The Covid virus has created circumstances where many economic rules, teachings and assumptions don’t apply in the same way. GDP is no longer everything. In economics, GDP is usually the most visible goal, with economic policy often focused around maximising economic growth. The virus forces us to shift priorities – rather than worrying about GDP, …
The world economy is already entering a very deep recession, with GDP falling by an estimated 20-25%. Unemployment will rise very fast as large parts of the economy close down. An optimistic assessment is that the economic shock will be short-term, policymakers are responding with as much monetary and fiscal help as they can, and …
Modern monetary theory is a heterodox economic theory which states governments should not worry about government borrowing but be willing to aim for full employment. Full employment should be achieved through expansionary fiscal policy and financed by creating money. MMT argues the only limit of higher government borrowing is the effect on inflation. Thus if …
Readers Question: I only have $10,000 in my bank. With this virus situation, what is going to happen to the value of my money? Serious question. Do I try to exchange my money to another foreign country currency? Help, please. I am 68 years old, no pension and no job. George Firstly, I would not …
President Trump has proposed a payroll tax to deal with the economic shock of the Corona recession. In normal circumstances, a cut in income tax should help to boost economic growth. Workers will see an increase in disposable income and spend more. This creates additional demand in the economy, so firms are more likely to …
The economic implications of coronavirus and the widespread closure of economies present a unique set of challenges for policymakers. The usual tools for dealing with a recession are inadequate, the over-riding need is to provide a basic safety net for the millions of people who will see a fall or complete drop in income. It …
Price gouging is a situation where business take advantage of an external crisis to charge excessive prices for basic necessities – selling the goods significantly above their usual price. Many countries have laws against the practise of price gouging – to protect consumers against unfairly high prices during a national emergency. Example of price gouging …
I started www.economicshelp.org in Nov 2006. Within a year, I was writing about the US housing crash, the credit crunch and the recession of 2008/09. It was a turbulent period and there was a surge of interest in economics, which helped the economics blog to take off (which left me with mixed feelings!) But, the …