Despite a shrinkage in manufacturing and widening trade deficit, the IMF have hinted that the UK economy is beginning to emerge from one of the longest periods of economic stagnation / recession on records. They marginally increased their forecast for UK growth to 0.9% for 2013. Does the recent good news give hope to the …
Abenomics refers to the economic policy of the current Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe. The aim of the policy is to stimulate strong economic recovery and help the Japanese economy to escape a cycle of deflation, and low growth. Can Japan break the cycle of low growth? The range of policies include: Expansionary monetary policy …
I’ve never been in favour of the government’s Plan A for the economy – austerity in a recession was also going to risk pushing economy back into double dip recession and simultaneously fail to reduce the budget deficit. Even if the austerity was mild by comparison to the rest of Europe, it was just enough …
Readers Question Richard Drayton, the Professor of Imperial History at Kings College London, says in a letter to the London Review of Books: “What is clear is that in May 2010 the percentage of UK GDP which went to servicing debt, even after the impact of the 2008 crisis, was, at 2.5 per cent, at …
Readers question: What will happen if the UK has its credit rating reduced from AAA to AA? Do you remember all those sub-prime mortgage bundles which caused the credit crisis? These mortgage bundles which later proved to be almost worthless were, for a considerable period, given a AAA credit rating by rating agencies. Even Greece, …
Quantitative easing is a process where a Central Bank creates money electronically. It uses this new money to purchase assets and bonds (mostly government bonds) from commercial banks and financial institutions. For more see: Quantitative easing explained Quantitative Easing has helped many holders of government bonds who have benefited from selling bonds to the Central …
Definition Chicago School – A strand of economic theory highlighting the benefits of free-market economics and critical of Keynesian government intervention The Chicago School of economists originated from the University of Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. Influential economists such as Milton Friedman and George Stigler helped to define a new reaffirmation of classical / …
Broadband access in the UK. Also showing different access points to broadband. In the space of less than 10 years, Broadband access has come to be seen as a vital public amenity. It is used for business, retail and is increasingly seen as one of the factors which can show the degree of economic development …