M4 Definition M4 is a broad money supply measure. Briefly, M4 includes all notes and coins in circulation, deposits at banks and building societies, plus assets which are considered relatively liquid (short-term bonds, commercial paper) M4 growth is currently negative. M4 lending to private sector is currently 6.0% lower compared to past 12 month (July …
What are the key issues affecting the UK economy over the next few years? Recession and Recovery The biggest problem facing the UK economy is the lack of economic recovery. After a fall in GDP of 6% in 2008/09, the economy briefly recovered, but the recent double dip recession of 2012 has left the UK …
This is an article published in the LSE about the Austrian view of the Eurozone crisis ‘The Work of Hayek shows why EU governments can’t spend their way out of problems‘ I’ve attempted to summarise the article, but I advise reading it for yourself: The recent boom and bust was caused by artificially low interest …
Ever since the Euro debt crisis hit the headlines in 2008, economists have argued that the ECB need to act and buy bonds to prevent liquidity fears and prevent bond yields from being artificially high. Held back by fears of the ECB exceeding their mandate, we have watched in despair, as bond yields on Eurozone …
Balanced Budget Fiscal Expansion is an attempt to increase aggregate demand through changing spending and taxation levels, whilst leaving the overall fiscal budget situation the same. Essentially, the idea is that if you increase spending and taxes equally, the increased government spending has a bigger positive impact on economic growth than the negative impact of …
Readers Question: Will Cutting Public spending bring economic growth?Do Countries with lower government spending as a % of GDP have higher economic growth rates? After recent data on -0.7% growth in Q2 2012, several experts offered suggestions for restoring economic growth to the UK. In the Guadian, Sheila Lawlor suggested (link): The UK’s output figures, …
Readers Question: Can there be economic growth without an increase in the money supply? Can there be growth with zero inflation? There can be economic growth with zero inflation. This could occur if there was improvements in productivity, which caused lower costs and higher output at the same time. If you take a particular sector …
Interesting perspective from Norbert Walter a former chief economist of Deutsche Bank Group and head of Deutsche Bank Research. – What Euro Crisis? Basically, his view; There isn’t really an economic crisis in the Eurozone If there is a crisis, it could easily be resolved through a bit more immigration and the European Union becoming like …