External benefits in housing market

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Readers Question: Could you please explain how positive externality (external benefit) lead to market failure in property industry? A positive externality occurs when a third party benefits from the production or consumption of a good. In many cases, building the right kind of housing can have benefits to the rest of society. Therefore, the social …

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Problems facing UK economy post Brexit

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After the UK’s decision to leave the EU, what economic problems will it face? Summary of problems Devaluation of Pound Sterling, increasing price of imported goods, such as food, oil, manufacturers and domestic inflation. This cost-push inflation is again putting pressure on real wages. WIth low nominal wage growth – inflation has led to falls …

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Are Android and iPhone close substitutes?

Substitute goods are two goods which can be used for a similar purpose – they provide different alternatives to consumers. In the case of Android and the iPhone, they offer similar functionality and form, but to some consumers there is a big differential in terms of brand loyalty, meaning for certain types of consumers they …

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Irresponsible tax cuts

The current US administration is proposing tax cuts which ‘The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’, estimates it will include $5.8 trillion of total tax cuts over the decade and a net cost of $2.2 trillion through 2027. The problem with these tax cuts It is unclear how these tax cuts will be financed. An …

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Should we tax robots?

Automation and AI have been called the fourth industrial revolution. Robots replacing the jobs of human labour will increase efficiency and enables higher economic growth But, others are concerned that rapid automation can create unequal outcomes, with some losing their job and struggling to gain new forms of employment. A robot tax would, in theory, …

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Causes of deflation

Readers Question: What is the cause of deflation? Deflation involves a fall in the price level –  a negative rate of inflation. From a very basic standpoint, there are two main potential causes of deflation: A fall in aggregate demand (AD) A shift to the right of aggregate supply (AS) – i.e. lower costs of …

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Solutions to national debt

Readers Question: Please is there any solution to national/public debt? National (public sector) debt is the outstanding level of debt owed by the government to the private sector. It is the accumulation of annual budget deficits. Do we need a solution? Firstly, it is worth evaluating whether we need an actual ‘solution.’ National debt has …

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The decline of Yellow Pages

For those born in the digital age, a paper copy of business listings may seem something of an anachronism. Why leaf through a telephone directory, when you can search online and get more information at the tips of your fingers? Yellow Pages have announced that their paper directory will cease publication in 2019, and it …

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