Technological unemployment occurs when the adoption of new technology causes job losses. Automation is a process of using robots, AI and machines to take the place of workers – not just in manufacturing, but increasingly new avenues – even in the service sector. The pace of automation is causing job disruption – with workers – …
A high wage economy is characterised by high average incomes, rising real wages and fair distribution of income so the lowest income deciles are well paid. In summary, high wage economies tend to be characterised by high economic growth, rising labour productivity, high levels of education and training and good labour protections. (e.g. trade unions …
Panic buying – is it rational or irrational Panic buying is a situation where consumers buy an unusually large quantity of a good in anticipation of coming uncertainty. A related concept is ‘surge buying’ where people buy more than usual for rational reasons. Reasons for panic buying could include Health crisis which causes people to …
In the past few decades, there has been a dramatic decline in global birth rates, with many developed economies seeing their birth rate fall well below the ‘replacement ratio’ of 2.1 – meaning that their population will be set to decline in future years. Italy gives a stark warning of the impact of a low …
In the past two decades, we have had a remarkable period of low inflation. Inflation has been so low, some economists have suggested a new paradigm – the end of inflation as a primary economic concern. Since 2009, any predictions of imminent inflation have proved to be wide of the mark. There have been warnings …
Labour shortages occur when employers struggle to fill labour vacancies because of insufficient labour applying for the jobs. Labour shortages can occur in geographical regions or in occupations with special requirements in terms of skill or function. Labour shortages can also be seasonal in industries like retail (Christmas) and agriculture (harvest time). Recently, since Brexit …
Historical US Unemployment since 1900 Sources 1890-1920 data are from Christina Romer (1986). “Spurious Volatility in Historical Unemployment Data”, The Journal of Political Economy, 94(1): 1920-1930 Robert M. Coen (1973). “Labor Force and Unemployment in the 1920’s and 1930” 1930- 1948 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Thanks to User Peace Generally, the US economy was …
Covid raises many problems for society and offers quite a few examples of market failure. These include: Externalities. A young person catching Covid may face few personal costs, but there is an external cost because they may transmit to more vulnerable people. Information asymmetries. There is a lot of misinformation about Covid and vaccines. This …