Explain how policymakers can gain insights into the performance the economy from the Balance of Payments Current Account balance: Economics Assignment, UOL, Ireland

Assignment Question

Explain how policymakers can gain insights into the performance the economy from the Balance of Payments Current Account balance and discuss critically how useful these insights might be for policymakers.

Assignment Objectives

This assignment assesses a student’s understanding of the Balance of Payments and the associated policy implications, a key learning outcome of the module. While students are not limited to the following, they are expected to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of how international economic activity is measured
• Discuss the key concepts and components of the international accounts and the balance of payments
• Demonstrate an understanding of how the current account balance relates to aggregate savings and investment in an economy
• Identify and critically analyse the insights that can be gained from the Current Account balance
• Discuss the relationships between policy and the current account balance and assess the usefulness of insights gained from the Current Account for policy makers
• Demonstrate understanding of the differences in the Balance of Payments in different countries, showing knowledge of the contextual factors related to the differences
• Communicate in clear and effective language, with a logical structure and within the word count

Use material from the Central Statistics office and Irish media commentary on trade balance.