A big issue is how net migration is affecting the National Health Service. Does an influx of migrants place greater strain on the NHS? Is migration a convenient excuse for the more long-term issues facing the NHS? To what extent do migrants work for the NHS? If we cut migration levels would that affect taxation …
The global economy faces many difficulties, both short term and long term. In the short term, the global economy risks a prolonged period of sluggish growth, which will lead to problems such as high unemployment, debt default and low investment. In the longer term, the global economy faces greater threats from the environment, demographic changes …
I found this old video I made in 2008 about Keynesian economics. It’s OK for a basic introduction to some elements of Keynesian economics. 2008 was a pivotal year for economics because it marked a sharp break from much of the post-war economic cycles. 2008 broke the long-period of economic expansion, with growth falling below …
Readers Question: How did the financial crisis affect stock markets and bond markets? Stock markets were first hit by the instability in credit markets. When financial markets realised the credit crunch would impact on the wider economy, shares in companies fell further. This is a typical response. When economies enter into a recession, firms make …
Just a short note on Greece because at the moment I’m concentrating on writing revision guides. For several years I have felt that Greece would be better off to leave the Eurozone. This is partly due to economics, but also partly an intuition – that there is no greater recipe for political disaster than having …
Given levels of UK national debt and forecasts for rises in government debt, what are the prospects for a UK debt default? The UK has had higher levels of national debt after the First and Second World War Bond Yields Bond yields on UK government gilts are reasonable and don’t predict any default. In fact …
Readers question: should the government focus on achieving a particular macroeconomic objective over the others? This is a good question. There is a lot that can be said because it encompasses so many different topics. Firstly, the three main macro-economic objectives: Higher economic growth Low inflation Low unemployment There are also less important objectives Reducing …
Readers Question: Is there an inbuilt deflationary bias in the Eurozone? Note: I originally wrote this post in 2010. Unfortunately, every year there is a reason to update the post and suggest the deflationary bias in the Eurozone keeps getting stronger. Deflationary bias means that there is a tendency for economic policy to promote lower …