Around 2000, something remarkable happened to the Italian economy. It stopped growing and went into a 20 year long-decline. Even if you adjust for population, Italy’s performance was strikingly worse than its main competitors. If we look at productivity, Italy fell far behind. It has effectively lost two decades with real wages remaining virtually stagnant. …
Since 2000, there was only one major economy which has seen a fall in real GDP per capita – Italy. In this period, Italy has experienced a shocking fall in productivity, rising debt, and prolonged economic turmoil. We are told the Italian economy is riven by cronyism, falling birth rates, and a regional divide. Yet, …
The British Wage Disaster – Why Wages Lower than EUWatch this video on YouTube Compared to many major European economies, UK average wages are lower and this is before we take into account relatively higher housing costs and longer working hours for British workers. In the past 15 years, the UK has seen pretty much …
Reader’s Question: Why does printing money cause inflation? Does this always occur? Summary If the money supply increases faster than output then, ceteris paribus, inflation will occur. If a government prints extra money, households will have more cash and more money to spend on goods. But, if the amount of goods stays the same, the …
In May 2010, the Conservative coalition entered government against a backdrop of the great financial crisis, which had sent the pound tumbling, a deep recession and record government deficits. Cameron and Osborne blamed the crisis on high debt and wasted no time in imposing austerity measures on the economy. Yet, 14 years after the start …
Why The Russian Economy Defied Predictions of CollapseWatch this video on YouTube Following the invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, the Western powers introduced unprecedented levels of sanctions, freezing $300bn of Russian assets, the Ruble collapsed, inflation rose, and the Russian economy headed into recession. It seemed the perfect storm to create deep economic problems. …
Rail Privatisation Failure – Why we pay more for TrainsWatch this video on YouTube In the Victorian age, the UK led the world in building railways, it was an invention that changed the world. But, by the 1980s, the state owned British Railways was the butt of jokes, stale sandwiches, declining passengers and closed lines. …
Under Quantitative Easing, the Central Bank created large quantity of bank reserves and bought bonds. Commercial bnks saw an increase in bank reserves. Initially, this made it cheaper for the UK Treasury to borrow. The Bank of England gained interest on the long-term bonds it bought, and for a time paid no interest on the …