How to judge George Osborne’s and David Cameron’s economic record since May 2010? They inherited an economy recovering from a deep recession, high unemployment and large budget deficit. It was a difficult economic circumstance, but at the same time you might expect a strong economic recovery as there was much unused capacity and potential for …
In recent years, major companies have seen a significant rise in cash reserves. These are profits which are not reinvested or distributed to shareholders but effectively saved. The largest cash reserves are found amongst major US IT companies, such as Apple, Microsoft and Google. These cash reserves have significant implications for economic welfare and income …
Readers question: Hello Tejvan! I wonder if you can explain if crimes have a net beneficial impact on the economy? Thank you! A nice change from Brexit problems. Does crime increase economic welfare? Let us suppose Tejvan buys a nice bicycle for £1,000 to commute into work. But, whilst locked up outside the office it …
Readers question: Is there anything in economic theory that addresses what I would like to call “economic abuse” Where the profit of a what a worker does is ten to a hundred times what the worker earns to the Owner or Individual paying the worker. The worker earns $10 a day doing labour that the …
In recent years, the UK has seen a more flexible labour market. One phenomena is the growth in self-employed contractors. This category of workers have different rights to employees. Self-employment can be attractive to workers seeking greater flexibility. But, there is also concern firms are using the categorisation of self-employment as a bogus method to …
Readers question: Will a sustained recovery in the UK lead to inflation? A sustained economic recovery could lead to inflation. If economic growth is above the long run trend rate for a prolonged period, if demand grows faster than productivity, then in that scenario we are likely to see rising inflation (rise in the cost …
Readers Question: Can you explain the short-term and long-term effects of Osborne legislating that there must be budget surpluses in any year when growth exceeds 1%, which is almost every year, whilst we have a rather large current account deficit. What will be the effects of this on private sector companies, public investment, households, the …
When I moved to Oxford in 1995, I don’t remember seeing any coffee shops apart from the odd independent coffee/tea houses. There was no major chain like – Starbucks, Costa, Coffee Republic. Now in 2010, I can visualise at least 10 off the top of my head. Costa coffee shops seem to be springing up …