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In the News
Who do privatised water companies serve? Their customers or their shareholders?
Economics Weekly Quiz | 07 July 2023
Here's our final weekly economics news quiz of the academic year.
This report by Oxfam and Action Aid highlights the concept of windfall profits. But what are they? And how large is the estimated level of windfall profits generated by the world's biggest companies?
Environmental Economics - News Update
There is so much happening in the environmental economics news space at the moment. Here are some links to and reflections on a range of topical news stories ranging from New Zealand banning...
Economics Weekly Quiz | 30 June 2023
Here's our weekly economics news quiz.
Digital Divide - Calls for VAT cut for low cost broadband
This is an inequality issue - with a House of Lords Committee suggesting that digital exclusion is a major problem and that the government should try to do something to close this gap, not least...
Will Thames Water have to be nationalised?
Privatisation (and possible nationalisation) in the spotlight again, in that the UK's largest water company, Thames Water appears to be on the point of collapsing under the weight of its own debt....
Inter-generational impact of mortgage rate hikes
Another example of inter-generational inequality, with the latest research in the housing market revealing that younger homeowners are going to bear the brunt of the current rise in mortgage...
Monetary squeeze continues as BoE raises base rates to 5%
The Bank of England has raised base interest rates by 0.5% to 5%, the highest for fifteen years. The move has been trailed as a pre-emptive move meaning that the Bank hope that such a step will...
Economics Weekly Quiz | 23 June 2023
Here's our weekly economics news quiz.
A complicated issue to unpick but the head of the IMF, Kristina Georgieva has called for so-called 'debt for climate swaps' to be offered to developing economies to allow them to overcome the...
Classic oligopoly theory - with Morrisons and Marks and Spencer cutting the price of basic items in response to similar cuts by Tesco, Sainsburys and Aldi.
The Institute for Public Policy arguably sums up the last 40 years: £500bn plus under-investment has resulted in low growth. It argues that British investment is the lowest in the G7 and 27th out...
How bad will the looming mortgage crisis be?
Larry Elliott looks at the implications of higher mortgage interest rates both for mortgage borrowers and for the wider macroeconomy. He suggests that with interest rates being so high the...
Economics Weekly Quiz | 16 June 2023
Here's our weekly economics news quiz.
Horizontal Integration - Mega Merger in UK Telecoms
News of a proposed mega-merger in the telecoms sector, with Vodafone and Three looking to merge, and in doing so, create the UK's largest mobile phone firm. The combined firm would have 27 million...
With the latest labour market data today, it seems self-evident that monetary policy is going to be tightened again, meaning higher interest rates going forward and bad news for mortgage borrowers...
CMA warns against supermarket use of land banks
The Competition and Markets Authority was warned Sainsbury's And Asda about their future conduct in relation to the creation of land banks, and using land as a way of stopping rivals entering a...
Will the UK Energy Windfall Tax be suspended?
With energy prices falling, it seems as though the government are on the point of suspending the recently introduced windfall tax. The higher rate windfall tax was introduced last year in response...
This BBC article compares the price of basic items in supermarkets, trying to see how British prices compare with those on the continent. It highlights the facts that some goods are more expensive...