UK’s Net International Investment Position 2011

The Net international investment Position (IIP) measures the balance of gross assets – gross liabilities. An asset means the UK has a claim on the rest of the world. A liability means the rest of the world has a claim on the UK. There are 4 sections of net international investment. direct investment (DI) portfolio …

Read more

UK External Debt and Assets

Readers Question I have read that the UK debt is £920bn to rise to £1.1-£1.2 trillion by next year – if the government cuts are effective. However why is it that the CIA quote UK external Debt as $8.9 trillion… that would be around £5.56trillion…. is this including public sector debt, private sector, government debt …

Read more

Why is US Facing Debt Crisis?

In one sense the US is facing a debt crisis. The level of government borrowing has risen sharply as a % of GDP, and given current spending commitments, the forecast for borrowing is to continue to grow. Nevertheless, despite disputes over raising debt ceiling, the US doesn’t currently face a crisis like Greece or other …

Read more

Debt Ceiling

The idea of a debt ceiling is to place a limit on how much the government can borrow. (you could think of it like a limit on your credit card) For example, in July 2011, the US debt ceiling was $14.3 trillion (£8.8 trillion) The idea of having a debt ceiling is that The government …

Read more

Reason for Mortgage Defaults

Readers Question: What have been the drivers of the mortgage default rate in the 2008 recession compared to the late 1980s/ 1990s? Despite the depth of the recession in 2008, the mortgage default rate in the UK has  been lower in the current recession than in the early 1990s. The peak for home repossessions occurred …

Read more

Analogy of Inflation and Spare Capacity

Readers Question: I thought of an analogy and wondered if I am correct. Suppose there is a concert venue that seats 10,000 people. On one day, the Rolling Stones are scheduled to perform there. Tickets are nominally $50, but since the venue is likely to sell out, scalpers buy them up. Let’s assume that Rolling …

Read more

Item added to cart.
0 items - £0.00