New Edition of EconoMax

The latest edition of EconoMax is available for download - details of the articles are below:

The costs and benefits of ‘city living’ (Tom White)
By some measures, 2008 or 2009 will be the time when half the world’s population live in cities. For most governments, this is viewed with anxiety. Yet the most recent World Development Report sees this process as a necessary and welcome stepping stone in the economic development of poor countries.

Deflation (Mark Johnston)
Over the last few years Central Banks have been fearful of inflation and putting upward pressure on interest rates. Today the opposite applies – they are slashing interest rates to stop inflation falling too far.

Is the US dollar still THE reserve currency? (Mark Johnston)
Since the end of the second-world war the USA has had a significant influence in the expansion of the world economy. It has set up regulations and organisations and encouraged governments around the world to use the US dollar as the international unit of account. However, with the economic chaos that has embraced the world economy, is the dominance of the US dollar under threat?

The Truth about Keyboards (Tom White)
Economics teachers like a nice case of market failure. A good old fashioned textbook (or teacher!) will probably have the following examples: for a ‘pure public good’, it would be a lighthouse. For positive externalities, bee keeping was long popular. Another favoured example of how ‘markets can make mistakes’ is the “QWERTY” layout of the standard typewriter keyboard. We seem to be stuck with a bad standard that is now so firmly established we can’t be rid of it.

Music Downloads - A constantly changing market (Robert Nutter)
This method of gaining access to music has damaged the market for shop purchased CDs (both singles and albums). It has also been highly controversial because of illegal free downloading via file sharing sites such as Limewire which mean reduced royalties to performers and record labels. Performers have increasingly turned to touring

Price setting behaviour by companies (Geoff Riley)
How often and how speedily do businesses change their prices? And what are the key factors that shape when a business will raise or lower prices for their customers?

Rail Users and the X Factor (Robert Nutter)
While the country braces itself for the general price level to possibly fall in 2009 (deflation) many rail passengers are facing a significant rise in fares.

The Retail Sector in the United Kingdom (Andy Reeve)
Retail plays a significant role with an estimated contribution of 8% towards GDP, employment levels of 2.9 million people in June 2008 (11% of the total workforce) and around 300,000 outlets across the whole of the United Kingdom.’