Readers Question: I keep reading about our country’s trade deficit which was £3bn in April. How does that work, if a country is spending more than it’s earning? Are we getting ourselves into more debt? I read that Germany has a trade surplus, which is not surprising but why can’t we do the same? There …
Discuss Economic Policies to Improve the Health of the Nation Can we use economics to improve the nation’s health? For many years rising living standards led to improved health and life expectancy. Greater national income enabled more to be spent on health care. Combined with improved medical technology, life expectancy rose. However, in many western …
How do problems in the Eurozone economy and a weak Euro affect the UK? A weaker Euro would help European goods and European travel appear more attractive. It would be good news for British holiday makers not wanting to risk transatlantic flight with the Icelandic volcano still smoldering. It would not be good news for …
For manufacturing investment, the real interest rate is important for determining the viability of investment. Lower interest rates make it cheaper to borrow. Therefore lower interest rates tend to encourage business investment. High real interest rates discourage investment. How interest rates affect the efficiency of investment At lower interest rates, the marginal efficiency of capital …
Readers Question: why should nominal GDP be corrected for the effects of inflation? Suppose your annual salary went from £20,000 a year to £40,000 a year. Does that mean you are better off? Can you buy twice as many goods? If there is zero inflation, if prices stay the same, then the answer is yes. …
I was looking at the scale of previous recessions. The current recession, which technically ended last quarter with a 0.1% rise in GDP, is the second worst on record. I was surprised to find that in the Great Depression, UK GDP only fell 10%. However, it is somewhat misleading. The UK economy struggled in the …
Readers Question: What would be the impact of a recession in China on UK and global economy? China’s economy continues to break records with its break neck records. Depending which measure you use, China is likely to be the world’s biggest economy very soon. Yet, there is no guarantee that this impressive growth will always …
Most western economies are facing the prospect of record peace time government debt levels. The EU Maastrict Criteria stated that the maximum budget deficit member countries could run is a budget deficit of 3% of GDP. (By the way, I am glad this target for government borrowing has not been enforced. That would have been …