Some facts about the UK economy. GDP In 2018, UK GDP stood at $2,809 trillion (£2,217) According to IMF, the UK GDP ranked 5th in nominal terms. Behind Germany (4th) and ahead of India (6th) Measured according to Purchasing Power Parity (adjusted for living costs, the UK ranked 9th The Great Moderation. Between 1993 and …
A zombie firm is a company that is currently able to stay in business but is loaded with bad debts and needs bailouts to survive. For example, a company which took on large debts but then a rise in interest rates makes these form debt repayments unaffordable and it would go under – without support …
Readers Question: What’s the relationship between a countries economy and it’s stock market? Is it always true that the stock market reflects a country’s economic conditions? Generally speaking, the stock market will reflect the economic conditions of an economy. If an economy is growing then output will be increasing and most firms should be experiencing …
A tortoise economy refers to an economy that is barely growing – either economic growth is stagnant or growth is very slow. In particular, it has been used to describe a sluggish recovery from recession. In the aftermath of the great recession – 2007/08, many western economies experienced a very slow economic recovery. GDP was …
Readers Question – what explains the strength of the German economy post-war? In the aftermath of the Second World War, the German economy was devastated by years of war, price controls, rationing and the loss of patents and top scientists to the US. However, by 1950, the economy was transformed by investment, economic growth and …
Economic growth is an increase in national output/income (higher real GDP). There are two main aspects of economic growth: Aggregate demand (AD) (consumer spending, investment levels, government spending, exports-imports) Aggregate supply (AS) (Productive capacity, the efficiency of economy, labour productivity) To increase economic growth We need to see a rise in demand and/or an increase …
A look at how a Central Bank may act as lender of last resort to commercial banks and the government. A lender of last resort means if banks or the government are short of funds, the Central Bank will step into prevent illiquidity. This helps to maintain confidence in the banking sector. Lender of last …
Economic growth means an increase in real GDP – this leads to higher output and higher average incomes. Governments often try to increase the growth rate because it will have various advantages. These include Benefits of economic growth Increased consumption. Firstly, higher GDP implies the economy is producing more goods and services and therefore consumers …