One response is to shift to own label goods, which Wal-Mart is doing aggressively.

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Rather than explaining the cycle in terms of market failure, as Keynes did, real business-cycle theory views a recession as the optimal response by households and firms to a shift in productivity.

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Mr Hutchinson argues this is in response to republican pressure, but it certainly marks a shift in tone to the conciliatory role played by the likes of the late David Ervine and Dawn Purvis (whose support for Naomi Long proved crucial during the last Westminster election).

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Facebook's response is important and indeed may both represent and reflect a cultural shift.

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Rather, economic growth is the result of hundreds of millions of individual decision-makers, each acting in their best interests to shift their consumption plans, saving, and investment in response to desirable opportunities that they face.

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