In the UK, there are quite a few different measures of inflation. All measures seek to show the annual change in living costs. However, different measures of inflation give different inflation figures. For example, RPI can often give a higher rate of inflation than CPI. CPI can also be misleading. For example, an increase in VAT …
Readers question: In all the media coverage of the UK deficit / debt / recovery, two aspects are rarely highlighted / quantified / contextualized. 1. The £50bn interest payments on the debt (opportunity cost / %) 2. UK productivity (output per head / sector / history) I think interest payments on debt are an important …
There are a raft of different methods of calculating government debt. It can be a little bewildering (even for an economics teacher!). I have tried to define the key terms in a simple format and also a more detailed and precise way. This only focuses on the UK. Defining Public Sector Debt Simple Way: Government …
Greece is a very good example of the damage of austerity can do to both economies and the social fabric of a country. Firstly Greek austerity is almost unprecedented in its scope and intensity. Greece government spending and revenue Greek government spending was cut from €120 bn in 2008 to €90 bn in 2014. To …
Bank of England base interest rates are currently 0.5%. Economists are divided about when interest rates will rise. Some point to the evidence of a strong economic recovery to suggest interest rates could rise by mid 2015. Others argue that the strong global deflationary pressures mean that UK inflation is likely to stay very low …
What is the UK’s debt burden? Firstly, there are different types of debt to consider Government debt – See: public sector debt (often referred to as National debt) Private sector debt – indebtedness of householders, finance sector and non-financial companies. External debt – the amount we ‘owe’ to other countries In addition, you might take …
Question from the Economist. – It is easy to understand the case that European austerity is self-defeating. But it is also easy to see that one cannot run large deficits year after year without limit and that some countries (Greece, Portugal) have exhausted the willingness of private investors to finance them. Is Austerity self-defeating? Austerity …
The original European Union (then called the EEC European Economic Council) was composed of 6 founder members. Belgium France Germany Italy Luxembourg Netherlands The EEC came into existence with the Treaty of Rome 1954. Since then the EU has expanded its borders taking in most European Countries. Enlargement has generally been seen as a positive …