Five Economic Tests
The five economic tests were the criteria defined by the UK treasury under Gordon Brown that were to be used to assess the UK's readiness to join the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU), and so adopt the euro as its official currency. In principle, these tests were distinct from any political decision to join. The five tests were as follows: #Are business cycles and economic structures compatible so that we and others could live comfortably with euro interest rates on a permanent basis? #If problems emerge is there sufficient flexibility to deal with them? #Would joining EMU create better conditions for firms making long-term decisions to invest in Britain? #What impact would entry into EMU have on the competitive position of the UK's financial services industry, particularly the City's wholesale markets? #In summary, will joining EMU promote higher growth, stability and a lasting increase in jobs? In addition to these self-imposed criteria the UK would al ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1997 to 2007 under Tony Blair. Brown was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline East (UK Parliament constituency), Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005 and for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 to 2015. He has served as Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education since 2012, and he was appointed as WHO Goodwill Ambassador, World Health Organization Ambassador for Global Health Financing in 2021. A Doctor of Philosophy, doctoral graduate, Brown studied history at the University of Edinburgh. He spent his early career as a lecturer at a further education college and as a television journalist. Brown was elected to the House of Commons of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chancellor Of The Exchequer
The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the chancellor is a high-ranking member of the British Cabinet. Responsible for all economic and financial matters, the role is equivalent to that of a finance minister in other countries. The chancellor is now always second lord of the Treasury as one of at least six Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, lords commissioners of the Treasury, responsible for executing the office of the Treasurer of the Exchequer the others are the prime minister and Commons government whips. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was common for the prime minister also to serve as Chancellor of the Exchequer if he sat in the Commons; the last Chancellor who was simultaneously prime minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer was Stanley Baldwin in 1923. Formerl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2008 Financial Crisis
The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners and financial institutions that led to the 2000s United States housing bubble, exacerbated by predatory lending for subprime mortgages and deficiencies in regulation. Cash out refinancings had fueled an increase in consumption that could no longer be sustained when home prices declined. The first phase of the crisis was the subprime mortgage crisis, which began in early 2007, as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) tied to U.S. real estate, and a vast web of Derivative (finance), derivatives linked to those MBS, collapsed in value. A liquidity crisis spread to global institutions by mid-2007 and climaxed with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, which triggered a stock market crash and bank runs in several countries. The crisis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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President Of The European Commission
The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president of the Commission leads a cabinet of commissioners, referred to as the College. The president is empowered to allocate portfolios among, reshuffle, or dismiss commissioners as necessary. The college directs the commission's civil service, sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The Commission is the only body that can Right of initiative (legislative), propose, or draft, bills to become European Union law, EU laws. The Commission president also represents the EU abroad, together with the president of the European Council and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The post was established in 1958. Each new president is nominated by the European Council and elected ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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José Manuel Barroso
José Manuel Durão Barroso (; born 23 March 1956) is a Portuguese politician and law professor. He previously served from 2002 to 2004 as the List of Prime Ministers of Portugal, 114th prime minister of Portugal and from 2004–2014 as the 11th president of the European Commission. He has been one of the revolving door (politics), revolving door cases at the EU, which received the most media attention because only two months after the cooling off period, Barroso accepted a position as "senior adviser" and "non-executive chairman" of Goldman Sachs International and became subject of an ethics inquiry. Early life and education José Barroso was born in Lisbon to Luís António Saraiva Barroso and his wife Maria Elisabete de Freitas Durão. Durão Barroso (as he is known in Portugal) graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. He subsequently obtained a Diploma in European Studies from the European University Institute, and received a Master of Arts, master' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prime Minister Of The United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative in the United Kingdom, royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet, and selects its Minister of the Crown, ministers. Modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, so they are invariably Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), members of Parliament. The office of prime minister is not established by any statute or constitutional document, but exists only by long-established Constitutional conventions of the United Kingdom, convention, whereby the monarch appoints as prime minister the person most likely to Confidence motions in the United Kingdom, command the confidence of the House of Commons. In practice, thi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997 and held various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency), Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007, and was special envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East from 2007 to 2015. He is the second-List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure, longest-serving prime minister in post-war British history after Margaret Thatcher, the longest-serving Labour Party (UK), Labour politician to have held the office, and the first and only person to date to lead the party to three consecutive general election victories. Blair attended the independent s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Treaty Of Lisbon
The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states on 13 December 2007, entered into force on 1 December 2009.eur-lex.europa.eu: " Official Journal of the European Union C 115 Volume 51, 9 May 2008, retrieved 1 June 2014 It amends the Maastricht Treaty (1992), known in updated form as the Treaty on European Union (2007) or TEU, as well as the [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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European Constitution
The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union (EU). It would have replaced the existing European Union treaties with a single text, given legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and expanded qualified majority voting into policy areas which had previously been decided by unanimity among member states. The Treaty was signed on 29 October 2004 by representatives of the then 25 member states of the European Union. It was later ratified by 18 member states, which included referendums endorsing it in Spain and Luxembourg. However, the rejection of the document by French and Dutch voters in May and June 2005 brought the ratification process to an end. Following a period of reflection, the Treaty of Lisbon was created to replace the Constitutional Treaty. This contained ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2005 United Kingdom General Election
The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect List of MPs elected in the 2005 United Kingdom general election, 646 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The governing Labour Party (UK), Labour Party led by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its Majority government, majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won 2001 United Kingdom general election, four years earlier had been of 167 seats. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair. This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, but would be the last election victory for Labour until 2024 United Kingdom general election, 2024. The Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats, led by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Convergence
Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that united the four Weirdoverse titles in 1997 **A 2015 crossover storyline spanning the Multiverse (DC Comics), DC Comics Multiverse *Convergence (journal), ''Convergence'' (journal), an academic journal that covers the fields of communications and media *Convergence (novel), ''Convergence'' (novel), by Charles Sheffield *Convergence (Cherryh novel), ''Convergence'' (Cherryh novel), by C. J. Cherryh Music *Convergence (Front Line Assembly album), ''Convergence'' (Front Line Assembly album), 1988 *Convergence (David Arkenstone and David Lanz album), ''Convergence'' (David Arkenstone and David Lanz album), 1996 *Convergence (Dave Douglas album), ''Convergence'' (Dave Douglas album), 1999 *Convergence (Warren Wolf album), ''Convergence'' (Warre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Labour Market Flexibility
The degree of labour market flexibility is the speed with which labour markets adapt to fluctuations and changes in society, the economy or production. This entails enabling labour markets to reach a continuous equilibrium determined by the intersection of the demand and supply curves. Labour unions can limit labor market flexibility by negotiating higher wages, benefits, and better working conditions with employers. In the words of Siebert, labour unions were seen to inhibit "the clearing functions of the market by weakening the demand for labor, making it less attractive to hire a worker by explicitly pushing up the wage costs or by introducing a negative shadow price for labor; by distorting the labor supply; and by impairing the equilibrating function of the market mechanism (for instance, by influencing bargaining behavior)." Theory The most well-known concept of labour market flexibility is given by Atkinson. Based on the strategies companies use, he notes that there can ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |