National Statistics online has had a well overdue make over. The new web design takes up the whole screen and is easier to navigate and read. It also comes with RSS feed which is useful For any economist, National Statistics Online is a very useful resource for finding latest data and statistics and understanding some …
Readers Comment It is shocking to me that revenues from all my future income tax and even my young children’s future tax payments have already been committed by our national debt. If it is not some kind of nefarious carve-up, why would the UK wage 2 unnecessary wars costing billions when we do not have …
Readers Question: How could you calculate the price elasticity of demand for petrol in the united states when the figure is 0.48? To calcuate the elasticity of demand, we divide the % change in quantity by the % change in price. For example, if the price of petrol in the US increased by 60% …
USA’s trade deficit with China was $201.6 billion in 2005, an all-time high for a trade deficit with any country. Explain some possible causes of a balance of trade deficit and consider if the USA should be concerned over its trade deficit with China. Reasons for Balance of Trade Deficit Between US and China 1.Undervalued …
Readers Question: I understand why, generally, low inflation is considered to be a good thing and why high inflation is bad particularly if you have savings whose value in real terms then diminishes faster. What I do not understand is why inflation is not in fact a good thing for those of us in their …
25 years ago, 12% of candidates received a grade A at A Level. Last year, that % rose to 25%. Maybe there are people in the government, who really feel that educational standards have increased by 100%. However, anyone involved in A Levels knows this is mainly due to changing grade boundaries so that a …
Readers Question: What economic factors should I consider if I want to know the relationship between innovation and the presence of patents/copyrights? Do copyright/patents (generally Intellectual Property Rights) stifle innovation? Does it slow down economic growth? There is some debate. But, one argument is that patents are necessary to encourage innovation. If firms were unable …
When people hear that I am an economist, I often get asked for advice for buying and selling shares; I don’t know why because I am completely hopeless at knowing which shares to buy. To be honest, I don’t buy any shares for the very good reason that I don’t have any money to invest. …