The introduction of the euro has in effect brought down the fixed cost of trading in the euro area.
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The bigger problem, though, is the effect of fast economic growth coupled with a fixed exchange rate.
Mandating a fixed threshold will also have the perverse effect of lessening incentives to increase productivity in health care and get lower prices from insurers, physicians and hospitals.
"The immediate knock-on effect has been the collapse of savings rates across easy access notice accounts and fixed bonds, " said Sylvia Waycot of Moneyfacts, the financial information provider.
Earlier this week, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said the main effect of FLS so far was to make fixed-rate mortgage deals, which account for about two-thirds of all new mortgage borrowing, a bit cheaper than before.
The taxes with the lowest effect on future growth are those on land and fixed property.
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The measure would have ensured fixed penalty notices - which had had little effect in curbing shoplifting - could be used only when dealing with first-time offenders.
Offering insurance at a fixed, low cost will also have an unintended effect on behaviour: the sickest people will be the first to buy, since they expect the highest medical costs in the future.
With that promise in hand, the bank would make the purchase and immediately sell it onto the buyer at a mark-up, agreeing the buyer could pay, say, three months after goods are delivered--in effect, trade finance at a fixed rate with legal protection against default on the one side and loan sharking on the other.
This has the effect of providing more liquidity to the markets and correcting pricing imperfections faster than they used to get fixed.
Although a member of the UN observer mission reckons that loyalist forces include at least two combat brigades that have been held in reserve, apart from fixed-wing bombers and chemical weapons, activists report that much of the Sunni rank and file is in effect idle.
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