The idea of a debt ceiling is to place a limit on how much the government can borrow. (you could think of it like a limit on your credit card) For example, in July 2011, the US debt ceiling was $14.3 trillion (£8.8 trillion) The idea of having a debt ceiling is that The government …
Readers Question: What have been the drivers of the mortgage default rate in the 2008 recession compared to the late 1980s/ 1990s? Despite the depth of the recession in 2008, the mortgage default rate in the UK has been lower in the current recession than in the early 1990s. The peak for home repossessions occurred …
Readers Question: I have been interested in the US economy in the last few months, and with current news of their $14 trillion debt problem heating up, I’m wondering could the demand for dollars go down, if they were possible to have a similar or close problems of debt issues like Greece, and if the …
The Irish economy is in crisis because: Irish Banks lost substantial sums in the credit bubble and bust, this meant the Irish government had to bail them out. After several years of high growth, the Irish economy went into recession. Recent austerity measures (spending cuts) have caused a double dip recession and the current turmoil …
The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) is an attempt to measure the real increase in economic welfare. The GPI measures the improvement in economic welfare – costs associated with growth. It is measured using the formula GPI = A + B – C – D + I A is income weighted private consumption B is value …
In economics, there is often a trade off between macro economic variables. A simple trade off could be – increase interest rates; this leads to lower inflation, but also lower output. Cut interest rates, and you help boost growth, but increase inflation. In an ideal world, we would have low inflation, high growth and full …
Readers Question: I’m not studying economics, just a normal person trying to make some decisions about my future and asking for advice on just how bad things are going to get over the next few years. I have a pessimistic friend who says currencies will collapse and I should be stocking up on tinned food, …
Readers Question: I watched the recent Channel 4 (I think) programme on the National Debt. In this Programme it gave an all inclusive figure of £4.8 Trillion. How can this be squared with the very much lower figures given on your site? I haven’t had chance to see Channel 4’s recent programme on National Debt. …