In the post-war period, consumption of vehicle fuel (petrol / diesel) increased dramatically as car ownership rose and more journeys were made by car. However, since 2007, there has been a significant drop in vehicle fuel consumption, with demand falling over 20% Many factors affect demand for vehicle fuel, including price, income, fuel efficiency, quality …
One of the (many) puzzling features of the UK economy is the very disappointing export performance. Despite a 25-30% depreciation of the Pound, the UK current account deficit has remained stubbornly high and even increased at the end of 2012. Essentially, the sustained depreciation in the value of Sterling has not caused an export led …
Readers Comment from post: Should the UK join the Eurozone So now it is 2013. Britain has spent a number of years with its interest rate set at just about zero, has entered a triple recession, has lost it’s AAA credit rating and Sterling is only worth €1.15 a drop of over 30% against the …
On the day, that the official unemployment figures fell to 7.8%, there was also news that more than 1,700 people applied for 8 positions at Costa Coffee in Nottingham. (Independent) The labour force survey suggests that here are currently 2.50 million unemployed people, down 14,000 on July to September 2012 and down 156,000 on a …
Readers Question: how can Germany show a surplus? I mean I can understand that German exports have always been their main source of income , but with all the world exports shifting to China and India wouldn’t we expect the German exports to decline? Thanks! German Current Account Surplus Germany has a current account surplus. …
Interesting to read this from Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrats’ former Treasury spokesman “The economy is as flat as a pancake. No growth means no progress in the Coalition’s central purpose of reducing the deficit. We Liberal Democrats did not sign up to stagflation and a vicious circle of self-defeating cuts. It is time to …
Earlier in the year, many were speculating the Euro was a risk of breaking up. Up step Mario Draghi with his promise to ‘save the Euro whatever it takes’ Under Mario Draghi, the ECB have done two things to help reassure bond markets: Long term refinancing for banks – helping to avoid liquidity crisis in …
The ILO recently produced their growth and wages report for 2012/13. This suggested that across the developing world, labour markets are being characterised by falling real wages and a decline in labour’s share of national income. In particular: Real wage growth has been flat – even negative in the past few years. There is an …