Readers Question: “As for the argument that China can always use its foreign exchange (forex) reserves to provide further stimulus to prop up the economy, the people who purport this have little knowledge of basic economics. If China were to use substantial forex reserves in this way, it would become a large net-seller of U.S. …
Readers Question: Do you believe the Coalition Government has used the right macroeconomic policies with regards to reducing the budget deficit? No. I’ve written a few times that I believe the coalition government made a big mistake in prioritising deficit reduction over economic recovery in 2010. The consequence of trying to reduce the budget deficit …
There are different ways of looking at the UK recovery. Firstly, we can look at the damage done to the economy since the peak in 2008. The black lines suggests a possible pre-crisis trend rate of economic growth. A rough rule of thumb, suggests that had economic growth been maintained at the pre-crisis trend rate …
Back in the summer of 2010, Apple launched the iPad. It was launched to great excitement and it seems the initial euphoria was well placed. From sales of zero at the start of 2010, the tablet market has expanded to over 100 million units a year as we come towards the end of 2013. Sales …
Readers Question Why did bond yields in the USA rise at news of the Fed Tapering back in August? The Federal Reserve has been engaged in a policy of quantitative easing. This involves: Creating money electronically Using this created money to buy assets, such as government bonds. The aim of quantitative easing is to stimulate economic …
Readers Question: National debt is now extremely high. However aren’t there different kinds of debt e.g that which funds current spending, that which funds investment in infrastructure and emergency (bank bail out etc) Surely it’s the first we should really be worried about and less concerned with borrowing that makes the economy more efficient such …
A debt default means the US is unable to pay back US bond holders the full value of their bonds. If investors lost money from US Treasuries, it would cause widespread financial panic, leading to a fall in bank lending, rising bond yields, a fall in the value of the dollar and the possibility of …
Another few graphs to look at the impact of the UK budget deficit on bond yields and interest payments. Government net borrowing for 2012-12 excluding Royal Mail pension fund transfer and Asset Finance Programme (AFP – the proceeds from Q.E) Government borrowing vs debt interest payments The very large deficits have had little impact on …