Increasing Productivity On Internet

Since Economists are concerned with efficiency, I thought I would share some ideas about the efficient use of time, particularly on the internet. If you read this post, the chances are you spend a lot of time surfing the internet. But, how much of this time is profitably spent? Just because the internet has great …

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Testing Marshall Lerner Condition

Readers Question: When my class and I try to test the Marshall-Lerner condition it doesn’t always work. i.e. we assumed a country with just one export and one import and assumed their price elasticities added up to less than one. We gave each a price and quantity that led to a current account balance =0 …

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A Humorous look at the Sub Prime Crisis

“The thing to remember is that these markets are run by very clever and sophisticated people…” “It has some good words in it, like high.” “Yes, high is a good word, better than low anyway.” Very sharp commentary on the sub prime crisis. The scary thing is that there is very little exaggeration at all! …

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Exchange Rate Predictions

Predicting exchange rates is not as easy as some experts may suggest. There are many factors at work in determining exchange rates – economic fundamentals are only part of the equation. To predict future exchange rate movements we need to look at a variety of factors. The most important include: Interest Rate Movements. Interest rates …

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Different Stock Market Indices

The different Stock Market Indexes in the UK FT 30. This is the oldest stock market index in existence. It came into existence in 1935. It is an index of the 30 biggest and most important companies listed on the stock market. It is not size alone that leads to inclusion. A cross section of …

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Definition: Investment, Investor and Savings

In economics, the definition of investment is quite strict. Investment means an increase in the capital stock – Gross fixed capital formation. Investment can involve The purchase of a larger factory The purchase of new automated machines to take part in the productive process. The purchase of new computers in a bank. The building of …

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Definition of Hedging

Definition of Hedging – Setting up an investment positions which helps to protect against losses from a related investment. For example, if you export goods to the US, an appreciation in the exchange rate can make your exports uncompetitive. Therefore, you can hedge against your position by buying Sterling futures. If sterling appreciates, your exports …

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Police and Fire Services as Public Goods

Q. Use economics and political theory to explain why the fire and rescue service should be provided by the state. I don’t want the answer….I just don’t understand what this means. This revolves around a fundamental debate in economics – How much should the government intervene in the economy? Ideally, goods and services would be …

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