As the old saying goes there are two certainties in life – death and taxation. So why not combine the two and raise revenue from inherited wealth? I have written on this topic before Why are we reluctant to tax Wealth? But, I would like to make another case for why a ‘death’ tax meets …
To many people’s surprise, UK house prices have risen quite strongly in the past 12 months. If we look at the experience of Japan, United States, Ireland or Spain, it seems the experience of Britain is unusual. Countries like Japan and the US had a boom and bust in house prices, similar to the UK. …
Readers Question: If I have to get economic master degree, what kind of job İ will apply in real life. Can you give me list of economic job? The most common questions I get asked by students is either? Why didn’t you get a better paid job in the city? What Job can I get …
A few people have asked why don’t government’s just default and not pay their debt back? Firstly, a government could effectively default just by printing money, creating inflation and making it easier to pay debt back. But, if the government does create inflation (print money) to pay off its debt or simply refuses to pay, …
Whilst the UK is slowly struggling out of recession – spare a thought for Greece, who are experiencing a real economic crisis – partly of their own making – and exacerbated by the straitjacket that EURO membership entails. The Greek economy has several significant problems Current account deficit of 14% of GDP – their exports …
I was looking at the scale of previous recessions. The current recession, which technically ended last quarter with a 0.1% rise in GDP, is the second worst on record. I was surprised to find that in the Great Depression, UK GDP only fell 10%. However, it is somewhat misleading. The UK economy struggled in the …
Recently, for the first time, Amazon sold as many books as Waterstones. Amazon has been operating for the past 13 years and has succeeded in becoming the countries biggest seller of books. The Managing Director of Waterstones has responded with vigour arguing that Waterstones offers much more than their online rival. He says that those …
Interest rates swaps are a way for financial bodies to exchange risk on the movement of interest rates. They were originally designed as a way for firms to avoid exchange rate controls because interest rate swaps can be done in different currencies. Interest rate swaps are one of the most common type of derivatives and …