This is a review of economics and its relationships with other social sciences and subjects, such as philosophy, politics, maths, physics, anthropology, psychology and sociology. Also, to what extent does economics benefit from expanding into other subjects? What is economics? Economics a social science that studies the production, consumption and distribution of goods and services. …
Despite weak economic growth of the past decade, UK unemployment has fallen quicker than we might expect. It appears the natural rate of unemployment has fallen and despite record employment levels, wage pressures remain muted. Different reasons for this fall in unemployment include – low productivity, more flexible labour markets, disguised unemployment (underemployment) and growth …
Since the credit crisis of 2008, the UK economy has experienced structural weakness of Low economic growth Very poor productivity growth Weak demand Unbalanced economy geared towards consumption and low levels of investment. In addition to these structural weaknesses, the UK economy in 2020 now faces real threats from A hard Brexit Risk of slowdown …
Definition of a liquidity trap: When monetary policy becomes ineffective because, despite zero/very low-interest rates, people want to hold cash rather than spend or buy illiquid assets. A liquidity trap is characterised by Very low-interest rates Low inflation Slow/negative economic growth Preference for saving rather than spending and investment Monetary policy becomes ineffective in boosting …
Readers Question: What caused the massive decrease in the debt to GDP ratio for the UK following World War II? It is a good question to ask. In the past few years, many European policymakers have felt that rising debt levels needed panic levels of austerity/spending cuts. But, that didn’t happen in the UK in …
The difference between CPI and PCE seemed relatively insignificant. However, a big issue is the difference between CPI and Core CPI. CPI is the consumer price index. A measure of the cost of living for the typical person. Core CPI is the CPI – energy and food prices. Energy and food prices are removed because …
House prices fall where there is a decline in demand and/or excess supply. The main factors that cause a fall in house prices involve: Rising interest rates (making mortgage payments more expensive) Economic recession / high unemployment (reducing demand and causing home repossessions). Fall in bank lending and fall in availability of mortgages (making it …
Deflation is defined as a fall in the general price level. It is a negative rate of inflation. The problem with deflation is that often it can contribute to lower economic growth. This is because deflation increases the real value of debt – and therefore reducing the spending power of firms and consumers. Also, falling …