Immigration can give substantial economic benefits – a more flexible labour market, greater skills base, increased demand and a greater diversity of innovation. However, immigration is also controversial. It is argued immigration can cause issues of overcrowding, congestion, and extra pressure on public services. There is also a debate about whether immigration of unskilled workers …
The UK like Europe and the US is facing an unwelcome return of stagflation – a period of higher inflation and lower growth. In March 2022, UK GDP fell 0.1%, yet at the same time, inflation has jumped to 7% with forecasts of 10% inflation by the end of the year. The Bank of England …
In recent years, we have had a devastating global credit crunch, the longest and deepest recession since the 1930s and then the impact of Covid. Yet, despite this financial and economic upheaval, UK house prices have bucked the trend, avoided a major collapse and now exceeded pre-crash levels. The economics of Covid have even made …
The UK has avoided any situation of hyperinflation. The highest rates of inflation were after the Napoleonic War in the early nineteenth century. During the First World war (25%) and in the 1970s where inflation rose due to a rise in oil prices and strong wage growth. After the late 1980s inflation was brought under …
A look at how the housing market and changes in house prices affect the rest of the economy. In summary: Rising house prices, generally encourage consumer spending and lead to higher economic growth – due to the wealth effect. A sharp drop in house prices adversely affects consumer confidence, and construction and leads to lower …
Bottlenecks refer to the situation where firms are unable to meet demand because of delays, shortages and lack of spare capacity. Bottlenecks can occur from a spike in demand or disruptions to supply. They can lead to higher prices, inflation, shortages of goods and even lower economic growth. For many years, we have grown accustomed …
Readers Question: would you please explain to me how we can have no inflation, or low inflation if the government injects two or three trillion dollars in the US economy and output falls? This is an interesting question. Although printing more money tends to cause inflation, there are circumstances where you can increase the money …
A summary for understanding exchange rates. Factors that affect exchange rates and the impact of exchange rates on the economy. Terminology Depreciation/devaluation – fall in value of exchange rate – exchange rate becomes weaker (see also: definition of devaluation and depreciation) Appreciation – increase in the value of exchange rate – exchange rate becomes stronger. …