The United Kingdom original joined the European Union’s predecessor, the European Economic Community in 1973, but in 2016 they decided to have a referendum to decide whether they would stay in it or depart. The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union will have result in a weaker economy, lost jobs, and limited immigration in the United Kingdom. After years of planning and persuasion, on July 23, 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum vote to determine whether they would enact Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which would allow Great Britain to leave, also known as Brexit (British Exit), the European Union. After tallying votes the Electoral Commission announced the results, the leave side won the vote 51.9% to 48.1% for the …show more content…
The European Union is an agreement between 28 countries in Europe, the countries operate independently but are free to trade with each other without tariffs and are subject to governing by the European Union. According to Alex Hunt and Brian Wheeler of BBC one of the arguments for leaving the European Union is that the United Kingdom has to pay billions of pounds in membership fees annually to be part of the Union and people feel as if the money could be spent elsewhere in the government (Hunt and Wheeler). A main point of the staying side of the argument is that the European Union is beneficial to the economy as it promotes free trade throughout Union and allows people to travel from country to country without obtaining a visa (Hunt and Wheeler). The official departure from the European Union may take a few years to complete, and although unlikely, may not happen, but until then the uncertainty surrounding the likely exit will have major implications starting with the economy in the United …show more content…
Due to the uncertainty around the future of the British Pound, investors will stay away from it and move towards safer investments. As recently as October of 2015, the British Pound was worth $1.50 United States dollars, immediately after the results of the referendum the British Pound experienced a sharp sell off and hit a 31 year low of $1.32. As Great Britain moves towards freedom for the Union, the pound will continue to drop shedding billions from investments and causing individuals to take their money out of domestic assets. Taking money out of investments and out of the stock market could cause an economic slowdown. The Bank of England cut interest rates in half to promote borrowing and investing in hopes of avoiding an recession (Hunt and Wheeler). The swift action from the Bank of England signals that they believe ramifications from Brexit would be serious enough to cause a recession or economic slowdown. Although Great Britain would save billions in membership fees to the European Union, the potential lack of free trade would severely hurt the United Kingdom. Sam Ashworth-Hayes of Full Fact found in 2015, 44% of exports from the United Kingdom were to the European Union (Ashworth-Hayes). Assuming tariffs are added to imports and exports, a very likely scenario, the United Kingdom would lose a significant percentage of it’s export revenues. The falling value of the
The European Union has been helped economically ever since World War II. Right after World War II’s end, Europe was struggling to hold on. The countries of the modern-day European Union thought it would be a good idea to come together and help each others struggling economy. To this day, this decision has had a very positive outcome on the EU’s economy. As shown in Diagram 1, the European Union combined together has the world’s highest GDP at 18.3 Trillion USD as compared to the United States’ 17.4 Trillion USD GDP and China’s 10.4 Trillion USD GDP. The idea
In conclusion, the European Union has “merged” the countries of Europe. It has developed a common currency called the Euro’s, and a Parliament located in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Also, ALL of the countries of the Union are affected when one country is affected. This is important because the continent of Europe had become very weak after the wars and they needed to strengthen, and the European Union keeps the countries of Europe strong and economically fit.
In conclusion, the benefits of the UK’s membership in the EU outweigh the costs. The most significant benefit is the access they have to the single market as this has managed to benefit quite Access to single market is aiding this inward investment
The North American Free Trade Agreement—NAFTA—was an important agreement signed between three countries—the U.S., Mexico and Canada. NAFTA played an important role between each of these countries’ relations with one another through imports and exports. Throughout the presidential elections throughout the years, NAFTA has been highly debated on whether or not it has helped benefit the economy of these countries or if it has caused a lot detrimental issues. NAFTA promised many benefits for these countries, but not all of their promises were carried through; many views across the political spectrum also have their indifferences about NAFTA.
On January 1st, 1994, a treaty that created the largest free trade area were signed into place by the trilateral of United States, Canada, and Mexico. NAFTA is a promise made by world’s most significant corporations claiming to create many high paying jobs and raise the standard of living in the US, Canada and Mexico. As we approach its 21st birthday, NAFTA now links 450 million people producing trillion dollars’ worth of goods and services each year. However, behind this seemingly good deal, it also created many underlying issues. Beginning with NAFTA giving corporation opportunities to move factories aboard to the lower-cost Mexico. Manufacturing aboard did not only outsourced American jobs, it also caused manufacturers that remained to lower
On may 25 , 1787 the constitutional convention begain at independence Hall in Philadelphia inorder to amend the Articles of Confederation . It was apparent to the framers of the Constitution that the Articles of Condeferations lacked central authority over foreign and comestic commerece threw many conflicts over time after the Revolutionary War . this wouldn’t be a harmonious amendment either . Between the federalists and the Anti – Federalist the spent the entire summer creating a new government unlike any before . Leaving no one happy proving their creation was fair . One of the biggest conflicts was the balancing of powers between the national and state powers in our feredal sytem (KTP 74).
Free trade is a policy that lifts all trade tariffs and barriers and thus encouraging the free movement of goods (imports and exports) between nations. Agreements to free trade establish free markets where countries can engage in trade in a free and conducive environment. This type of trade is made possible by free trade agreements made between countries. According to the International Trade Administration, these agreements help minimize barriers to exports form the US, protect their interests as well as enhance the rule of law in member countries. NAFTA is one of such agreements.
The rise of capitalism as the dominant economic system in the United States made the rise of unions inevitable; given the natural division between those with capital that control the means of production, and labor, who is treated simply as another factor of production (Hodson & Sullivan, 2008). While labor unions have made significant improvements to the working environment, with the regulation of safety, environment, labor and wage; labor unions have also contributed to the decline of U.S. dominance in industries like steel, automotive, education and airlines. In today’s global economy, can labor unions continue to be a force for good in the United States, or have they become harmful institutions?
Trading internationally, along with foreign trading policies has always been a controversial issue in America. Free trade is just as taboo if not more so. Today, the United States has made an attempt to maintain an open market of trading. Free trading greatly benefits a nation’s economy. The history of trade in The United States dates back over half a century ago. Through a substantial part of history, the United States had implemented rather extensive barriers and restrictions regarding importation, in order to better protect domestic suppliers from any serious foreign rivalry. Regardless, of Government restrictions and barriers set in place to avoid foreign competition it is healthy for our nation to have motivation and have the desire to
Labor unions are organization of workers actively seeking to improve the economic and social well-being of its members. Through group action and collective bargaining there is greater success in pressuring the employers of an industry to improve working conditions and wages. Logically, coming together as employees in a group there tends to be more power as a collective voice versus an individual. If run correctly with the focus on the employees and reasonable rights, labor unions are definitely positive. However, when either employees or the companies they work for begin to have unreasonable demands, each wanting more and more, unionization can be counterproductive for the nation as a whole.
On the other hand, UK is playing a major role in the single market. Thus, by leaving this market, UK
The EU is a union of sovereign European states who share sovereignty based on treaty. The union also possesses competences in policy sectors with exclusive jurisdiction in the area of Economic and Monetary Union while others are shared with Member States (MS), the other powers belong to MS as derived from the conferral of powers art 5(2) TEU, 2(1) TFEU art.3 & 4 TFEU additionally other powers have been offered by the decisions of the European Court for direct effect on citizens
According to Maynard, John (1930), various measured may be taken by government in order to improve the state of the economy and probably move the economy from a recession or even speed this process. Various players can play a role in improving the economic though as Keynesian theory explains the government plays a great role in this compared to other players like the private sector. The government can therefore use various measures through its budgeting policies, fiscal policies and monetary policies by the Central Bank. It’s on this basis that the UK coalition government has proposed slashing of its budget to reduce the overall spending in the economy.
Various studies have scrutinised the overall impact of Brexit including the implications for jobs prospect, the effects on the public finances , its influence on the UK and also the possible risk it imposes on global economy. In conjunction with that, a plethora of analyses have also been attempted to quantify the economic impact Brexit primarily have on the UK , its region and also the rest the world. UK’s departure from the European Union , informally known as Brexit , bears an unswerving capacity to cut across the broad prism of economic constructs in both regional and global levels despite the wider claims that mentioned it is a risky step toward regional destabilization as EU loses its second largest
The main arguments to leave are to control immigration, reject the excessive bureaucracy (and associated cost) of Brussels and to lower prices for goods and services in the United Kingdom. I will focus on the economic argument to leave: leaving the European Union will save money by lowering prices and abstaining from "membership fees."