Which countries have the fastest internet speed?
A small island nation hoping to build and retain competitive advantage in digital industries would hope to be well up global league tables in terms of internet speed. Sadly the UK remains in the...
Hyperinflation in Venezuela - In Real Life
This is a superb short radio clip from Radio 4 on life in Venezuela, a country with three exchange rates and suffering from hyperinflation. Gideon Long tries not to lose all his money as he changes...
Model agencies found guilty of price fixing
Here is a model exam example of collusion in markets!
Uber defies demand to stop using self-driving cars
Uber seems prepared to flout the law with its self-driving cars - being prepared to ignore the California Attorney-General and continue to run its self-driving cars in San Francisco.
Land banks and the housing shortage
One of the reasons for the housing market being dysfunctional is the existence of substantial 'land banks' held by a variety of groups, notably the UK's largest house builders. However,...
Nurofen fined heavily for mis-leading consumers
Another instance of the regulator intervening to protect consumers from exploitation by another pharmaceutical company. In this instance, the manufacturer of Nurofen, Reckitt Benckiser, has seen...
London's lead in income per head over the regions
This Guardian article highlights the extent of regional inequality - noting that over the past decade inequality has increased, with London increasingly well ahead of other regions.
The Dichotomy of Behavioural Economics
Festive enrichment from two giants - Gerd Gigerenzer & Nassim Nicholas Taleb offer some perspectives on behavioural economics in a recording of a panel event held in December 2016.
US Fed raises interest rates driving the dollar higher
The strengthening US dollar is not perhaps what Donald Trump had in mind when he said he wanted to make America great again. It will erode the price competitiveness of manufacturing exports and...
Just Eat acquires Hungry House - Horizontal Integration at work
Horizontal integration in the fast-growing and increasing competitive home-food delivery market. Just Eat is competing with the likes of Deliveroo and, judging from the number of Deliveroo cyclists...
China's spiralling property prices
A lengthy piece looking at the state of the housing market in China and using the 'b' word: bubble. Prices in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province in eastern China, have risen by 47%; in Beijing,...
The session-by-session content for the upcoming A Level Economics Grade Booster student workshops has now been published. Details below.
RIP Thomas Schelling
We are sad to learn of the passing of Nobel prize-winner Thomas Schelling. His work on deterrence using applied game theory was hugely important during and after the Cold-War era.
Eighty Years on from the General Theory - Keynes Returns
Larry Elliott is on good form in this opinion piece in the Observer. Faced with the upheaval of 2016, what would a cryogenically frozen Keynes do eighty years on from the publication of the General...
Under-investment by British business
I have just been teaching growth and productivity, and this article ties in with that: innovation is a major contributor to productivity.
Starter activity on analysis skills - "This is because"
The graphic below shows information on the amount of people being hired, laid-off and quitting in US manufacturing over the past 15 years. Significantly, it highlights when the economy was in...
The Rise of the Renminbi
The IMF's Finance and Development magazine (December 2016) carries an interesting book review on the rise of the Yuan / renminbi as an international currency and the complexity of China's currency...
Canada introduces their first carbon price
The Canadian government has announced the introduction of their first national carbon price as part of their strategy to increase investment in renewables and meet their global climate change targets.
Capita to replace workers with robots
This is an interesting pieceThis is an interesting piece that highlights the extent to which there's substitution between capital and labour, with outsourcing giant Capita looking to replace...
Mega Merger: 21st Century Fox and Sky agree a deal
A mega-merger in the media, with 21st Century Fox making a bid for Sky - although I'm not sure whether it is horizontal integration or a conglomerate merger, given the extent of the interests of...