In the 1960s, a big political issue was the size of the deficit. Not the budget deficit, but the current account deficit on the balance of payments. In recent years, worries about the balance of payments (current account deficit) have slipped from the political and media agenda. However, we have a very strong importance attached …
Readers Question – When a war brakes out in the middle east, the price of petrol rises, and the price 0f a used Ford Falcon falls why? When a war breaks out in the middle east, there is likely to be disruption to the supply of oil. 50% of our oil comes from the middle …
Recently, Liverpool supporters protested about plans to increase the price of many ticket (the most expensive seat in the Main Stand will now be £77). Many supporters complain that football tickets have risen well above the rate of inflation in recent years, making football less accessible to supporters on lower-incomes. But, what are the economic …
Readers Question is recession causes unemployment or unemployment causes recession? Essentially, it is a recession which causes unemployment. As output and demand fall, firms cut back on hiring new labour. This leads to a rise in unemployment as there are fewer job vacancies. Graph showing rise in unemployment after 2008 recession Also, some firms may …
The global economy faces many difficulties, both short term and long term. In the short term, the global economy risks a prolonged period of sluggish growth, which will lead to problems such as high unemployment, debt default and low investment. In the longer term, the global economy faces greater threats from the environment, demographic changes …
The UK economy in 2016 is emerging from a long period of economic stagnation and the recession of 2008-12, and has some positive signals of growth, low inflation and falling unemployment. However, the UK chancellor has been giving mixed signals. On the one hand he has pointed out that UK has one of the strongest …
In the past decade there has been a divergence between house prices in different parts of the UK. In particular, house prices in London and surrounding areas has rocketed to unprecedented levels. Source: ONS According to the ONS, average mix-adjusted house prices in September 2015 stood at £299,000 in England, £175,000 in Wales, £199,000 in …
Readers Question: After the insightful post on ‘Italian Economic Decline’, I was particularly captured by the % debt to GDP line graph of the different developed countries. The one thing that really caught my eye was Japan’s huge % debt to GDP and yet their government bond yields are consistently declining. Aren’t the markets worried …