University of Hertfordshire Assignment Help on Global Economy

This page does two things for students at the University of Hertfordshire. The first half is a short, practical guide to how coursework actually works there: how you submit, which referencing style applies, what happens when something goes wrong before a deadline, and what free help the university already gives you. The second half is a full sample essay on inflation, written for a Hertfordshire Global Economy brief, so you can see the standard rather than take our word for it.

Everything in the guide below is taken from the university's own student help pages, linked in the Sources section at the foot. Check your module brief as well, because schools set their own requirements on top of the university rules.

How Does Coursework Work at the University of Hertfordshire?

Coursework is submitted through Canvas and most written work is checked with Turnitin. There is no single university-wide referencing style: you use your school's. If something serious stops you submitting, you apply for exceptional circumstances before you submit, not after. Free academic-skills support is available through Herts Academic Skills and the Study Success Hubs.

Before a Hertfordshire coursework deadline, in order

1. 1 Check the brief on your module site Schools set their own requirements, including the referencing style. If the brief names no style, ask your module leader.
2. 2 Submit early through Canvas Use the assignment area of your module site. Most written work is checked by Turnitin there.
3. 3 Read the similarity report and resubmit You can submit more than once before the deadline and see the report each time. Fix quoting and paraphrasing while there is time.
4. 4 If something serious happens, claim before you submit Submitting counts as declaring yourself fit to be assessed (the fit to sit rule).
5. 5 Claim exceptional circumstances through Student Record No more than 15 working days after the deadline and at least 5 working days before the Board of Examiners. For a few extra days, request a coursework extension instead.

How Is Coursework Submitted?

Most written assignments go through Canvas, and most of those are checked with Turnitin. Before your first deadline, know that you can submit more than once and look at your similarity report each time. Some modules provide a separate draft submission area; others let you check through the main submission point. Turnitin is reached from the assignment area of your module site in Canvas.

The practical consequence: submit early, read the report, and fix your quoting and paraphrasing while you still have time. A high similarity score is usually a referencing problem rather than a misconduct problem, but you cannot tell which until you look.

Which Referencing Style Should You Use?

The university does not prescribe one style for everybody. Its guidance is to "use the referencing style required by your school or subject area and apply it consistently throughout your work", with the style guidelines held in the Library SkillUP module on Canvas. If your brief does not name a style, ask your tutor or module leader rather than guessing.

Three reference managers are supported. The university says EndNote's free online version suits most undergraduate and taught postgraduate students, and that the desktop version, on a university site licence, is for postgraduate researchers and staff. Mendeley and Zotero are free alternatives. The essay further down this page uses Harvard; whether you should depends on your school, not on this page.

What Happens if You Cannot Submit on Time?

The university defines exceptional circumstances as "serious situations that are unexpected, outside your control and significantly affect your ability to complete an assessment or attend an exam". If a claim is approved, the assessment is deferred to the next available assessment period. It is not an extension: if you only need a few extra days, that is a separate coursework extension request.

Two deadlines apply to the claim itself. You must submit it no more than 15 working days after the assessment deadline, and at least 5 working days before the relevant Board of Examiners. Claims are made through Student Record.

The rule that catches people out is fit to sit. If you have already submitted the work, you cannot then claim exceptional circumstances for it, because submitting is treated as declaring yourself fit to be assessed. So if something serious happens, deal with the claim first.

What Support Does the University Already Give You?

Before you pay anybody for anything, use what your fees already cover:

• Herts Academic Skills supports writing, reading, researching, referencing, critical thinking, organisation and time management, with drop-in consultations at the Learning Resources Centres and one-to-one online support.
• Library SkillUP is an online Canvas module covering referencing, academic reading and critical writing.
• Study Success Hubs sit on the ground floor of each LRC and help you find the right resources for an assignment.
• Academic Liaison Librarians are subject specialists who will help you find sources for your specific topic.
• Herts SU Study Smart runs one-to-one tutoring on study strategies for assignments, revision and exams.

We are a paid service and we would rather say this plainly: the university's own support is free, it is designed for your assessment, and for many students it is enough. Where we help is when the brief, the deadline and everything else you are carrying do not fit together, and you want an expert to work on it alongside you. Before paying anyone, read our comparison of assignment help websites, which sets out the three kinds of site and what each leaves you to check.

Global Economy Assignment: University of Hertfordshire

The essay below answers a Global Economy brief from the University of Hertfordshire. It asks why inflation was persistently low in the UK, the United States and the euro area, and whether monetary and fiscal policy could lift it. It was written in 2021 and its data is from that year; the argument is about the mechanism, not the current rate. A short dated note after the essay says where inflation stands now.

Annual inflation in the euro area, UK and US, February to May 2021

Chart data

Point (%)	Euro area (HICP)	United Kingdom (CPI)	United States (CPI-U)
Feb	0.9%	0.4%	1.7%
Mar	1.3%	0.7%	2.6%
Apr	1.6%	1.5%	4.2%
May	2%	2.1%	5%

Essay on Low Inflation in the UK, US and Euro Area

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought back inflation concerns. Inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level; a sudden, one-off jump in prices is not inflation (Pangannavar, 2014). It depends on numerous other factors as well like fiscal policies, supply-demand patterns, production and housing costs, etc. Due to its intricate nature, it is difficult to identify inflation. Forecasting and understanding of this phenomenon is, however, important for maintaining the economy. The Euro area, the UK and the US are witnessing low rates of inflation. This essay will identify factors contributing to the low inflation rate in the aforementioned areas. The role of monetary and fiscal policies will be examined towards the cause of preserving the economy.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) suggests that to attain stability in prices and to achieve maximum employment in the longer run, inflation of 2% should be maintained (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2021). However, as Table 1 below shows, the February rate in the United States, the United Kingdom and the euro area was well below that target. The rate then rose month by month. In the United States it jumped from 2.6% in March to 4.2% in April, at a point when unemployment was still 6.1% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021b). The UK rate more than doubled in April, from 0.7% to 1.5%. The temporary 5% VAT rate for hospitality, in force until the end of September 2021, is one of the reasons the UK figure stayed as low as it did (HM Revenue & Customs, 2021).

Table 1: annual inflation rate, 12-month percentage change, 2021. Each row is a different published series, so the three are comparable in direction rather than in definition. Sources: (Eurostat, 2021), (Office for National Statistics, 2021), (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021a).

A moderate inflation rate supports growth, so a persistently low rate is a problem rather than a success and needs watching. Where a country holds a low rate for a long period, it can indicate that the monetary authority is no longer able to move inflation towards its target. Sustained low inflation also runs the risk of tipping into deflation, which is the opposite case: a fall in the general price level. Deflation is treated as an economic problem because it can deepen a recession.

Several factors contribute to low inflation. One of them is unemployment. On the Phillips curve, low unemployment pushes inflation up and higher unemployment pulls it down. Later versions of the curve add energy prices as a further factor (Sek et al., 2015). As oil prices increase, inflation increases. During the COVID-19 times, a fall in oil prices was witnessed which led to lower inflation. Another factor that restrains inflation is globalisation. It has decreased the dependence on domestic factors in accounting for inflation while the role of global resource utilisation has amplified (Bianchi and Civelli, 2015). This implies that a Phillips curve estimated on US variables alone will not give an accurate result. Technology also plays an important role in curbing inflation. For instance, e-commerce puts the price of almost every product online, so comparing prices takes seconds.

Hence, there is greater price transparency and more competition thus restricting price increases. Changes in the labour market over the same period, declining unionisation, the expansion of global supply chains and the falling real value of the minimum wage, may also have held inflation down. Two further factors are an ageing population and a high savings rate. Japan, which carries the greatest dependency on an older population, has one of the lowest rates of inflation (Canon et al., 2015). Fujita and Fujiwara (2016) link the ageing of Japan's labour force to its falling real interest rate and inflation. In their model, the sharp drop in labour force entry in the 1970s pulls the real interest rate down over the following decades, and inflation falls with it when the central bank follows a standard Taylor rule that does not allow for the lower natural rate of interest. They estimate that ageing accounts for roughly 40% of the decline in Japan's real interest rate between the 1980s and 2000s.

A low inflation rate has adverse effects on the economy. With a high unemployment rate and lower consumer confidence, people refrain from investing and limit their expenditures. A persistently low inflation rate also limits the scope of monetary policies (Kohn, 2006). Low interest rates and zero lower bound (interest rate cannot drop below 0%), confine the scope for the Federal Reserve to further decrease interest rates when the economy is frail (Martin, 2015). A low inflation rate also impacts the functioning of banks. Financial institutions earn from the gap between the income from lending and the cost of borrowing. That gap narrows when interest rates fall, and lower rates are what accompany lower inflation.

The question that arises next is whether low inflation can be lifted by monetary and fiscal policy. During the pandemic, governments across the world launched fiscal stimulus programmes alongside substantial monetary support. The United States committed to a stimulus of $1.9 trillion and the European recovery package was €750 billion (Sandhu, 2021). That is a large risk to take, and if it works it represents a real shift in economic management. If it is managed badly, the result is high inflation, an overheating economy and financial instability. After the global financial crisis of 2008, countries turned out to have far more room for falling unemployment and growth before any inflationary pressure appeared. In the United States the unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in February 2020, just before the pandemic and its lowest in 50 years, with no sign of rising inflation (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020). In the euro area the ECB struggled to raise inflation towards its 2% objective, which led many to conclude that the fiscal stimulus was too small. In the UK a very large sum was injected into the economy through monetary policy with no sign of inflation at all. All of this suggests that these economies were operating below capacity, which is what kept inflation flat. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) after analysis suggested that inflation had reached a turning point and that an increase to 2.5% can be observed in inflation by the end of 2021 (Boshoff, et al., 2021). Also, as evident from Table 1 above, a gradually increasing trend can be observed in the inflation rates of the countries. However, the next question that arises is whether this increased inflation rate is sustained or just temporary.

Many factors push inflation down: globalisation, an ageing population, unemployment and technological change among them. COVID-19 also impacted the economic condition of countries across the world and hence monetary policies were defined to stabilise the economy. The majority of the developed nations like the US, the UK, etc. are facing the issue of low inflation. However, a gradual increase in the inflation rate is observed. Fiscal stimulus programmes launched with monetary support have helped countries to alleviate the economic slowdowns. Hence the US, the UK and the euro area look likely to move out of their period of low inflation.

Where Inflation Stands in 2026

The essay above closes by predicting that the low-inflation period would end, and it did. For anyone updating this argument in a current assignment, the Office for National Statistics reported that the UK Consumer Prices Index "rose by 3.1% in the 12 months to August 2026, up from 2.9% the previous month", in its bulletin of 16 September 2026. CPIH rose by 3.3% over the same period. That is above the Bank of England's 2% target rather than below it, which reverses the whole framing of the 2021 question.

If your brief asks about inflation today, the useful move is to keep the mechanisms from this essay, the Phillips curve, globalisation, demographics and the limits of monetary policy, and ask which of them now push the other way. That is a stronger answer than replacing the numbers and leaving the argument unchanged.

Related samples: globalisation in hospitality, global marketing strategy, Boohoo versus Next and an essay on purchasing power parity, which ties inflation to exchange rates. For a brief of your own, see our MBA and international business assignment help, or read more samples first in the business assignment samples archive.

Studying at Hertfordshire and stuck on an economics or business brief? Message us on WhatsApp with the assignment brief, the word count and your deadline, and we will tell you what we can do.

Sources

The essay's Harvard reference list comes first. The university pages behind the guide, read on 24 September 2026, and the 2026 inflation figure follow it.

Reference List for the Essay

• Bianchi, F. and Civelli, A., 2015. Globalization and inflation: Evidence from a time-varying VAR. Review of Economic Dynamics, 18(2), pp. 406-433. doi.org/10.1016/j.red.2014.07.004.
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2021. Why does the Federal Reserve aim for inflation of 2 percent over the longer run?. [Online] Available at: federalreserve.gov [Accessed June 2021].
• Boshoff, J. et al., 2021. Global Economic Outlook February 2021: The World in its Grip: Covid-19. NIESR, London, 1(B), p. 20.
• Canon, M. E., Kudlyak, M. and Reed, M., 2015. Aging and the Economy: The Japanese Experience. The Regional Economist, October 2015. Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. [Online] Available at: stlouisfed.org.
• Eurostat, 2021. HICP: annual rate of change, euro area, all items (prc_hicp_manr). [Online] Available at: ec.europa.eu [Accessed September 2026]. Euro area: 0.9% February, 1.3% March, 1.6% April, 2.0% May 2021.
• Fujita, S. and Fujiwara, I., 2016. Declining Trends in the Real Interest Rate and Inflation: The Role of Aging. Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Working Paper 16-29, October 2016 (superseded by Working Paper 21-23). [Online] Available at: philadelphiafed.org; abstract at ideas.repec.org [Accessed 24 September 2026].
• HM Revenue & Customs, 2021. VAT: reduced rate for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions. [Online] Available at: gov.uk [Accessed June 2021].
• Kohn, D. L., 2006. The Effects of Globalization on Inflation and Their Implications for Monetary Policy. [Online] Available at: federalreserve.gov [Accessed June 2021].
• Martin, F. M., 2015. Debt, Inflation and Central Bank Independence. European Economic Review, Volume 79, pp. 129-150.
• Office for National Statistics, 2021. CPI annual rate 00: all items, series D7G7. [Online] Available at: ons.gov.uk [Accessed September 2026]. UK CPI: 0.4% February, 0.7% March, 1.5% April, 2.1% May 2021.
• Pangannavar, D. A. Y., 2014. Manipulation Theory of Inflation: A Research Study on Components of General Price Rise. PRAGATI Journal of Indian Economy, 1(2), pp. 66-82.
• Sandhu, M., 2021. US stimulus package leaves Europe standing in the dust. [Online] Available at: ft.com [Accessed June 2021]. Subscription required.
• Sek, S. K., Teo, X. Q. and Wong, Y. N., 2015. A Comparative Study on the Effects of Oil Price Changes on Inflation. Procedia Economics and Finance, Volume 26, pp. 630-636. doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)00800-X.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020. The Employment Situation: February 2020 (USDL-20-0369), 6 March 2020. [Online] Available at: bls.gov. "The unemployment rate was little changed at 3.5 percent".
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021a. Consumer Price Index news releases for March 2021 (13 April 2021, bls.gov: "the all items index increased 2.6 percent before seasonal adjustment") and May 2021 (10 June 2021, bls.gov: "the all items index increased 5.0 percent before seasonal adjustment"). February 1.7% and April 4.2% are from the same series, bls.gov/cpi.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021b. The Employment Situation: April 2021 (USDL-21-0816), 7 May 2021. [Online] Available at: bls.gov. "The unemployment rate was little changed at 6.1 percent".

University Pages and the 2026 Figure

• University of Hertfordshire. Turnitin. ask.herts.ac.uk/turnitin (Canvas submission, similarity reports, draft areas)
• University of Hertfordshire. Referencing. ask.herts.ac.uk/referencing (school-specific styles, Library SkillUP, EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero)
• University of Hertfordshire. Exceptional circumstances. ask.herts.ac.uk/exceptional-circumstances (definition, deferral, deadlines, fit to sit)
• University of Hertfordshire. Academic support. ask.herts.ac.uk/academic-support (Herts Academic Skills, Study Success Hubs, Academic Liaison Librarians, Herts SU Study Smart)
• Office for National Statistics (16 September 2026). Consumer price inflation, UK: August 2026. ons.gov.uk (CPI 3.1% and CPIH 3.3% in the 12 months to August 2026)