Questões de Concurso

Read the text below entitled “Taxation Trends in the European Union” so as to answer questions 24 to 26:

Taxation Trends in the European Union
Source: www.ec.europa.eu
2009 Edition (Adapted)

    This year´s edition of the Taxation Trends in the European Union appears at a time of upheaval. The effects of the global economic and financial crisis have hit the European Union (EU) with increasing force from the second half of 2008. Given that the last year for which detailed data are available is 2007, this year´s report cannot yet analyze the consequences of the recession on tax revenues. Nevertheless, the report takes stock of the tax policy measures taken by EU governments in response to the crisis up to spring 2009.
    The European Union is, taken as a whole, a high tax area. In 2007, the overall tax ratio, i.e. the sum of taxes and social security contributions in the 27 Member States amounted to 39.8% of GDP. This value is about 12 percentage points above those recorded in the United States and Japan.
    The high EU overall tax ratio is not new, dating back essentially to the last third of the 20th century. In those years, the role of the public sector became more extensive, leading to a strong upward trend in the tax ratio in the 1970s, and to a lesser extent also in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Read the text below entitled “The long climb” so as to answer questions 21 to 23:

The long climb
Source: www.economist.com
st Oct, 2009 (Adapted)

    The world economy is fitfully getting back to normal, but it will be a “new normal”. This phrase has caught on, even if people disagree about what it means. In the new normal, as defined by Pimco´s CEO, Mohamed El-Erian, growth will be subdued and unemployment will remain high. “The banking system will be a shadow of its former self,” and the securitization markets, which buy and sell marketable bundles of debt, will presumably be a shadow of a shadow. Finance will be costlier and investment weak, so the stock of physical capital, on which prosperity depends, will erode.
    The crisis invited a forceful government entry into several of capitalism´s inner sanctums, such as banking, American carmaking and the commercial-paper market. Mr El-Erian worries that the state may overstay its welcome. In addition, national exchequers may start to feel some measure of the fiscal strain now hobbling California. America´s Treasury, in particular, must demonstrate that it is still a “responsible shepherd of other countries´ savings.”

Read the text below entitled “The long climb” so as to answer questions 21 to 23:

The long climb
Source: www.economist.com
st Oct, 2009 (Adapted)

    The world economy is fitfully getting back to normal, but it will be a “new normal”. This phrase has caught on, even if people disagree about what it means. In the new normal, as defined by Pimco´s CEO, Mohamed El-Erian, growth will be subdued and unemployment will remain high. “The banking system will be a shadow of its former self,” and the securitization markets, which buy and sell marketable bundles of debt, will presumably be a shadow of a shadow. Finance will be costlier and investment weak, so the stock of physical capital, on which prosperity depends, will erode.
    The crisis invited a forceful government entry into several of capitalism´s inner sanctums, such as banking, American carmaking and the commercial-paper market. Mr El-Erian worries that the state may overstay its welcome. In addition, national exchequers may start to feel some measure of the fiscal strain now hobbling California. America´s Treasury, in particular, must demonstrate that it is still a “responsible shepherd of other countries´ savings.”

Read the text below entitled “The long climb” so as to answer questions 21 to 23:

The long climb
Source: www.economist.com
st Oct, 2009 (Adapted)

    The world economy is fitfully getting back to normal, but it will be a “new normal”. This phrase has caught on, even if people disagree about what it means. In the new normal, as defined by Pimco´s CEO, Mohamed El-Erian, growth will be subdued and unemployment will remain high. “The banking system will be a shadow of its former self,” and the securitization markets, which buy and sell marketable bundles of debt, will presumably be a shadow of a shadow. Finance will be costlier and investment weak, so the stock of physical capital, on which prosperity depends, will erode.
    The crisis invited a forceful government entry into several of capitalism´s inner sanctums, such as banking, American carmaking and the commercial-paper market. Mr El-Erian worries that the state may overstay its welcome. In addition, national exchequers may start to feel some measure of the fiscal strain now hobbling California. America´s Treasury, in particular, must demonstrate that it is still a “responsible shepherd of other countries´ savings.”

Your answers to questions 25-30 must be based on the text below entitled “Brazil boosts the dollar”.

Brazil boosts the dollar

How long can the run on the dollar continue? Last year’s dollar slump, with its attendant rise in commodity prices, ended when the market put paid to it. This time governments are attempting to slow it down. But it is not, as widely expected, the US government that is doing this. Instead, the Canadian dollar dropped sharply on Tuesday after the Bank of Canada issued a warning over the currency’s recent strength. Brazil’s government went further, imposing capital controls to stop the real gaining at the dollar’s expense. Other countries, it appears, have more to lose from a weak dollar than the US does.

Perhaps as a result, there was a day’s pause in the trade that has seen the dollar hit 14-month lows while oil, denominated in dollars, briefly hit $80 a barrel before falling. Brazil’s imposition of a 2 per cent tax on capital inflows, to both stocks and bonds, showed strong intent. This move brought the real, which has risen 54.5 per cent against the dollar since its nadir, down by 3.8 per cent. The Bovespa stock index, which has tripled since its low, fell 7.5 per cent in dollar terms at one point.

Brazil evidently fears that an overpriced real could endanger its recovery. Other exporters will be watching closely.

(Source: the Financial Times October 20- www.ft.com, adapted)