Economists attempt to make forecasts for leading economic variables such as Inflation Economic growth House prices Exchange rates Population growth The main importance of economic forecasts is to help policymakers make better decisions. For example, if the economy was forecast to enter into a recession, the government could consider implementing expansionary fiscal policy (higher spending …
Readers Question: Who really is a global funds manager? A global funds manager is person who looks after different investment trusts / pension funds. He will decide where and how to invest the fund of money in different markets. Individuals with savings may wish to seek better returns than just saving in a bank with …
A look at the different economic factors that determine the price of gold Essentially the price of gold is determined by: Supply of gold Demand for use in goods such as jewellery. Speculative demand to hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty. In early August 2011, gold touched $1,716.19. Adjusted for inflation, the record gold price …
During the 1990s and early 2000s, Spain enjoyed rapid economic growth and became the 5th largest EU economy. In particular, the rapid economic growth encouraged a boom in property. In 2006, Spain started building 800,000 new homes – more than Germany, Italy, France and UK combined. (Euro Challenge.org) However, in 2008, Spain was badly affected …
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 …
Recently, the Euro has fallen from 1.5 Dollars to 1 Euro in 2011 to near parity in March 2015. The fall in the value of the Euro has been very steep in the last six months. This is a very significant depreciation in the Euro, and primarily reflects the greater economic weakness in the Eurozone. …
Just a short post, inspired by this article by Hamish McRae in Independent – Would it Matter if Greece left the Euro? So often governments have fought ‘tough and nail’ to stay in an exchange rate system. But, when they finally leave – it is the best thing they ever did, and you’re left thinking …
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 …