Readers Question: to what extent did the EU recession cause the UK recession? In economics often several factors occur at the same time, and it is difficult to give a weighting to the importance of each factor. To some extent, people will emphasise the factors which best suits their outlook / beliefs. It is no …
I like this article about the wrong kind of inflation by Roger Bootle Or as his cleaner said: “It’s not the inflation they need to sort out, Mr Bootle, it’s the rising prices!” Essentially, the wrong kind of inflation is cost-push inflation. This inflation is due to rising costs of production, such as rising energy …
Definition consumer sovereignty Consumer sovereignty is the idea that it is consumers who influence production decisions. The spending power of consumers means effectively they ‘vote’ for goods. Firms will respond to consumer preferences and produce the goods demanded by consumers. It is a manifestation of the ‘invisible hand’ Others argue that consumer sovereignty is a …
Readers Question: if the production of food crops is increasing at a diminishing rate what factors of demand can reverse this trend. Increasing at a diminishing rate implies that agricultural output is struggling to grow – despite more fertilisers and capital investment. Diminishing returns means that as we employ more factors of production – the …
Is this the future of a world without oil? Readers Question: What would a world without oil look like? Oil is currently the most important commodity. It is vital to transport (air, sea, road and rail) and also the production of goods like tar and plastic. Without oil, society and the economy would look quite …
Readers Question From why inflation makes it easier to pay government debt 1. Why will wages increase with inflation? There is no law that inflation will automatically lead to higher nominal wages. It is possible for inflation to be higher than the nominal wage growth. In this case, workers see a fall in real wages …
Definition of Oligopsony occurs when a few firms dominate the purchase of factors of production. This means that the few firms have considerable market power in paying low prices for inputs.
The Neo-Classical Theory of Firms makes the following assumptions Firms are profit maximisers. Firms will maximise profits where MR=MC In the short run, firms are subject to diminishing returns. In the short run, capital is fixed, therefore MC is upwardly sloping after diminishing returns sets in. Prices are flexible. If there is a shortage of …