Already since the start of the year the FTSE-100 has fallen 7%. Yesterday, the stock market fell 3% of 190 points on fears related to the growing credit crunch. In particular, American bank Citibank wrote off $18billion from its mortgage defaults. It hopes this will draw a line under the losses in the derivatives market. …
Economies of scale occurs when increased output leads to lower long run average costs. Diagram of Economics of Scale Note Economies of Scale occurs upto Q2. After Q2 dis-economies of scale starts to occur Basically as a firm expands it receives increasing returns to scale. To understand why economies of scale occur it is useful …
Predicting exchange rates is not as easy as some experts may suggest. There are many factors at work in determining exchange rates – economic fundamentals are only part of the equation. To predict future exchange rate movements we need to look at a variety of factors. The most important include: Interest Rate Movements. Interest rates …
Sticky inflation is an undesirable economic situation where there is a combination of stubbornly high inflation, (and often stagnant growth). Sticky inflation is often associated with cost-push factors, i.e. factors which cause a rise in the inflation rate but also lead to lower spending and economic growth. Sticky inflation is also sometimes known as Stagflation …
Back in March I wrote this essay – Is the US heading towards recession? According to some doom mongers the US is already in recession. They point to the ‘collapsing’ housing market and the rise in ‘repossessions’ The irony is that US economic growth has remained unexpectedly high at 4.9% in 3rd quarter of 2007. …
Amidst all the gloom surrounding global credit markets and house prices, it is easy to forget some of the strengths and developments in the UK economy. One of the most remarkable features of the UK economy is the sustained reduction in unemployment. Falling from a peak of 3 million in 1992, the official method of …
Readers Question: What will happen if OPEC continued to increase oil prices? Firstly, the rise in the price of oil is not just due to the activities of OPEC. It is partly due to the rising demand from countries such as China. If OPEC continue to contribute to higher oil prices in 2008 it would …
Indian Economy 2009 Behind China, India is the second fastest growing economy. According to a survey by Goldman Sachs, India will become the 3rd largest economy by 2035. This is measured in $US. If we use PPP (purchasing power parity) which takes into account local purchasing power, India already has the 3rd largest economy. However, …