on the west coast of Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea with a 539-kilometer stretch of coastline. The capital, Accra, is situated along the coast. The country shares borders with Togo to the east, Cote dIvoire on the west and Burkina Faso to the north. Ghana covers a total area of 238,537 square km (92,100 square miles). Ghana is well endowed with natural resources gold, timber, and cocoa the major sources of foreign exchange, and recently discovered oil in commercial quantities. The domestic economy continues to revolve around subsistence agriculture, which accounts for 34.7 percent of GDP and employs 56 percent of the work force, mainly smallholders. The country has a total of 170 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies within its ten administrative regions and has approximately 22 million people. Most of the population is concentrated in the southern part of the country, with highest densities occurring in urban and cocoa-producing areas.(USAID) . Ghana is rapidly urbanizing. Despite this, most of Ghanas poor live in rural areas without basic services such as health care and clean water. Small-scale farmers, who are affected most by rural poverty in Ghana, depend on outdated farming tools and lack access to improved seeds and fertilizers to increase crop yields. Since independence Ghana has had a long fight with poverty. There have been six development plans implemented in Ghana since 1951. They have all generally sought to improve upon the growth of GDP and ensuring an acceptable level of social and political life for the country. The most recent and significant have been the Vision 2020 and The Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy.( Eugene Eluerkeh,2004) Environmental degradation is difficult to define. In simple terms environmental degradation can be said to be the deterioration of the environment through depletion of resources such as air, water and soil, the destruction of the ecosystems and the extinction of wildlife. Poverty is the state of having inadequate access to ones survival needs and basic social amenities which include food, clothing, shelter, education, good health, employment, transport, communication and other basic social services. Poverty breeds frustration, depression, helplessness, carelessness, insecurity, indiscipline, crime and struggle to meet immediate survival needs at the expense of long-term environmental benefits. This struggle for survival has been the major linkage of the poor to environmental degradation such as deforestation, land degradation of coastal habitats and poor urban sanitation that keep perpetual poverty. Poverty can be assessed at the individual, household, community, district, regional and national levels in which case a nations capability to provide the social needs of its people is used as a measure of its poverty status. One out of five people on earth still live with $1 a day, and many coordinated effort and commitment have been targeted to reduce the number of poor people including the socalled Millennium Development Goals: halving extreme poverty by the year 2015 (World Bank, DFID, EC, UNDP, 2002). As part of the conditions to be met for the realization of (HIPC) relief package, Ghana, like its counterpart countries, was to develop a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) to indicate how monies accrued from joining (HIPC) would be used to alleviate poverty among Ghanaians. The broad strategies outlined in the document included good governance, macro-economic stability, production, employment, vulnerability and exclusion, and human resource development. Unfortunately, however, the environment, which is the primary ingredient for survival, growth and development was not streamlined in the document. Environmental degradation is a result of the dynamic inter play of socio-economic, institutional and technological activities. Environmental changes may be driven by many factors including economic growth, population growth, urbanization, intensification of agriculture, rising energy use and transportation. Poverty still remains a problem at the root of several environmental problems. Poverty is said to be both cause and effect of environmental degradation. The circular link between poverty and environment is an extremely complex phenomenon. Inequality may foster unsustainability because the poor, who rely on natural resources more than the rich, deplete natural resources faster as they have no real prospects of gaining access to other types of resources. Moreover, degraded environment can accelerate the process of impoverishment, again because the poor depend directly on natural assets Environmental sustainability should thus, be a key priority area in our strategic plans towards poverty alleviation. Within this context therefore, the right linkage between the various specific environmental degradation and poverty must be well established to the appreciation of all stakeholders. In search of an explanation of the poverty- environmental degradation linkage, many studies have been done in this regard. In terms of urban poverty, it is suggested that there is little evidence of it being a significant contributor to environmental degradation but strong evidence that urban environ-mental hazards are major contributors to urban poverty (David Satterthwaite). Most of the studies on the poverty-environment linkage have used panel data studies and hence have not been country specific. This study thus aims to explore in detail the poverty-environment linkage with specific reference to the Ghanaian situation. It will thus review the existing literature on the poverty-environment linkage, provide an overview of the poverty and environment profile in Ghana and attempt to provide policy recommendations suitable for the Ghanaian situation. Statement of Problem Poverty in Ghana has for a long been considered an economic problem. Hence economic policies that have been developed haved not considered the environment. It is however useful to consider the interplay between the environment and poverty in formulating policies designed to alleviate poverty. Various studies have established that there exists some kind of dynamic interplay between the state of the environment and poverty levels. Hence it is useful to consider the impact of the various economic policies designed to reduce poverty on the environment. Significance of the study The study will be of immense significance to the economy of Ghana. It will attempt to explain the poverty-environment linkage in Ghana. The study will review the literature on the poverty and environmental profile of Ghana. It will then explore the impact that policy reforms that have been designed to alleviate poverty have had on the environment. Objectives of the study The main objective of the study will be to: explore the poverty-environmental degradation linkage in Ghana. Explore the determinants of environmental degradation im Ghana. Elaborate on steps taken to reduce environmental degradation in Ghana Evaluate the existing economic policies designed to reduce poverty Data and Methodology The study will use macro data on poverty levels and measures on environmental degradation. To achieve the above objectives the study will adopt and modify the model used by Shaista Alam in the study Globalization, Poverty and Environmental Degradation: Sustainable Development in Pakistan . The model is given as: lnEGt= ÃŽÂ ²0+ÃŽÂ ²1lnPVRTt+ÃŽÂ ²2lnFRTt+ÃŽÂ ²3lnURBNt+ÃŽÂ ²4lnPOPt+ÃŽÂ ²5lnEDUt+ÃŽÂ µ where the variables are defined as follows: EG is environmental degradation,FRT is fertilizer consumption (in metric tons), URBN is the rate of urbanization, POP is the population growth, PVRT represents poverty, EDU is the education.

Teens, Sex, and Virginity - Teenage Pregnancy Essay -- Exploratory Ess

Teenage Pregnancy      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Teenage pregnancy has always been present in society. There is research stating that about half the women, born between 1900- 1910, who were interviewed were non-virginal at marriage (17 Ravoira). This contradicts some thoughts that premarital sexual behavior is something new. There was another study done in 1953, it found that one fifth of all first births to women were conceived before marriage (17 Ravoira). Even before our modern openness in discussing sexual behavior and acceptance that it does occur, it was quite routine. In earlier society, the incidence of teenage pregnancy was a moral problem. This was because people looked at the child as filius nullius (nobody's child), or illegitimate and the mother as bad, immoral, over- sexed, etc. (18 Ravoira). The child was being blamed for mearly being born, this is unfair to the child who had no fault in the matter (18 Ravoira). The real problem that was seen was the fact that the children were born out-of-wedlock. P eople seemed to have real difficulty accepting that the baby is still a baby no matter what conditions it was born under.    Many women were punished for being pregnant and were regarded as sex offenders or delinquents. During the 1950's, there were homes were unmarried young women were sent, along with their babies. They were made to stay in these uncomfortable, non-nurturing conditions for months, almost like prison, for the crime of bringing a baby into the world . This was thought to be a solution to any financial burdens the woman and her child might cause (18 Ravoira). More commonly, the young women were sent away to the homes of relatives, etc. to have their babies, and then a hasty adoption was secured. This was to prevent... ...rk Ca: Sage Publications, 1993    McCuen, Gary. Children Having Children. Gary McCuen Publications, Hudson. 1988.    Ravoira, LaWanda, and Andrew L. Cherry. Social Bonds and Teen Pregnancy. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992.       Onilne Sources Consulted: Ez Sound Ideas. Baby Think It Over. [Online] Available http://btio.com/facts.htm, March 5, 1997.    March of Dimes. Teenage Pregnancy: Facts you should know. [Online] Available http://babynet.ddwi.com/tlc/pregnancy/teenfact.html, March 5,1997.    Noah Team. Teenage Pregnancy: Facts You Should Know. [Online] Available http://www.noah.cuny.edu/pregnancy/march_of_dimes/pre_preg.plan/teenfact. html, March 5,1997.    San Francisco Unified School District. San Francisco Schools Granted $2.6 million. [Online] Available http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/news/teenpreg.htm, March 5, 1997. Teens, Sex, and Virginity - Teenage Pregnancy Essay -- Exploratory Ess Teenage Pregnancy      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Teenage pregnancy has always been present in society. There is research stating that about half the women, born between 1900- 1910, who were interviewed were non-virginal at marriage (17 Ravoira). This contradicts some thoughts that premarital sexual behavior is something new. There was another study done in 1953, it found that one fifth of all first births to women were conceived before marriage (17 Ravoira). Even before our modern openness in discussing sexual behavior and acceptance that it does occur, it was quite routine. In earlier society, the incidence of teenage pregnancy was a moral problem. This was because people looked at the child as filius nullius (nobody's child), or illegitimate and the mother as bad, immoral, over- sexed, etc. (18 Ravoira). The child was being blamed for mearly being born, this is unfair to the child who had no fault in the matter (18 Ravoira). The real problem that was seen was the fact that the children were born out-of-wedlock. P eople seemed to have real difficulty accepting that the baby is still a baby no matter what conditions it was born under.    Many women were punished for being pregnant and were regarded as sex offenders or delinquents. During the 1950's, there were homes were unmarried young women were sent, along with their babies. They were made to stay in these uncomfortable, non-nurturing conditions for months, almost like prison, for the crime of bringing a baby into the world . This was thought to be a solution to any financial burdens the woman and her child might cause (18 Ravoira). More commonly, the young women were sent away to the homes of relatives, etc. to have their babies, and then a hasty adoption was secured. This was to prevent... ...rk Ca: Sage Publications, 1993    McCuen, Gary. Children Having Children. Gary McCuen Publications, Hudson. 1988.    Ravoira, LaWanda, and Andrew L. Cherry. Social Bonds and Teen Pregnancy. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1992.       Onilne Sources Consulted: Ez Sound Ideas. Baby Think It Over. [Online] Available http://btio.com/facts.htm, March 5, 1997.    March of Dimes. Teenage Pregnancy: Facts you should know. [Online] Available http://babynet.ddwi.com/tlc/pregnancy/teenfact.html, March 5,1997.    Noah Team. Teenage Pregnancy: Facts You Should Know. [Online] Available http://www.noah.cuny.edu/pregnancy/march_of_dimes/pre_preg.plan/teenfact. html, March 5,1997.    San Francisco Unified School District. San Francisco Schools Granted $2.6 million. [Online] Available http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/news/teenpreg.htm, March 5, 1997.

Marketing plan Essay

Trappist Dairy is glad to providing quality and healthy beverages for customer’s daily consumption. Trappist believes that milk is the best natural source of nutrition that good for people. Trappist Dairy started out as a small dairy farm operated under the Trappist Monastery in the early 60’s to supply bottled fresh milk for Lantau Island. The small operation carried on until as recently as the early 80’s when Trappist Dairy relocated from Lantau to Yuen Long in order to meet increasing demand for the Trappist brand fresh milk from the public. Trappist Dairy also carries a wide range of delicious flavored milk drinks and unique milk drinks. Because the milk industry in Hong Kong is very competitive, to ensure continuing growth, Trappist is looking to extent its products and develops a new product to customers, based on the reasonable price, good-quality milk in Hong Kong. And I hired by Trappist Dairy, I will develop a marketing plan to capitalize on an opportunity identified in Hong Kong. Three parts are included in this marketing plan, including introduction, current market situation and marketing objective. I will investigate the current market situation deeply by analyzing the market and my company. I will then conduct SWOT (Strength, weakness, opportunity and threat) analysis, competitor analysis and customer analysis. Finally, I will recommend a target market and position of Trappist Dairy. Market Analysis The market analysis includes both the internal and external business environment. It is vital for Trappist Dairy to carefully monitor both the internal and external aspects regarding it’s business as both the internal and external environment and their respective influences will be decisive traits in relation to Trappist Dairy’s success and survival in the milk industry. Internal Business Environment The internal business environment and its influence is that which is to some extent within the business’s control. The main attributes in the internal environment include efficiency in the production process, through management skills and effective communication channels. External Business Environment The External business environment and its influences are usually powerful forces that can affect a whole industry and, in fact, a whole economy. Changes in the external environment will create opportunities or threats in the market place Trappist Dairy must be aware off. Fluctuations in the economy, changing customer attitudes and values, and demographic patterns heavily influence the success of Trappist Dairy’s products on the market and the reception they receive from the consumers. Trappist Dairy is concerned with overall state of milk market in Hong Kong. According to the Trappist Dairy’s research, about 31.3% people like to drink fresh milk, 28.3% Hi-Cal low fat milk drink, 1.5% Skimmed milk drink, 1.5% Pure milk drink, 15.6% Chocolate milk drink, 21.8% other milk favorite taste. The demand for Hong Kong grew at around 5-10% per annum from 1999 to 2006. Current sales of imported milk are less to foreigners. Less than 10% market of milk import from USA, Canada, Mainland China, Europe, Australia, New Zealand etc. The sales volume for the milk segment in Hong Kong reached $36.2 million in 2006 for a volume of 130 million liters. It has shown a steady growth since 1980: an increase of 9.5% over a period of 26 years. The consumption rate per new product in 1995 has reached 0.98 liters, which represents a 4.0% increase compared to 1999. The growth of new market is largely due to a consumer trends. Company Analysis Trappist Dairy is a medium sized company with a large amount of market share in Hong Kong. It produces products of high quality and good taste. The company currently produces ten products in three product lines, namely pure fresh milk, delicious flavored milk drinks and Low Fat Yogurt Drink. Pure fresh milk is a traditional style milks with (Protein, Fat, Calcium) natural source of nutrients. Hi-Calcium Low Fat Milk Drink contains one-third more natural calcium than average milk products with level of fat as low as 1.5g, Skimmed milk with 0% fat but no cholesterol, Chocolate Milk with a perfect blend of intense aroma and sophisticated mouth feel. Trappist Dairy also provides another favor taste such as Mango Papaya Low Fat Milk Drink and Ginger Low Fat Milk Drink. Trappist Dairy can manufacture competitive drinks at competitive prices with implementation of its newer and cutting edge technologies. Trappist Dairy believes in total quality control. For fresh milk, quality control starts from the selection of feed. Trappist Dairy monitors the health and living conditions of the dairy cows to ensure that Trappist Dairy can deliver supreme good taste and nutritious milk. Trappist Dairy production lines run daily to ensure fresh delivery every day to customers, while Trappist Dairy salesmen and telesales team are dedicated to deliver the best service to satisfy customer needs. So they can gain overriding market share. Competitor Analysis In Hong Kong, the milk industry is quite competitive. The industry is divided into milk, soy milk and yogurt. Compared to soy milk and yogurt, the market for milk is very large because Hong Kong people think that milk is an essential and health drink. Also, Government and school always promote milk and its health benefits, from baby to adult, the milk market has been growing since 1980. Hong Kong’s three largest milk producers control approximately 90% of the local’s milk market. There are two major competitors in below. The Kowloon Dairy LTD was founded in 1940. Today, It produced fresh milk in Tuen Mun factory, employ nearly 500 people and had distribution network reaches almost all corners of Hong Kong and Macau. They have diversified to produce a variety of recombined milk drinks, such as Hi-calcium milk, skimmed milk, different flavored milk, and other ice cream products. Vitasoy Group was bringing the milk drink made from this healthy little bean to a wider market began in 1940. They introduced paper packed products and were the first Hong Kong company to introduce Tetra Pak packaging technology for drinks production. The Tetra Pak packaging system, which ensures that, a drink product can be kept for months without refrigeration. The Group pushed into overseas markets in 90s. The group’s products sell in over 40 markets around the world – including the USA, Canada, Mainland China, Europe etc. There are other competitors such as foreigner brand or small local brand. However, they are less competitive compared with these two brands (Kowloon Dairy & Vistasoy) and less marketing share in Hong Kong market. Customer Analysis Given the size of the Hong Kong market, Trappist Dairy will concentrate on entering the market in the supermarket, Convenience stores and some classic stores. This is a wealthy segment of the market, consisting primarily of aged 3-80 years and interested in purchasing milk as a health and keeping nutrition like calcium recovery. Targeting this group will allow Trappist Dairy to enter the market at the top and keeping competition with another brand of product. A strategy could be to target on the price and quality. An advantage of targeting all age is that they have a great need on milk, it regards as the potential to become long-term customers and have not yet developed taste of milk segmentation. If Trappist Dairy can satisfy this market, it will theoretically be easy to penetrate and expand to Hong Kong or other markets. A number of behavioral and attitudinal descriptors are identified in the table on the following below. Segmentation parameters Future Hong Kong market Age 3-80 years Sex Male or Female or Both Income Above average $6000/m Geographic Hong Kong Attitude health and keeping nutrition and seek long-term advantages Lifestyle young, mature, old Usage rates daily users Benefits desired Buys for the benefits of health, quality and reasonable price Furthermore, within this market it is possible to further segment the preferred target market for Trappist Dairy’s offering. Age can be used to further segment the market. Although older members of the family have a large influence on purchase decisions in Hong Kong, these older people are part of the ‘late majority’ group, which is not an attractive group for new products. Therefore the age of the target segment will be 18 to 44, as these individuals should be more likely to adopt new products or at least be influenced by ‘early adopters. These individuals make up almost 50% of the total population, and so form a profitable target segment. SWOT Analysis In the following SWOT analysis, I investigate the strengths and weakness of Trappist Dairy. Also, I try to find out the opportunities and threats facing Trappist Dairy. Strength †¢Staff are highly trained and always be aware of the nee of customers †¢Trappist Dairy offers quality and healthy beverages at reasonable price. †¢A strong brand of Trappist Dairy is built through brand building and promotion Trappist Dairy provides standardized products, efficient for productive and specialized milk. †¢Trappist Dairy is able to maintain good relationship with customers’ e.g. facebook fanspage The strengths are a devotion to customer service, and the tastes and innovativeness of the products. Customer service is a essential level in Hong Kong in terms of building relationships with new customers. Trappist Dairy offers outstanding after sales service, with teams located in every major superstores. The Trappist Dairy also has a follow-up strategy that includes phone calls and emails to new customers giving them the chance to open dialogues with the firm. Also, Trappist Dairy are proud to highlight four of new and unique milk drinks: Low Lactose Low Fat Milk Drink, Ginger Low Fat Milk Drink, Mango-Papaya Low Fat Milk Drink and Oats Hi-Calcium Milk Drink. They offer unique flavors and functions for the needs of different customers. Has been operating successfully for over a century. Is known world-wide and operates in more than 20 countries. Trappist Dairy has a large share of the milk segment – holding approximately 40 per cent. The Trappist Dairy Company is one of most recognised trademark in the world. Weakness †¢line extensions The time taken to do business in China will stretch human resources Capital is required for expansion into exporting †¢ The prices could not be fitted by all. Lack of prior exposure to Chinese market. Experiencing Chinese Distribution system will be a greater challenge. Introduction of new organizational practices and employees with lack of experience will be a challenging part. Opportunity †¢Image of Trappist Dairy is clear and it is good for developing the brand name of Trappist Dairy †¢Marketing becomes more easy as people is familiar with the brand name of Trappist Dairy †¢As Trappist Dairy has launched in Hong Kong for long time, it knows the taste and preference of Hong Kong people well and it can develop popular food more easily. Milk is perceived as healthy. Milk consumption is growing Has significant growth opportunities. Has sufficient capital to expand. Has the potential to innovate and differentiate the company’s products to sustain a competitive advantage. May merge with other global businesses to eliminate competitors. Capable of expanding into other markets other than the soft drink market. Has many major global competitors with its main one being Turner Dairy. Trappist Dairy can be substituted by other milk drink products made by its competitors. These competitors may develop marketing strategies to eliminate The Trappist Dairy Company. Product diversification According to an analysis of the external environment, two major opportunities exist. These are an increase on sales of milk over the past year, and a minimum of Ginger low fat milk drink products being marketed by competitors. According to Hong Kong Discuss Forum, the new taste of milk drinks increased by 8% in 2009. This shows that there is an increasing market for the new of taste milk drinks. Threat Language and cultural differences exist Business relationships take a long time to forge Less ability to make a family image to another country customers Hong Kong and China Government are very concern the quality and ingredients. †¢There is keen competition from competitors selling similar products e.g. Kowloon Dairy LTD, Vitasoy etc. Biggest threat would be Hong Kong’s local of milk brand. Existing companies like Kowloon Dairy LTD would add-up to the threat. Young people like to choose the new things such as new taste of milk or product from Kowloon Dairy LTD presented. Recommended Target Market Hong Kong This is a wealthy segment of the market, which will allow Trappist Dairy to keep the market at the top and filter its product down easily. Because Hong Kong people are familiar with Trappist Dairy, and Trappist Dairy has already occurred in Hong Kong over 50 years. It is the main place for Trappist Dairy to get money. Also, Trappist Dairy had already doing many research and have a big piece of milk market penetration. It regards as a star with a long term development. A strategy could be to target the Hong Kong through many advertisements. It is a very effective to target all-aged. If Trappist Dairy can satisfy this market, it will theoretically be easy to expand to other markets. China A large potential market for milk in China remains. With relatively low capita consumption of milk, this market has a great opportunity to growth. According to China Gov news, many production milk of company can’t provide a good quality to their resident, even worst that made their body get harm. The reason is that they are not very focus on quality control and ingredient. They are just focus on the money. This is a very great of opportunity for Trappist Dairy becoming a success, if Trappist Dairy provides a good quality and reasonable price to Chinese. Chinese is also focusing on health and nutrition. Trappist Dairy can shows the performance like Hong Kong to let them know that Trappist Dairy is a brand which is dedicated to providing dairy products of the best quality and family’s daily consumption. Recommended Position The intended positon for Trappist Dairy’s product is to be at the middle to high of the local or imported milk. That position may be interpreted as a high-quality, health, fitted all-aged and many taste provided. The retail price range of the Trappist Dairy’s product is depend on the competitor product. Generally, Trappist Dairy preferred to set the same or lower than their price. Marketing Objectives Goal: To increase flesh milk and daily market share and product awareness Objective: To obtain 60% market share of the milk market in Hong Kong within January 2012 to December 2015. To obtain 13% market share of milk market in China Future: Trappist Dairy’s will develop new marketing strategies end of 2013 -We aim to increase earnings per share by at least 10% every year for the foreseeable future. Functional objectives – We aim to build customer database of at least 250,000 households within the next 12 months. -We aim to achieve a market share of 60%. – We aim to achieve 80% customer awareness of our brand in our target markets. Overall Marketing Objectives: -Predicting and satisfying customer needs. -Analyzing marketing trends. -Monitoring competition. -Anticipating change and overcoming its effects. -Increasing positive perception among its customers. -To identify distinctive, compelling and competitive positioning in promoting Trappist Dairy -To increase overall awareness of Trappist Dairy by health and aggressive advertising. Reference http://trappistdairy.hk/ http://www.lark.com.hk/dairy_chi.html http://www.mplans.com/sample_marketing_plans.php

The European Financial Crisis The Monetary Crisis

Huang, Will; Lewis, Evan; Magnuson, Clay; and Sandoval, Andre April 25, 2015 ECON 1312-6 The European Financial Crisis The European financial crisis has been an economic struggle for quite some time now. Because Europe’s economies are interdependent, when one gets out of balance the others are affected as well. One can argue, that the growing current account imbalances within the Euro area indicates an ongoing process of economic divergence rather than convergence. This is the foundation for why this debt crisis has been so difficult to solve. European officials and the best economist the world has to offer still have no viable solution for the matter at hand. We will look at several different aspects of the debt crisis, such as the†¦show more content†¦In the short-term it seemed to work. Savings flowed from mature industrial economies, and there was a general increase of employment and job creation. Unfortunately, the short-term success never translated into long-term success. The Euro should be recognized as an experiment that failed. The implementation of the Euro resulted in many macroeconomic imbalances within the European monetary union that have become increasingly evident with time. Some effects of the Euro include a sovereign debt crisis, lost income, high unemployment, public debt build up, as well as social stress and sufferings. These imbalances derive from a couple different problems. A huge complication with introducing the Euro was that it induced very low real interest rates. Low real interest rates causes money to go from savings to investment and consumption, heavily increasing public spending and borrowing. These extremely low real interest rates are due to the effect of the single Eurozone interest rate on the countries with relatively high inflation. The low real interest rates caused excessive expansion in consumption and construction. This combination in particular is very risky because it may lead to an economic bubble through a large amount of investment being poured into real estate and stock markets, and that is exactly what happened. A perfect example of this is in Ireland; their housing prices nearly quadrupled from 1995-2007. All in all these low interest rates greatly encouraged a