Category
In the News
Global recession warning from the World Bank
Are we perilously close to a global recession? Well, the World Bank is worried to the extent that it has downgraded its growth forecast for 2023 to 1.7% and a result of the ongoing effects of the...
Atom Valley: Burnham’s vision for regenerating Greater Manchester
Regional inequality, levelling up, the Northern Powerhouse - call it what you will, but the last 12 years plus of Conservative government have produced lots of slogans but little progress. And I've...
Are hedge funds holding up vital debt relief for Sri Lanka
As Sri Lanka tries to recover from its debt crisis, it seems that the prospect of recovery will depend upon the extent to which it is able to cancel its existing debts.
Disposable Incomes - The Big Squeeze Continues
A new report from the Resolution Foundation finds that real disposable incomes will continue to get squeezed throughout 2023 and into 2024.
The petrol sector is under fire for proving Keynes right about sticky prices. Although petrol and diesel prices are falling, according to the RAC they're not falling fast enough. Wholesale prices...
Economics Weekly Quiz | 06 January 2023
Here's our weekly economics news quiz.
Economics and Business News Quiz of the Year 2022
I've put together a twenty question quiz on some of the big Economics and Business news stories of 2022. Have a go!
30% rise in public electric car charging points in the UK in 2022
There's been a 30% increase in the number of public charging points that have been installed in the UK during 2022, bringing the total to 37,000. Remarkably, this is in line with the target of...
Patterns of Demand - WFH takes shine off Kiwi polish
When was the last time you polished your shoes? Changing work patterns and the rise of casual clothing and footwear means that the days of Kiwi shoe polish are numbered.
Norway faces debate about gas and oil wealth
The Norwegians with a very Scandinavian problem: rising energy prices have seen the country benefit from increase oil and gas revenues, to the tune of around 133 billion euros, or around 20,000...
Working Poverty, Monopsony Power and the Informal Labour Market
Here is an important applied example of monopsony power and working poverty. There are an estimated 5,000 hand cash-washes in the UK and new research from Nottingham Trent University finds that the...
Regulated rail fares to rise 6% - potentially pricing many off services
The annual uprating of rail fares is always controversial, if only because since 2010, rail fares have gone up by 58%, or twice as fast as wages.
Chemical giant 3M has announced that it is going to stop the manufacture of so-called forever chemicals. However, the damage may already have been done.
Business Economics: $1 Million Per Day To Run a Cruise Ship
This is a super-interesting clip for business economics students: it costs $1million per day to run Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Sea, a boat with 6,000 passengers per week, with a crew of...
Four Reasons to Expect Falling Inflation during 2023
2022 was a year when the rate of consumer price inflation accelerated sharply rising to 11% in November. As Chris Giles noted in a recent FT opinion piece, “a generation has had to worry about a...
Export Bans - Indonesia and Zimbabwe introduced new export restrictions
Two good examples for your Theme 4 macro notes! A growing number of countries rich in natural resources that the rest of the world needs are introducing export restrictions of raw, unprocessed...
A Grocery supplier, Proctor & Associates, is taking Lidl to court, alleging that the latter has systemically destroyed its business, using its monopsony power to poach its suppliers, or using...
Call for wealth tax as number of UK billionaires jumps 20% since 2020
Another call for a wealth tax, with the Equality Trust noting that the number of billionaires in the UK has increased by 20% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as a result of government...
UK bus price cap scheme is extended
The government are introducing and funding a price cap - limiting the cost of bus journeys in certain locations to £2 per single journey. The cap will run from January 1 to March 31. This means...
Potholes ahead for UK car dealers?
Here is an example of change in action with an article looking at the future for car dealerships, suggesting that new models of buying cars and the banning of new petrol and diesel car sales from...