Definition – Sticky wages is a concept to describe how in the real world, wages may be slow to change and get stuck above the equilibrium because workers resist nominal wage cuts. Wages can be ‘sticky’ for numerous reasons including – the role of trade unions, employment contracts, reluctance to accept nominal wage cuts and …
Readers Question: What are the main problems of the current UK economic situation? Low economic growth and in particular stagnant real wage growth Poor productivity growth since 2008 – which affects long-term growth prospects. Uncertainty from Brexit and likely costs to trade from new custom arrangements. Manufacturing sector State of the housing market – expensive …
Economic growth means an increase in real GDP – an increase in the value of national output, income and expenditure. Essentially the benefit of economic growth is higher living standards – higher real incomes and the ability to devote more resources to areas like health care and education. Video summary The benefits of economic growth …
An isoquant shows all combination of factors that produce a certain output An isocost show all combinations of factors that cost the same amount. Isocosts and isoquants can show the optimal combination of factors of production to produce the maximum output at minimum cost. Definition isoquant An isoquant shows all the combination of two factors …
The elasticity of supply measures the responsiveness of a change in quantity supplied to a change in price. If price increases – firms generally find it more profitable to supply a good. So an increase in price leads to higher supply. However, if it is difficult to increase supply (e.g. shortage of capacity, difficulty to …
Deflation is defined as a fall in the general price level. It is a negative rate of inflation. The problem with deflation is that often it can contribute to lower economic growth. This is because deflation increases the real value of debt – and therefore reducing the spending power of firms and consumers. Also, falling …
The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) measures the proportion of extra income that is spent on consumption. For example, if an individual gains an extra £10, and spends £7.50, then the marginal propensity to consume will be £7.5/10 = 0.75. The MPC will invariably be between 0 and 1. The marginal propensity to consume measures …
The size of current account deficit/surplus is affected by several factors including: Exchange rate (overvalued exchange rate would cause large deficit) Level of consumer spending (economic growth) and hence import spending Capital flows to finance deficit in long-term Saving rates – influencing level of import spending Relative inflation/competitiveness The current account measures: The balance of …