Why Adult Education?

Whether one appreciates it or not, to live is to learn on a daily basis. Unless you simply repeat what you have always done, day in and day out, you are encountering at least slightly new situations which require you to think and lean in new and possibly challenging ways. Nothing is quite the same as it was decades ago, whether it be grocery shopping, driving a car, going to the doctor, or making career decisions, financial plans or political choices. The world has changed, and you and I must change with it!

Adult education is based on the idea that there is much more change in life than might meet the eye. Among the most successful people around are those who embrace life conscientiously, learn constantly, and wrestle with life’s challenges and opportunities with an intelligent and thoughtful enthusiasm. In other words, those who “make good sense a way of life.” Some individuals have a natural curiosity and interest in ideas and things new. They enjoy learning and are easily comfortable, even happy, with change and growth. Others, however, seem to learn, grow and change only by being sort of “dragged through” life. They tend to have less of an appreciation of the somewhat exciting dynamics that growth and change present. Theoretically, adult education is good for everyone. But, only those who relish life will likely enjoy it.

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The real effects of monetary policy in the European Union: what are the differences?

The advent of European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) scheduled for the beginning of 1999 has sparked off a debate about the best way of conducting monetary policy in the euro area. One dimension of this discussion concerns the preferred framework for conducting monetary policy-that is, about whether the European Central Bank (ECB) ought to target inflation, monetary aggregates, or the exchange rate. A second is about differences in the effects of changes in monetary policy on activity in different EU countries, related to differences in the transmission mechanism.

Opinions have tended to be divided on the question of the preferred monetary policy framework for the euro area, although recently, there appears to be a consensus emerging in favor of informal inflation targeting, accompanied by monitoring of monetary aggregates and other indicators. In any event, policy discussions have in general tended to focus less on questions relating to the real effects of monetary policy in the EU than on the issue of the appropriate framework for conducting monetary policy in the euro area. This may be partly due to the fact that many of the issues pertaining to identification of the monetary transmission mechanism tend to be econometric rather than economic. Nevertheless, a proper understanding of possible differences in the effects of changes in monetary policy on activity among the EU countries is crucial for an appreciation of the difficulties that may arise from the implementation of a unified monetary policy throughout the euro area. And this issue is the main focus of the paper.

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Monetary Policy and Interest Rates

Among other things that influence interest rates, monetary policy is also one of them. Democratic governments use two policy tools to help their economies thrive. There is the fiscal policy and monetary policy.

First, let us discuss the difference of fiscal policy to monetary policy. Fiscal policy pertains to the power of the government with congresses or parliament’s consent to increase or decrease tax rates. To increase tax rates, would mean to take away the disposable income of civilians. Think of it this way, the economy is a wheel. The movement of money makes the wheel turn. When people spend less money, the economy turns slowly. So the government increases taxation. The extra money the government collects is then spent on projects that will pour money back into companies for government mandated projects. These companies in turn will give them back to the people by employing more employees or by paying their existing ones with more. Such spending is also known as “pump-priming” activities.

Another instrument of fiscal policy would be for the government to borrow money for its expenditures. They do this so as not to over tax their citizens and provoke protest actions against their management. However, borrowing is not always an option. Lenders do not easily part with their funds. The general economic environment is placed into consideration.

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