1. 4.1 Economic objectives of the government

2. * WHY is each of these an objective for the UK government?
Economic Objectives
Objectives are aims that the government would like to achieve
The UK government will be judged partly by how well it manages to achieve these objectives
TASK:
* Match the definition with each of the government’s economic objectives
* WHY is each of these an objective for the UK government?

3. Objective Definition Reason
Economic Growth
How fast national income grows over a period of time.
High growth adds to national income, which leads to higher incomes and a better standard of living for the population.
Full Employment
When those who are actively looking for employment can find employment
More workers have incomes to spend, less money spent on benefits.
Stable Prices
This does not mean that no prices change at all, but that the average level of prices is stable (rises or fall very little)
To avoid Inflation (a rise in the general level of prices). Inflation means that each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services.
Balance of Payments
Value of exports is equal to imports.
If the value of imports is higher than the value of exports, then more money will be leaving the country than is flowing in – and this will mean savings are spent, or more borrowing is needed by the government, to finance these higher imports.

4. How ethical issues affect the achievement of government objectives
Ethics: an informal code of how we should behave – decisions we all make about what is morally right or morally wrong
DISCUSS: IS THIS FAIR?!?!?!?
The main strategy to minimise poverty and to reduce income inequality is through the tax and welfare benefits system, where those with high incomes pay a higher proportion of their incomes as tax, which can help finance the benefit payments to those on lower incomes.

5. How ethical issues affect the achievement of government objectives
Other discussions:
The gap between the richest and the poorest: how wide should it be?
If you knew the government would ensure all incomes were equal, what incentives would there be for working longer hours?
Distributing income equally would mean taxes would need to be raised on the higher earners, which would be unpopular and would probably remove the incentive for people to strive for higher earnings.