Readers Question: How reliant is the UK economy on oil? There are two ways of considering this question – the consumption and production of oil. Firstly, how much does the UK need to consume oil to maintain economic activity? Could we survive in a post-oil economy? Secondly, how important is the UK oil industry and …
I’m a good Apple consumer. Over the past few years, I’ve bought three Apple mac laptops and two iPhones. I appreciate the quality of the product and have been willing to pay more than the average price for a laptop and mobile phone. Yet, although their products are generally very good, they do irritate me …
Ryanair certainly no how to get free publicity, and although they say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. You have to half-admire a company whose strategy seems to be to annoy customers as much as possible. Recently, the outspoken Ryanair Chief Michael O’Leary stated that the cost of checking in luggage to a Ryanair …
Macroeconomic notes Balance of payments Budget deficit Economic growth Fiscal policy Globalisation Exchange rates European Union The Euro Monetary policy Inequality Inflation International trade Supply side policies Unemployment Microeconomics notes AS Consumer and producer surplus Demand Economies of scale Elasticity Price elasticity of demand Cross elasticity of demand Income elasticity of demand Price elasticity of …
Containerisation is a system of standardised transport, that uses a common size of steel container to transport goods. These containers can easily be transferred between different modes of transport – container ships to lorries and trains. This makes the transport and trade of goods cheaper and more efficient. The container was invented in 1956 by …
Shock therapy is the belief that the best way to fix a broken economy is to implement radical changes and introduce new market oriented policies, in one fell swoop whatever the short term cost. Shock therapy is associated with the economist Jeffrey Sachs who advocated free market reforms for Eastern European countries like Poland and …
Readers Question: 1. Does state capitalism as practised in China pose a fundamental challenge to the Western model of liberal-democratic capitalism? No, I don’t think so. From a political perspective, no matter how economic successful China might be, there will never be any enthusiasm to replicate China’s one party political system. In fact, it is …
The Latvian and Estonian economies have recently experienced – an economic boom, a spectacular bust, and recovery. Their experience is a chance to evaluate the merits of fixed exchange rates, austerity and the issues of an economy based on trade and capital inflows. Aspects of the Baltic economies Boom period between 2000 and 2007 Great …