A napi sajtó – legyen szó televÃzióról, rádióról, szaklapokról vagy magazinokról – harmadik éve elsÅ‘ helyen tárgyalja a világot felforgató gazdasági válság okait, hatásait, várható következményeit. Jelen cikkünkben ahhoz szeretnénk segÃtséget adni, hogy a leggyakrabban elÅ‘forduló kifejezések felhasználásával bemutassuk a fÅ‘ okokat, melyek Európát és az Európai Uniót – a dominó részeként – a gazdasági spirálba juttatták.
Causes of Debt Crisis - Vocabulary
The European sovereign debt crisis has been created by a combination of complex factors such as: the globalization of finance; easy credit conditions during the 2002-2008 period that encouraged high-risk lending and borrowing practices; international trade imbalances; real-estate bubbles that have since burst; slow growth economic conditions 2008 and after; fiscal policy choices related to government revenues and expenses; and approaches used by nations to bailout troubled banking industries and private bondholders, assuming private debt burdens or socializing losses.
One narrative describing the causes of the crisis begins with the significant increase in savings available for investment during the 2000-2007 period. During this time, the global pool of fixed income securities increased from approximately $36 trillion in 2000 to $70 trillion by 2007. This "Giant Pool of Money" increased as savings from high-growth developing nations entered global capital markets. Investors searching for higher yields than those offered by U.S. Treasury bonds sought alternatives globally. The temptation offered by this readily available savings overwhelmed the policy and regulatory control mechanisms in country after country as global fixed income investors searched for yield, generating bubble after bubble across the globe. While these bubbles have burst causing asset prices (e.g., housing and commercial property) to decline, the liabilities owed to global investors remain at full price, generating questions regarding the solvency of governments and their banking systems.
How each European country involved in this crisis borrowed and invested the money varies. For example, Ireland's banks lent the money to property developers, generating a massive property bubble. When the bubble burst, Ireland's government and taxpayers assumed private debts. In Greece, the government increased its commitments to public workers in the form of extremely generous pay and pension benefits. Iceland's banking system grew enormously, creating debts to global investors ("external debts") several times larger than its national GDP.
The interconnection in the global financial system means that if one nation defaults on its sovereign debt or enters into recession that places some of the external private debt at risk as well, the banking systems of creditor nations face losses. For example, in October 2011 Italian borrowers owed French banks $366 billion (net). Should Italy be unable to finance itself, the French banking system and economy could come under significant pressure, which in turn would affect France's creditors and so on. This is referred to as financial contagion. Further creating interconnection is the concept of debt protection. Financial institutions enter into contracts called credit default swaps (CDS) that result in payment or receipt of funds should default occur on a particular debt instrument or security, such as a government bond. Since multiple CDS can be purchased on the same security, the value of money changing hands can be many times larger than the amount of debt itself. It is unclear what exposure each country's banking system has to CDS, which creates another type of uncertainty.
Public debt $ and %GDP (2010) for selected European countries
Government bond: is a bond issued by a national government, generally promising to pay a certain amount (the face value) on a certain date, as well as periodic interest payments. Bonds are debt investments whereby an investor loans a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of time, with a certain interest rate, to a company or country. Government bonds are usually denominated in the country's own currency – (államkötvény)
Hedge fund: an organization that makes investments for people and organisations with large amounts of money, not the general public, in ways that often involve big risks – (spekulatÃv alap)
Commitment to: a promise to do something or to behave in a particular way (elkötelezettség valami iránt)
Liability: legal responsibility for something, especially for paying money that is owed, or for damage or injury (kötelezettség)
Solvency: in finance or business, is the degree to which the current assets of an individual or entity exceed the current liabilities of that individual or entity. Solvency can also be described as the ability of a corporation to meet its long-term fixed expenses and to accomplish long-term expansion and growth. (fizetőképesség)
Fiscal policy: In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection (taxation) to influence the economy. Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and spending. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government expenditure and taxation. (költségvetési politika, fiskális politika)
Real estate: the business of selling houses or land - (ingatlan piac)
High-risk lending: dangerous; involving high risk (nagy kockázatú kölcsön)
Bondholder: The owner of a bond. In addition to receiving regular interest payments and the return of principal, bondholders are given precedence over stockholders in case of asset liquidation. (kötvénytulajdonos)
Government bond: is a bond issued by a national government, generally promising to pay a certain amount (the face value) on a certain date, as well as periodic interest payments. Bonds are debt investments whereby an investor loans a certain amount of money, for a certain amount of time, with a certain interest rate, to a company or country. Government bonds are usually denominated in the country's own currency – (államkötvény)
Hedge fund: an organization that makes investments for people and organisations with large amounts of money, not the general public, in ways that often involve big risks – (spekulatÃv alap)
Commitment to: a promise to do something or to behave in a particular way (elkötelezettség valami iránt)
Liability: legal responsibility for something, especially for paying money that is owed, or for damage or injury (kötelezettség)
Solvency: in finance or business, is the degree to which the current assets of an individual or entity exceed the current liabilities of that individual or entity. Solvency can also be described as the ability of a corporation to meet its long-term fixed expenses and to accomplish long-term expansion and growth. (fizetőképesség)
Fiscal policy: In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government expenditure and revenue collection (taxation) to influence the economy. Fiscal policy can be contrasted with the other main type of macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, which attempts to stabilize the economy by controlling interest rates and spending. The two main instruments of fiscal policy are government expenditure and taxation. (költségvetési politika, fiskális politika)
Real estate: the business of selling houses or land - (ingatlan piac)
High-risk lending: dangerous; involving high risk (nagy kockázatú kölcsön)
Bondholder: The owner of a bond. In addition to receiving regular interest payments and the return of principal, bondholders are given precedence over stockholders in case of asset liquidation. (kötvénytulajdonos)
Some politicians, notably Angela Merkel, have sought to attribute some of the blame for the crisis to hedge funds and other speculators stating that "institutions bailed out with public funds are exploiting the budget crisis in Greece and elsewhere". Although some financial institutions clearly profited from the growing Greek government debt in the short run there was a long lead up to the crisis.
