Readers Question: Why invest capita in purely competitive industries with equilibrium margins that are razor thin and entrants that erode quasi profits? Suppose volume is not exceptionally large, why then? Economic theory suggests that firms will invest in industries where there is supernormal profit being made. Investment will be more attractive in industries where there …
The rise of UKIP and Euro-scepticism in the UK inspired me to have another look at an old blog post – Benefits of the European Union. I’ve spent the past four years criticising the economic policy of the EU, and more specifically the ECB. There are may good reasons to be dissappointed at the EU …
The Euro is the single European countries adopted by 18 out of 28 EU countries. The UK has not joined. The Euro involves: Common currency Common monetary policy – Eurozone interest rates set by the ECB in Brussels. Some fiscal rules, e.g. The Fiscal Compact (2012) limiting the amount of government borrowing (a balanced budget …
Readers Question: How reliant is the UK economy on oil? There are two ways of considering this question – the consumption and production of oil. Firstly, how much does the UK need to consume oil to maintain economic activity? Could we survive in a post-oil economy? Secondly, how important is the UK oil industry and …
Irish national debt – the total amount of Irish government debt. Irish national debt has increased to 117% of GDP in recent years because of a large financial bailout to Irish banks, deep recession which saw a 20% drop in nominal tax revenues, and continued weakness in GDP growth which has made it difficult to …
Readers Question: how we can reduce the unemployment (with implication ) in short run and long run and try to give some lively examples except of uk The unemployment rate in the UK is currently quite low about 4.5%. Therefore, it is difficult for the government to significantly reduce this. A lot of the unemployment …
The welfare state typically includes all benefit payments (pensions, unemployment insurance, child benefits, income support e.t.c). The modern UK welfare state was founded in 1948 with the aim of providing ‘cradle to the grave protection’. The intention was that welfare payments would help people through temporary periods of difficulty, such as sickness and unemployment. There …
An interesting question at the moment is to what extent does temporary cost-push factors lead to a permanent rise in underlying inflation? Temporary cost-push factors include rising commodity prices, rising food prices, higher taxes. These goods are often volatile so the increase is often temporary. In the case of taxes, the price increases last for …