Interest rates are a tool of monetary policy. When the economy is overheating, the Central Bank can raise interest rates to cool demand and avoid an inflationary boom. In an ideal world, the Central Bank would make small adjustments in interest rates to fine-tune the economy and avoid booms and busts, but the situation the …
In recent months, the Pound Sterling has fallen against the dollar to levels not seen since 1985. This reflects long-term concerns about the UK economy, Brexit, the winter energy crisis and concerns about an imminent recession. The pound has fallen 16% this year, and the last month was the worst since 2016. The Pound is …
Huge volumes of waste are sent to landfill every year. In 2018, the US created 292.4 millions tons of trash, of which nearly half 146 million tons ended in landfill. In recent years, much effort has gone into encouraging people to recycle, and rates of recycling have increased significantly (in the US from 9% (1980) …
A recession is defined as a period of negative economic growth. However, there can be different causes and types of economic contraction. Different types of recession will influence the length, depth and effects of the recession. These are some of the different types of recessions. Boom and bust recession (e.g. UK 1991/92) – Very high …
The best guide to US elections is the state of the economy. If the economy is doing badly with high unemployment and/or higher inflation. The party of the sitting US president tends to get punished by the voters. But, how much influence does the President have on the economy and the rate of inflation? In …
A fundamental problem in the UK housing market is a persistent shortage of housing. The ONS forecast the number of households in the UK will increase by 1.6 million (7.1%) over the next 10 years, from 23.2 million in 2018 to 24.8 million in 2028, and yet the current rate of home construction is struggling …
Is net positive migration a factor behind the UK’s recent rise in house prices? Given the rapid rise in house prices since the mid-1990s and the corresponding rise in the number of immigrants, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that levels of net migration are having, at least, some effect on exacerbating the UK …
The learning effect can mean one of two things How education leads to increased productivity and higher wages How production processes can learn from past production to increase productivity over time. The learning effect can lead to a learning curve – which represents how average costs of production change over time. Learning effect – Education …