Flexible Labour Markets and Immigration

There is an interesting article in the Economist about immigration and the impact on the Irish economy. Immigration tends to encourage a range of emotive responses, but, its impact on the flexibility of labour markets is worth considering. In the boom years, Ireland was growing by up to 5% a year or more. Growth was …

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How Recessions Affect Companies

Readers Question: how do recessions affects a company operations? Recessions involve lower output so usually consumer spending will fall. Therefore, firms will see a fall in demand for their products. The extent of this fall in demand depends on the products they produce. For example, if they produce luxury goods like sports cars or organic …

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Dealing With High Oil Prices

The Cardboard bike needs no oil.

What is the best way to deal with high oil prices?

As both a motorist and cyclist, high oil prices are a mixed blessing. It now costs £6o to fill a tank of petrol; I have seen the proportion of my income spent on petrol rise considerably. However, rising oil prices have helped reduce the remorseless rise of traffic growth on the UK’s crowded roads.

oilprices-1986-2021

Dealing With Higher Oil Prices

Cycling / Walking. As a consumer, higher oil prices increase the incentive to look for alternatives. 50% of all car journeys are under 4 miles. As an alternative to driving, walking or cycling can save considerable sums of money. In many city centres with high levels of congestion, cycling to work can also be much quicker. On this cycling blog, a former motorist tries cycling to work. As well as saving money, it was noticeably quicker. (try cycling to work) Also, cycling and walking will help improve the nations fitness and lead to lower levels of obesity.

Public Transport. For longer journeys, trains and coach travel provide alternatives. However, in UK train fares have increased above the rate of inflation. It is still cheaper to drive for most journeys. Nevertheless, if you book in advance, you can still save money on long journeys. Also, train travel gives you chance to relax or work – something you can’t do when driving.

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UK Economy 2009

Readers Questions: hi would you please describe the current state of the UK Economy. The UK economy is undergoing a serious recession. These are the main macro economic indicators 1. Economic Growth. source: ONS In the last quarter (Q3 2008), GDP fell 0.5%. GDP is also forecast to fall this quarter. The UK economy is …

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Is the Price of a Starbucks a Rip off?

The price of a small (illogically called the ‘Tall’) Starbucks Cappuccino is now £2.05. The Venti now costs £2.65 (2008 prices) This year the price of Starbucks drinks have increased by more than the rate of inflation. Costa Coffe and Cafe Nero have both kept their prices below £2, but, industry analysts argue that it …

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Questions on Money Supply

Readers Question: supposing a government printed more money but only used it to finance the cost of imported goods, what then would be the effect on the domestic economy? supposing the price of these imported goods was the same as before the extra money was printed, there is just a larger quantity of them now. …

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Excuses for Not Doing Homework

My students are generally pretty un-inventive when it comes to excuses for not doing homework. Popular excuses include: “I was doing business studies / geography / history  coursework” “I had football practice” “I couldn’t be bothered” “I forgot” “You mean, I was given homework?” I have heard a few good ones though I was driving …

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Monetary Policy and Politics

Why is monetary policy easier to conduct than fiscal policy in a highly divided national political environment? Monetary policy is usually implemented by independent monetary authorities. For example, in UK, monetary policy is implemented by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. Therefore, they can take politically unpopular decisions such as increasing interest …

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