Revising economic growth statistics

Readers Question: Does growth forecast always corresponds to the mesured growth? If a bias exist, is it always on the same side? Recently, growth statistics published on February 26th showed that the GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2009 were a higher than first recorded. GDP grew by 0.3%, rather than the initial estimate …

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Economic Growth vs Inflation: Which is more Important?

Readers Question: Low inflation but slow economic growth, if any, or GDP growth , with the risk of 2 digits inflation?  Which one is a better option,or the least harmful? The choice is not enticing. These are some point to consider: At the moment the UK economy is experiencing inflation of 5% (above the target …

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Innovation, Patents and Economic Growth

Readers Question: What economic factors should I consider if I want to know the relationship between innovation and the presence of patents/copyrights? Do copyright/patents (generally Intellectual Property Rights) stifle innovation? Does it slow down economic growth? There is some debate. But, one argument is that patents are necessary to encourage innovation. If firms were unable …

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China’s Economic Growth, Poverty and Inequality

Readers Question: Discuss the likely economic impact on absolute and relative poverty of China’s rapid economic growth? It is an interesting question because even the Chinese government have been concerned that China’s rapid economic growth has not helped large sections of the population, especially in the north. Absolute poverty is defined as the minimum level …

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Mortgage Equity Withdrawal and Economic Growth

housing-equity-withdrawal

Readers Question: Does mortgage equity withdrawal enhance economic growth? There is good evidence that mortgage equity withdrawal can lead to higher levels of consumer spending and economic growth Definition of Mortgage equity withdrawal – Mortgage equity withdrawal occurs when homeowners remortgage taking out bigger loans to take advantage of rising property values. Suppose you bought …

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Reasons for Chinese Economic Growth 2000-2007

Readers Question: What is the most important reason why there is an improvement in the economic growth in the chinese out of the following policies. is it Government policy, education, investment from overseas, cheap labour or natural resources. 1. Cheap Labour China has a large unskilled workforce willing to work for low wages. In the …

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Does economics growth bring increased living standards?

Increasing the rates of economic growth has long been the holy grail of conventional economics and politics. To a large extent, most developed economies have been highly successful in increasing economic output. But, has such an impressive increase in national output actually improved people’s standard of living? To decide whether economic growth has increased happiness …

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The Economic Crisis of the 1970s

inflation-1970s

  1970s – The Decade That Nearly BROKE BritainWatch this video on YouTube Rubbish piled on the streets, record levels of strikes, an IMF bailout and runaway inflation. The 1970s has gone down in the popular imagination as a dark time, literally in the case of the 3-day week, when lights were turned off, but …

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