In economics, there is often a trade off between macro economic variables. A simple trade off could be – increase interest rates; this leads to lower inflation, but also lower output. Cut interest rates, and you help boost growth, but increase inflation. In an ideal world, we would have low inflation, high growth and full …
In recent years, the gap between average female wages and men’s wages have decreased, however, for various reasons, men’s pay is still higher than women. Reasons for Gender Pay Gap Career breaks to have children (Studies have shown that women without children have a much smaller pay gap than women who take time off work …
The UK economy faces a few paradoxes. Low Growth – High Inflation. Firstly, after a deep recession the economic recovery is weak. In theory, high unemployment and low growth should lead to low inflation. However, due to rising energy and food prices, we have inflation above target. This presents a conundrum for the Bank of …
Readers Question: I’m not studying economics, just a normal person trying to make some decisions about my future and asking for advice on just how bad things are going to get over the next few years. I have a pessimistic friend who says currencies will collapse and I should be stocking up on tinned food, …
“Don’t Panic, Captain Mainwaring.” – Dad’s Army The famous catchphrase could perhaps be adapted to UK debt levels. The 1940s and 1950s, were an example of high debt, but, it didn’t cripple the UK economy, the 1950s proved to be a decade of full employment and was one of the longest periods of economic expansion …
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two of the richest men in the world. Does the concept of scarcity apply to them? Wealth of Bill Gates In 2011, the wealth of Bill Gates is estimated at $56 billion. This comes from a variety of sources, but his 6% share in Microsoft provides the bulk of …
CPIY = CPI – indirect taxes such as VAT, stamp duty and excise duty. This gives a guide to underlying inflation, stripping away the distortionary impact of indirect taxes. This suggests underlying inflation is lower than the headline rate.(CPIY statistics.gov) A big issue for the UK economy is the existence of inflation when theoretically, there …
There is often much discussion about the impact of tax and benefits on the distribution of income. This is an interesting graph which shows the impact of different taxes and benefits on income distribution. As expected, direct taxes (like income tax) are progressive – i.e. they take a bigger % of income from high earners. …