Category
In the News
Alexa joins the Consumer Price Index!
Smart speakers are in and envelopes are out of the revised basket of goods and services used to calculate the consumer price index.
Will Brexit hurt the Kenyan flower trade?
Another Brexit story - but with a remarkable angle this time. This BBC piece looks at the potential impact of Brexit on the Kenyan flower trade, not a link that's immediately obvious.
Developed countries need more female entrepreneurs
The issue of increasing female participation is often seen as exclusively something to do with developing economies, but, as this article proves, it also affects developed economies.
Economics Weekly Quiz - 8 March 2019
Here's this week's Economics news quiz. Good luck!
Amazon a 'phenomenon' of 21st century retail
A fresh Mintel survey looks at the power of Amazon. It is staggering - 90% of UK shoppers use it, 25% of shoppers are Prime customers. That equates to 15 million Prime customers. Wowsers! Is Amazon...
World Bank and Zambia renew partnership
Good news for development in copper-rich Zambia - one of my favourite sub-Saharan nations. The World Bank and Zambia have renewed the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) focusing on specific...
China: inside the world's concrete superpower
Just marvel at the majesty of Beijing's new airport, and the statistic that China pours "more concrete every two years than the US did in the entire 20th century".
Tesla cuts prices as it focuses on sales maximisation
Tesla is seen as the market leader in the electric car market, and yet the company has seemed to lurch from minor hiccup to minor hiccup.
Huge gas discovery off Cyprus
A big boost for the Cypriot economy, with the news that ExxonMobil has discovered large natural gas deposits. You should be able to think of the possible benefits of this for the supply-side and,...
Economics Weekly Quiz - 1 March 2019
Here's this week's Economics news quiz. Good luck!
Salmon farmers in Scotland in price-fixing inquiry
EU competition authorities suspect that there's something fishy goingon in the market for farmed salmon, and have raided a number of producers in Norway, the Netherlands and Scotland.
How Lidl has used monopsony power to increase their market share
There is some super applied business economics here. Lidl and Aldi are having a transformative impact on the UK food grocery landscape with a combined market share north of 12 percent.
Behavioural economics meets financial economics in this news article from the BBC.
Economics Weekly Quiz - 15 February 2019
Here's this week's Economics news quiz. Good luck!
Spiralling debt could herald the next financial crisis
Concerns are growing that another financial crisis is imminent. No less a figure than Ken Rogoff wrote last week that “the next major financial crisis may come sooner than you think”.
Can a universal basic income help society?
The Economist looks at the notion of a universal basic income (UBI). In Stockton, California, a city with above-average unemployment, the Mayor has introduced an experiment to give 100 people $500...
Oligopoly - Why is insulin so expensive?
A fascinating Business Insider clip looking at why insulin is so expensive in the US - and why it hasn't always been that way.
The positive returns from cutting food waste
A lovely article that highlights how tackling food waste in restaurants could generate significant returns for those companies that look to tackle the issue.
A Malaysian town smothered by rubbish
And this is where much of the plastic waste generated both in the West and in China, ends up. The town of Jenjarom in Malaysia has become the epicentre of the illegal plastic recycling industry,...
Biggest offshore wind farm to start UK supply
The Hornsea One offshore wind farm is about to start supplying the UK with electricity this week.