Given levels of UK national debt and forecasts for rises in government debt, what are the prospects for a UK debt default? The UK has had higher levels of national debt after the First and Second World War Bond Yields Bond yields on UK government gilts are reasonable and don’t predict any default. In fact …
The Bank of England set the base rate. The base rate is the rate at which they charge commercial banks to borrow from the Bank of England. In normal economic circumstances, this base rate will influence all the interest rates set by other banks and financial institutions. If the Bank of England cut the base …
I’m off to New York on Wednesday, I’m tempted to stay until May 8th, so I can miss the UK General election campaigning, which so far has been quite depressing for the poor quality of economic debate. This is just an outline of some issues for consideration. I may expand upon these in the coming …
Despite high unemployment in the UK, there is a shortage of LGV drivers and it is estimated that the UK will need an extra 150,000 drivers by 2020. In Nottinghamshire, it is estimated that for every nine vacancies there is only one qualified candidate. (link) The average age of a (LGV) Large Goods Vehicle driver …
Readers Question: What is the name of a type of good that only has value to someone if no one else possesses it? A snob or ostentatious good is a good where the main attraction is related to its image of being expensive, exclusive and a symbol of social status. These goods will have restricted …
A look at the nature of the UK economic recovery. Is the recovery sustainable? Who has benefited the most from recovery? Which groups of people have not benefited from the recovery? In the past two years, the UK economy has posted relatively impressive growth figures. The UK posted annual growth of 2.6% between Q3 2014 …
Competitive devaluation occurs when countries seek to reduce the value of their exchange rate to make their exports cheaper and gain a competitive advantage in world trade over other countries. This may encourage other countries to respond by also devaluing their currency to maintain their own competitive advantage. If countries are making great efforts to …
Bank of England base interest rates are currently 0.5%. Economists are divided about when interest rates will rise. Some point to the evidence of a strong economic recovery to suggest interest rates could rise by mid 2015. Others argue that the strong global deflationary pressures mean that UK inflation is likely to stay very low …