During Which debt crises did PIGS  used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states
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PIGS (economics) PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. During the European debt crisis, the term was also increasingly used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states that were unable to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks on their own during the crisis.
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European debt crisis The European debt crisis (often also referred to as the Eurozone crisis or the European sovereign debt crisis) is a multi-year debt crisis that has been taking place in the European Union since the end of 2009. Several eurozone member states (Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus) were unable to repay or refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks under their national supervision without the assistance of third parties like other Eurozone countries, the European Central Bank (ECB), or the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Greece–Serbia relations Greek–Serbian relations have traditionally been friendly due to cultural, religious and historical factors. Serbs and Greeks are followers of the Eastern Orthodox Church and were bound by alliance treaties and co-belligerence in wars since the Middle Ages. Friendly relations have played an important role in bilateral relations between the two nations, especially in modern history: during the revolutions against the Ottoman Empire, the Balkan Wars, the World Wars and Yugoslav wars. During the NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia, Greece was the only NATO member to condemn the actions and openly expressed its disapproval; polls revealed that 94% of the Greek population were completely opposed to the bombing. Also, Greece is one of the five European Union's member states that have refused to recognize the Kosovo Unilateral Declaration of Independence, backing the Serbian stance on this issue. As a strong supporter of the EU Candidate of Serbia, Greece has proposed the "Agenda 2014" for boosting the integration of all the Western Balkan states into the Union. Greece is the third top investor from the EU to Serbia and the fifth overall (as of 2013). Although for some history researchers the term "Greek-Serbian friendship" is considered as fabricated and false.
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Decoupling and re-coupling Decoupling and re-coupling during financial crises is typified by the decoupling hypothesis that, in 2007, held that Latin American and Asian economies, especially emerging ones, had broadened and deepened to the point that they no longer depended on the United States economy for growth, leaving them insulated from a slowdown there, even a fully fledged recession. Faith in the concept had generated strong outperformance for stocks outside the United States.
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Central Europe Central Europe is a term used to refer to lands with boundaries of various delineation. It is said to occupy continuous territory that are otherwise conventionally Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of "strategic awakening", with initiatives such as the CEI, Centrope and the Visegrád Four. While the region's economy shows high disparities with regard to income, all Central European countries are listed by the Human Development Index as very highly developed.
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Early 2000s recession The early 2000s recession was a decline in economic activity which mainly occurred in developed countries. The recession affected the European Union during 2000 and 2001 and the United States in 2002 and 2003. The UK, Canada and Australia avoided the recession, while Russia, a nation that did not experience prosperity during the 1990s, in fact began to recover from said situation. Japan's 1990s recession continued. This recession was predicted by economists, because the boom of the 1990s (accompanied by both low inflation and low unemployment) slowed in some parts of East Asia during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The recession in industrialized countries wasn't as significant as either of the two previous worldwide recessions. Some economists in the United States object to characterizing it as a recession since there were no two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
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Corruption in Romania Although there have been significant improvements, corruption remains a problem in Romania. Despite the fact that Romanian law and regulations have contained provisions intended to prevent corruption, enforcement has generally been weak until recently. This has however started to change since 2014, as the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) continued to increasingly investigate and prosecute corruption cases involving medium- and high-level political, judicial, and administrative officials. As of 2016, Romania is regarded as the fifth most corrupt country in the European Union, after Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy, and at the same level with Hungary, as revealed by the annual Corruption Perceptions Index conducted by Transparency International. According to 2016 results of Corruption Perception Index of Transparency International, Romania ranks 57th place out of 176 countries. Corruption was cited among many issues that provoked the 2012–15 social unrest, the 2015 protests after the Colectiv nightclub fire, and the 2017 protests.
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Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of Pub.L. 110–343 , 122 Stat. 3765 , enacted  03, 2008 ), commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to $700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and supply cash directly to banks. The funds for purchase of distressed assets were mostly redirected to inject capital into banks and other financial institutions while the Treasury continued to examine the usefulness of targeted asset purchases. Both foreign and domestic banks are included in the program. The Act was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the global financial crisis of 2008 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008.
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Foreign aid to Venezuela Because of its abundant natural resources, there was little need for foreign aid to Venezuela until it was hit by an economic crisis in 1989. From 1994 to 2002, the European Union (EU) committed €130 million. European aid is focusing on technical and financial cooperation projects in the areas of education, health, prison conditions, regional development, environment, and the fight against narcotics. A total of €63.8 million has been earmarked for Venezuela for the period 2000–2006 for technical and financial co-operation and rehabilitation and reconstruction.
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Great Depression in Chile The Great Depression that begun 1929 was felt strongly in Chile from 1930 to 1932. Saltpetre and copper exports collapsed. The World Economic Survey of the League of Nations declared Chile the worst affected nation by the depression. The crisis caused the authoritarian regime of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo to fall in July 1931 followed by a succession of short-lived governments until the election of Arturo Alessandri in December 1932. The economic crisis rose the levels of unemployment and caused a migration of unemployed saltpetre miners from the north to Santiago. Miners constituted around 6% of the active population but made up more than half of the unemployed during the crisis. Numerous soup kitchens sprang up in Santiago while homeless people begun to dwell in caves in the hills around Santiago. The state responded to the crisis by gradually raising tariffs, increasing internal demand and increasing control over the "flux and use" of foreign currency. Quotas and licences were established for imports and the gold convertibility was once again abolished in 1931.
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Shark fin trading in Costa Rica Shark fin trading in Costa Rica, or shark finning, is an illegal practice in the country. It poses a serious problem with shark populations and organized crime within Costa Rica. The trade in Costa Rica is vigorously controlled by the Taiwanese mafia because of the high value of shark fins in restaurants in the Pacific Rim countries such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and China where Shark fin soup can cost up to $100 a serving in top restaurants. Some 95% of shark fin trading activity in Costa Rica culminates in the docks of Puntarenas on the western coast, notably Inversiones Cruz Dock and Harezan Dock, which are often privately run by the Taiwanese. The industry in Costa Rica took off from the 1970s as a result of the growth in demand from the emerging wealthy Tiger economies of the Asia-Pacific for shark fin as a delicacy. By the 1990s, the shark fin industry in Costa Rica had become one of the world's most important in shark finning, especially as a major cargo-unloading point for international fleets because of tax laws and government corruption in cracking down on the trade.
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Debtocracy Debtocracy (Greek: Χρεοκρατία "hreokratía") is a 2011 left-wing documentary film by Katerina Kitidi and Aris Chatzistefanou. The documentary examines the causes of the Greek debt crisis in 2010 and advocates for the default of "odious debt".
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Rogernomics The term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of "Roger" and "economics", was coined by journalists at the "New Zealand Listener" by analogy with Reaganomics to describe the economic policies followed by Roger Douglas after his appointment in 1984 as Minister of Finance in the Fourth Labour Government of New Zealand. Rogernomics was characterised by market-led restructuring and deregulation and the control of inflation through tight monetary policy, accompanied by a floating exchange rate and reductions in the fiscal deficit. Douglas came from a background of Labour Party politics. His adoption of policies more usually associated with the political right, and their implementation by the Fourth Labour Government, were the subject of lasting controversy.
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Household debt Household debt is defined as the combined debt of all people in a household. It includes consumer debt and mortgage loans. A significant rise in the level of this debt coincides historically with many severe economic crises and was a cause of the U.S. and subsequent European economic crises of 2007–2012. Several economists have argued that lowering this debt is essential to economic recovery in the U.S. and selected Eurozone countries.
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Euro gold and silver commemorative coins (Monaco) Euro gold and silver commemorative coins are special euro coins minted and issued by member states of the Eurozone, mainly in gold and silver, although other precious metals are also used in rare occasions. Monaco was one of the first countries allowed to introduced the euro (€) on 1 January 2002; although they are not officially part of the Eurozone. Since then, the "Monnaie de Paris" Mint in France have been minting both normal issues of Monegasque euro coins, which are intended for circulation, and commemorative euro coins in gold and silver.
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European Union The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2 , and an estimated population of over 510 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.
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Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece The Second Economic Adjustment Programme for Greece, usually referred to as the second bailout package or the second memorandum, is a memorandum of understanding on financial assistance to the Hellenic Republic in order to cope with the Greek government-debt crisis.
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Construction industry of Romania Construction activity (about 10% of GDP) has increased due to recent tax incentives. Romania is becoming an increasingly popular choice for British property investors, according to recent research from Currencies Direct. The latest Global Emerging Markets Index from the foreign exchange company shows that Romania has made the top ten for the first time, reaching number nine. The monthly index is based on the number of foreign exchange transfers undertaken by the firm to emerging market regions for property purchases. According to Currencies Direct, Romania has seen significant increases in house prices in recent years and its interest rate has dropped from a level of 154 per cent in 1997 to 8.9 per cent in 2005.
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Economy of Hungary Hungary is an OECD high-income mixed economy with a very high human development index and a skilled labour force, with the 13th lowest income inequality in the world; furthermore it is the 14th most complex economy according to the Economic Complexity Index. The Hungarian economy is the 57th-largest economy in the world (out of 188 countries measured by IMF) with $265.037 billion annual output, and ranks 49th in the world in terms of GDP per capita measured by purchasing power parity. Hungary is an export-oriented market economy with a heavy emphasis on foreign trade; thus the country is the 35th largest export economy in the world. The country had more than $100 billion of exports in 2015, with a high trade surplus of $9.003 billion, of which 79% went to the EU and 21% was extra-EU trade. Hungary's productive capacity is more than 80% privately owned, with 39.1% overall taxation, which funds the country's welfare economy. On the expenditure side, household consumption is the main component of GDP and accounts for 50% of its total, followed by gross fixed capital formation with 22% and government expenditure with 20%.
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Greek withdrawal from the eurozone The Greek withdrawal from the eurozone is the potential exit of Greece from the eurozone, primarily for the country to deal with its government-debt crisis. This conjecture is often referred to as "Grexit", a portmanteau combining the English words "Greek" and "exit". The term "Graccident" (accidental Grexit) was coined for the case that Greece exited the EU and the euro without intention. These terms first came into use in 2012 and have been revitalised at each of the bailouts made available to Greece since then.
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Currencies of the European Union There are eleven currencies of the European Union as of 2015 , the principal currency being the Euro. The Euro is used by the institutions of the European Union and by the Eurozone states, which account for 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union. All but two states are obliged to adopt the currency; Denmark and the United Kingdom, through a legal opt-out from the EU treaties, have retained the right to operate independent currencies within the European Union. The remaining eight states must join the ERM II and attain the third stage and adopt the Euro eventually.
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2005 European floods The 2005 European floods hit mainly Romania, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, as well as several other countries in Central Europe and Eastern Europe during August 2005. The disaster came at a time when Portugal was suffering from intense forest fires which left 15 dead and days before the powerful Hurricane Katrina hit the United States.