ESSAY TOPICS

The folowing is a selection of exam topics used in previous exams.

1. Large wage and income differentials are necessary for economic growth.

2. Germany should introduce a minimum wage.

3. German restrictions on labour migration from the new East European members of the EU are justified.

4. The main cause of the euro zone's problems is not its one-size-fits-all monetary policy, but the fact that its biggest economies are burdened with a number of structural flaws, in particular rigid labor markets.

5. Some economists (most notably Alban W. Phillips and Paul A. Samuelson) have noted an explicit link between inflation and unemployment—when inflation was high, unemployment was low, and vice-versa. Shouldn't the ECB have a higher inflation target in order to boost the growth of the euro-zone economies suffering from unemployment?

6. Profit comes at the expense of wages.

7. The European Central Bank is too inflexible.

8. Consumer spending is the most important motor for economic growth.

9. Strong inflation of the euro would greatly benefit the German economy.

10. It is inevitable that either China or the US will crash, bringing down the other—and the world economy, too.

11. Henry Ford said, “if you do not pay high enough wages to your workers, they can't afford to buy your product.” Would increased wages significantly boost the growth of the German economy?

12. What economy policy would enable the EU to survive as an economic power in face of US (present) and Chinese (future) competition?

13. Governments need to do everything possible to protect their citizens from negative aspects resulting from the highs and lows of the economic cycle.

14. The process of globilization creates a "race to the bottom" which is harmful to the economic and social welfare of many, especially poor workers in the developing countries.

15. Completely liberalized international financial markets would handle all shocks optimally, if only governments and international institutions such as the IMF would stay out of the way.

16. The current high levels of compensation for leading company executives is justified.

17. The Anglo-American model of corporate governance, with its emphasis on "shareholder value" is preferable to the model found in continental Europe.

18. A wide disparity of wealth and income is both desirable and necessary in a free market economy.

19. In the future an increase in the productivity in the services industry will eventually result in a situation of permanent chronic unemployment among most of the working population.

20. Poland (or another eastern European nation) will be unable tosuccessfully restructure its economy and participate in the global and European economy.

21. For the next several years Germany will have great difficulty in making a successful transition to an economy which is more dependent on the services sector.

22. Free trade agreements will, on balance, eventually result in the improvement of living standards for people in the developing world.

23. Free trade agreements are made to serve the interests of international corporations, and not the ordinary workers of the nations involved

24. Free trade agreements will result in mixed results for different groups of people and different interest groups.

25.     In an article in the Observer (Sunday April 8, 2001), Noreena Hertz writes:

Thanks to the steady withdrawal of the state over the past 20 years from the public sphere, it is corporations, not governments, that increasingly define the public realm.

Unregulated or under-regulated by governments, corporations set the terms of engagement themselves. In the Third World we see a race to the bottom: multinationals pitting developing countries against each other to provide the most advantageous conditions for investment, with no regulation, no red tape, no unions, a blind eye turned to environmental degradation. It's good for profit, but bad for workers and local communities. As corporations go bottom fishing, host governments are left with little alternative but to accept the pickings. Globalisation may deliver liberty, but not fraternity or equality.

TOPIC:   The process of globilization creates a "race to the bottom" which is harmful to the economic and social welfare of many.

26.     In an article by Noam Chomsky (in Le Monde Diplomatique, January 1999) the 'Tobin tax' is described as 

"a small tax on short-term speculation was proposed in the early 1970s by James Tobin, Nobel prize-winner for economics. It was conceived as a way of introducing 'grains of sand' into the cogs of the speculative process and encouraging long-term productive investment."  Some have argued that a would discourage speculative financial flows of the sort that can damage wobbly economies.

TOPIC:   A 'Tobin tax' would be a good tool for improving the economic situation in less-developed nations.

27.   The European Union demonstrates that the process of globalization is indeed taking place at a much slower pace than many think.

28.   The German economy would be better off if it returned to its own national currency and central bank.

29.   What should the primary aims of the European Central Bank be, and how can it achieve these goals. 

30.   A capitalistic "free market" economy is driven by such things as envy, ambition and greed.  This leads inevitably to recurrent financial and economic crises.

31. Economic bubbles often burst, causing a recession. When this happens governments and/or central banks need to take radical action to prevent or at least soften the recession.

32. Government control over wages and income plays a positive role in the economy.

33. What would most encourage economic growth through innovation in Germany?

34. Government has a responsibility to try to rescue large and important companies if they are in danger of going bankrupt.

35. Labour unions play an important and positive role in the German model of corporate governance.

36. The German automobile industry will not in the long-term be able to survive the pressures of world competition.

37. Some trade restrictions are necessary in order to protect low-skilled workers in Europe (and/or China).

38. Government in Europe needs to protect farmers from the volatility of markets.