A look at the nature of the UK economic recovery. Is the recovery sustainable? Who has benefited the most from recovery? Which groups of people have not benefited from the recovery? In the past two years, the UK economy has posted relatively impressive growth figures. The UK posted annual growth of 2.6% between Q3 2014 …
Competitive devaluation occurs when countries seek to reduce the value of their exchange rate to make their exports cheaper and gain a competitive advantage in world trade over other countries. This may encourage other countries to respond by also devaluing their currency to maintain their own competitive advantage. If countries are making great efforts to …
Why didn’t the UK Join the Euro? Joining the Euro would give the UK various advantages: predictability of exchange rates with Europe Easier for consumers to compare prices (price transparency) Lower transaction costs Encourages investment because of greater stability in trade. However, despite these potential benefits the UK decided not to join and shows no …
With economic sanctions and a plummeting price of oil, the Russian economy is seeing a real economic crisis. The value of the rouble is falling – causing inflation and a decline in living standards. Government tax revenues are falling as oil tax revenues decline. On top of a falling Rouble, the economy faces recession due …
How has the coalition government fared on its economic policies? Firstly, there are quite a few paradoxes. Ignore own promises. The first paradox of the coalition government is the best thing they did was to ignore their own advice. When they came to power, they promised spending cuts, austerity and a balanced budget within a …
A mansion tax (or property tax) would be an annual progressive charged that would be paid by homeowners. It is effectively a tax on housing wealth. The Labour party has suggested implementing a property tax on homes worth over £2 million. Exact details have not been confirmed, but the suggestion is that it will be …
Readers Questions: is this the worse time to be a young adult in the UK? I will answer this question primarily from the economic point of view. The first thought that springs to mind is that if you look at the long history of the UK, this is probably a good time to be young …
Readers Comment from UK debt under Labour. In 13 years from 1997/8 to 2009/10, the Labour Government increased debt by about £420 billion. In the 5 years from 2010/11 to 2014/2015, the Coalition Government will increase debt by about £600 billion. These are the facts. Yes, though I’m always nervous about extracting facts like …