Firstly, I thought it might be helpful to talk about the different types of spending cuts that people refer to. An actual cut in government spending. e.g. one year we spend £39bn on defence, the next year that is cut to £38 bn. This is a nominal cut of £1bn. The real cut will be …
The government have announced a change in stamp duty. The chancellor George Osborne claims the change to stamp duty will cut the rate of tax for 98% of house purchases. New marginal tax rates are: 0% tax on house purchases up to the value of £125,000 2% tax on purchases between £125,000 and £250,000 5% …
Readers Question: There are around 22 million households in the UK, 2/3 of whom own their house. So the rental market would be around 7 million of whom one million receive benefit, some portion living in social housing, some in private rented housing. Does that seem reasonable? Can you point me towards actual numbers? In …
The UK grocery market has become increasingly competitive in the past few years. It is a good example of an oligopoly becoming more competitive. Certainly, the growing strength of discount giants like Aldi and Lidl have really shaken up the market and diluted the cosy oligopoly previous enjoyed by the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury. …
Question and answers on the difficulty of switching from non-renewable energy sources, such as fossil fuels. (from – finding alternatives to fossil fuels) Readers Question: Why is it that on a global scale, alternative fuels are somewhat being ignored? Firstly, fossil fuels are still cheaper. However, the gap is narrowing. For example, see how …
Readers Question: How much bargaining power do workers have? Bargaining Power is the ability for firms or workers to get what they want. An example of bargaining power is related to the power of trades unions. If a part-time worker works for a firm with monopsony power, they will have very low bargaining power. However, …
Readers Question: Given the current environment, is it a valid argument of companies that increasing workers salaries will cause a loss of competitiveness? For example, cutting entry-level and middle-level workers salary while increasing management salaries will not change the profit levels of a company much. Wages are a part of a firm’s costs. If wages …
Readers Question: Why is house price inflation considered good while other forms of inflation are considered bad? Or are all forms of inflation bad for the economy? House price inflation has a mixed impact on the economy depending upon the extent and timing of the rise in house prices. This graph shows house price …