A recession is defined as a decline in real GDP for two consecutive quarters. An economy is in an official recession after six months of falling national income. A recession will typically lead to higher unemployment, a decline in confidence, falling house prices, decline in investment and lower inflation. However, although that may seem quite …
A lagging indicator is an economic statistic that tends to have a delayed reaction to a change in the economic cycle. A leading indicator is an economic statistic that tends to predict future changes in the economic cycle. A co-incident indicator is a variable that changes with the whole economy. The recession of 2008 was …
Exports play an important role in the UK economy, influencing the level of economic growth, employment and the balance of payments. In the post-war period, lower transport costs, globalisation, economies of scale and reduced tariff barriers have all helped exports become a bigger share of national income. In 2011, exports of goods and services accounted …
Readers Question: Explain what is meant by a balance of payments disequilibrium? The Balance of Payments is comprised of two main components: The Current Account (trade in goods, services + transfer payments and investment incomes) The Financial Account (used to be called capital account; this is capital flows such as foreign direct investment) If the …
Despite housing being a secure asset, the housing market can be prone to bubbles and periods of rapidly falling prices. In recent years, the period 2005-09 saw a prolonged and significant fall in house prices in both the US and Europe. A housing market crash can be precipitated by a change in economic fundamentals (higher …
In a recent post, we looked at the advantages of free movement of labour. But, what about the problems which might arise from free movement of labour? Firstly, free movement of labour depends on the area in question. To make an easy contrast, initially, the EU was free movement of workers between 12 / 15 …
The exchange rate is the rate at which one currency trades against another on the foreign exchange market If the present exchange rate is £1=$1.42, this means that to go to America you would get $142 for £100. Similarly, if an American came to the UK, he would have to pay $142 to get £100. …
In economics we often see a delay between an economic action and a consequence. This is known as a time lag. An impact of time lags is that the effect of policy may be more difficult to quantify because it takes a period of time to actually occur. Example of time lags Change in interest …