Factor immobility occurs when it is difficult for factors of production (e.g. labour and capital) to move between different areas of the economy. Factor immobility could involve: Geographical immobility – When it is difficult to move from one geographical area to another. Occupational immobility – difficult to move from one type of work to another. …
A leveraged buyout occurs when a firm is bought by a group of investors who borrow a large proportion of the money needed to buy a target firm. Often the investors will use the assets of the target firm as collateral for borrowing money. Leveraged Buyouts are often highly aggressive methods of taking over an …
Readers Question: Given the widely varying fiscal policies of countries, both left and right, how come their growth rates over the long term are so close? source: World Bank To some extent growth rates are close; though it also depends which data and countries you use. However, from a very broad perspective, growth rates do …
Government price controls are situations where the government sets prices for particular goods and services. Types of price controls Minimum prices – Prices can’t be set lower (but can be set above) Maximum price – Limit to how much prices can be raised (e.g. market rent) Buffer stocks – Where government keep prices within a certain …
The political map of the US increasingly represents a divided America, and this political divide has roots in an increasing economic divide. In brief – rural areas tend to have lower average incomes (though also cheaper rent) higher rates of unemployment, declining population, reliance on one major employer and more concentrated on the primary sector …
Readers Question: how to evaluate the reliability of economic data? This is a good question. In brief, some issues to consider Is there a political angle? – Political leanings of media/think tank In what context is the data presented? How to interpret the data. Should we look at nominal data, real data or as a …
Arbitrage occurs when an investor can make a profit from simultaneously buying and selling a commodity in two different markets. For example, gold may be traded on both New York and Tokyo stock exchanges. If the market price temporarily diverges and gold becomes cheaper on Japanese markets, then an arbitrageur could buy in Tokyo and …
After a decade of secular stagnation in the west and ultra-low interest rates – from an economic perspective, the Turkish economy is ‘interesting’ in the sense that it gives a very different set of economic circumstances. An economic boom with parallels and similarities to the 1997-98 Asian Crisis. Since 2000, the Turkish economy has grown …