Readers Question: Would a cap on house prices work? Despite the recession and credit crunch, UK house prices continue to rise. (See: Why are UK house prices so high?) This has caused record levels of house price to income multiples. For homebuyers in London, house prices are approaching a record seven times average earnings. Understandably …
I’m currently reading A History of the World by Andrew Marr (it’s a good read so far). There’s an interesting chapter about the consequence of Spain gaining a large quantity of gold and silver from the Incas during the Sixteenth Century. Almost overnight, Spain became very rich taking home unprecedented quantities of gold and silver. …
The lump of labour fallacy is the contention that the amount of work available in an economy is fixed. But, most economists argue this belief there is a fixed number of jobs (or fixed number of hours) is usually incorrect. In summary Fallacy – “Immigrants take jobs of native workers.” Why this is a fallacy …
In 2015, the German current account surplus surged to 8.5% of GDP. A record level and a surplus which has implications for the Eurozone and global economy. Source: Bundesbank The surplus is primarily due to the surplus on trade in goods. Though in recent years, there has also been a surplus in primary income. This …
In 2007, EU economies, on the surface, seemed to be doing relatively well – with positive economic growth and low inflation. Public debt was often high, but (apart from Greece) it appeared to be manageable assuming a positive trend in economic growth. However, the global credit crunch (see: Credit crunch explained) changed many things. Impact …
How will UK house prices be affected by Brexit – in both the short term and long-term? In the past few decades, the UK property market has been characterised by a long-term rise in real house prices. UK house prices have risen faster than inflation – especially in London and South. In fact, we could …
In recent years, major companies have seen a significant rise in cash reserves. These are profits which are not reinvested or distributed to shareholders but effectively saved. The largest cash reserves are found amongst major US IT companies, such as Apple, Microsoft and Google. These cash reserves have significant implications for economic welfare and income …
Last Sunday, I rode a 12 hour time trial, finishing 2nd in the National Championships with 284 miles. If you’re fed up with politics, riding a 12 hour time trial is very good for clearing the mind. A little extreme maybe, but worth considering if you want to get away from it all. This week …