The UK has one of the highest tax rates on petrol / diesel in Europe – roughly 60% of the final price of petrol goes to the government in excise duty or VAT. UK fuel duty is currently 58p per litre for petrol and diesel VAT accounts for 20-25p per litre The product cost is …
Readers Question: “As for the argument that China can always use its foreign exchange (forex) reserves to provide further stimulus to prop up the economy, the people who purport this have little knowledge of basic economics. If China were to use substantial forex reserves in this way, it would become a large net-seller of U.S. …
The European Union is facing the prospect of a serious bout of deflation (or at least, very low rates of inflation / disinflation) Deflation occurs when prices fall. But, very low rates of inflation are considered to raise problems associated with deflation. In the Eurozone, the main index of inflation has fallen to 0.7% – …
I’m currently writing a 2,500 word essay on ‘UK Austerity’ for the magazine Economic Review. I think the idea of these magazine articles is to present a ‘balanced view’ so I’ve been looking up the case for austerity as well as the case against. As far as I can see the economic rationale for austerity …
A good post by Simon Wren Lewis on future UK macroeconomic policy – learning from the experience of the past few years. – Bold macroeconomic policy for a new government. Essentially, it involves committing to a more flexible fiscal policy which can take into account the different requirements of liquidity trap (ZLB). Monetary policy should …
Quick links for main economic statistics My page with graphs Main ONS dataset Useful direct links Economic growth National income acc Real GDP | % quarterly Inflation inflation series CPI annual % Unemployment Labour market ILO % Current account b of p pnbp C.A % GDP Budget deficit psf at ONS | psf at …
In recent years, I’ve frequently stated that fiscal consolidation can actually increase debt levels. It may seem a paradox because fiscal consolidation aims to reduce the budget deficit by increasing taxes and cutting spending. Yet, under circumstances, policies to reduce debt levels can actually cause a rise in debt to GDP. This seems to be …
Interesting post by David Blanchflower about the best form of economic stimulus – Here’s a way to end the slump (Useful for any economic student wishing to understand marginal propensity to consume – mpc) A fiscal stimulus could involve a tax cut or government spending increase. This should increase overall aggregate demand, and boost economic …