How Short-Termism Is Destroying the UK’s FutureWatch this video on YouTube Back in 2010, when Nick Clegg was asked about nuclear power he said it was pointless because it wouldn’t be ready until 2022. As it happened, 2022 came and went, with an unprecedented surge in global energy prices. Although this was ironic bad luck, …
After the housing crash of 2009, many houses were bought at discount prices by buy to let landlords, and the share of buy to let rose to a record share of the market. But, 2016 was a turning point, with government legislation imposing higher tax rates on landlords in an effort to reverse declining home-ownership …
Ireland can lay claim to be the third richest country in the world. In the 1970s, Ireland was one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, largely agrarian and with real incomes that lagged its neighbour across the Irish Sea. But, then over the next few decades, the Irish economy started to grow faster than …
The current account on the balance of payments measures the inflow and outflow of goods, services, investment incomes and transfer payments. The main components of the current account are: Trade in goods (visible balance) Trade in services (invisible balance), e.g. insurance and services Primary income account – includes – compensation of employees, investment income from …
If you had bought a house in 1996, in just eleven years it would have increased 258% £51,367 to £184,131 (258%). After the credit crunch, there was widespread pessimism and stagnant wages, but it didn’t stop house prices rising 83% from 149,709 to 273,000. In the past 50 years, UK house prices have risen almost …
Since 2019, The German economy has gone into an unexpected decline, posting the 2nd worst performance in Europe. GDP is stagnant, the car industry in decline, real wages falling and discontent rising. For many decades, Germany was the powerhouse of the European economy with rapid growth transforming living standards, but this has come to a …
In the 1970s Venezuela was widely admired for its functional democracy and the highest living standards in Latin America. There was good reasons to be optimistic. Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil in the world. Greater than Saudi Arabia, Iran and the US. Yet in recent decades, the economy has lurched from crisis …
In the past few years, the UK has seen a rise in the tax burden, but at the same, the UK has seen a reduction in the average rate of economic growth. Is low growth leading to a higher tax burden or is it the high tax burden which is itself contributing to sluggish growth? …