During the 1990s and first half of 2000, Ireland had one of the longest property booms on record. Between 1996 and 2006, the average price of second homes rose in Ireland rose by over 300%. The average price of new houses rose by 250%, according to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DoEHLG). …
Recently, the Economist published an article (You can fool some of the people…), pointing out several economic commentators were increasingly critical of UK economic policy and the Bank of England’s monetary policy in particular. Is the Bank of England really losing grip of monetary policy? or are they doing the best job in difficult circumstances? …
I like this article about the wrong kind of inflation by Roger Bootle Or as his cleaner said: “It’s not the inflation they need to sort out, Mr Bootle, it’s the rising prices!” Essentially, the wrong kind of inflation is cost-push inflation. This inflation is due to rising costs of production, such as rising energy …
For the past few years, it has felt a bit repetitive always asking the same question – why can’t the EU policy makers see unemployment, social exclusion and rising poverty as the real challenge facing Europe? In the current climate it is not bond yields, inflation targets or levels of debt that are the real …
Casey B. Mulligan, from the University of Chicago suggests a theory for a major cause of the great recession and the rise in US unemployment post 2008. – Higher welfare payments. ..Redistribution, or subsidies and regulations intended to help the poor, unemployed, and financially distressed, have changed in many ways since the onset of the …
Why have countries in the Eurozone faced greater difficulties in promoting economic recovery? How does a country with its own currency find greater flexibility in overcoming a recession? 1. Impact of Currency and Bond Yields A striking feature of recent years is that countries in the Eurozone have been significantly more susceptible to rising bond …
The fiscal multiplier looks at how much an initial change in injections affects real GDP. For example, if increased government spending of £1bn causes overall GDP to rise by £1.5bn, the multiplier effect is 1.5 If £1bn worth of tax rises causes real GDP to fall by £0.5bn, the multiplier effect is (0.5) Since 2009, …
Readers Question: What should the government do to improve the American standard of living? How could the President + Congress, make the biggest difference to improving American standards of living in the long run? These are a few policies which I feel would improve US living standards. 1. Reduce Unemployment. The rise in US unemployment …