Ducts, Poles and Increasing Contestability
Here is a classic example of increasing contestability: in this case an established incumbent, BT Openreach is making its network of ducts and poles available to a rival fibre optic network, City...
Twitter's growth continues to slow
In most businesses, adding eight million users in the space of a year would count as success! But for Twitter, the clear deceleration in the year on year growth of their monthly active user base is...
Economics A Level CPD courses from tutor2u
If you haven't already seen our Economics A Level CPD events for the rest of this academic year, please have a look at the list and booking details here. Our selection includes: 'New to Teaching...
GCC Fiscal Policy & the Balance of Trade: Gulf States Issue Bonds in their Plans to Raise Debt as the Price of Oil Falls
Bond issues are in fashion in the GCC (Gulf Co-operation Council) region with Abu Dhabi, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain all planning debt-raising issues in the coming months.
The Queen’s 90th birthday has quite rightly dominated the media over the past week. Her Majesty continues to break all sorts of records, spending longer on the throne than Queen Victoria and being...
Innovative Monopolist vs Defensive Monopolists: Monopoly Power in the United Arab Emirates
We often champion monopolies for their dynamically efficient behaviour, and how they contribute to long run static efficiencies through their invention and innovation made affordable by high profits.
Wage Determination - the value of Fatherhood
Research released by a left-leaning think tank in conjunction with the TUC has revealed figures that suggest wage discrimination goes beyond the standard issue of gender equality. The research...
Contestable Markets - Small Firms Embrace the Cloud
A terrific short article here looking at how the development of cloud computing has enabled small firms to compete to a greater degree.
Businesses put their own price on carbon
The number of businesses who are voluntarily putting a price on their carbon emissions is rising rapidly. For some it is part and parcel of their deep-rooted commitment to sustainability as a...
Business Responses to the "new" UK Living Wage
How are businesses responding to the introduction of George Osborne's self-styled living wage?
UK Treasury's Analysis of Brexit
The UK Treasury has produced a lengthy document outlining the economic case for remaining inside of the European Union. Naturally the publication led to a fierce debate about the accuracy of their...
Options for Trade Deals if the UK Leaves the EU
What kind of trade deal would the UK be able to negotiate with the European Union in the event of a BREXIT vote? BBC Newsnight investigates
Revealed Preference, Taxation and the Panama Papers
The Panama papers made headlines everywhere. They are rather like a quantitative version of Hello! magazine. Read all about the vast amount of money a particular celeb has got stashed away....
A History of Money in Five Objects
This is a lovely clip showing the nature of money over the centuries and perhaps provoking thought about the nature of money
Risks from Over-Specialisation - China's Underwear Town
This is an absolutely fascinating insight into China's one-trick industrial towns - underwear accounts for 80% of the Gurao's output. If that statistic isn't 'pants', I don't know what is! But is...
Chinese businesses continue their overseas acquisitions
There's been a recent spate of Chinese acquisitions of foreign assets: with the growth in activity having increased by around 300%. In part, this is a response to lower levels of demand in the...
70th Anniversary of the death of John Maynard Keynes
On this day (21st April) in 1946 John Maynard Keynes, often credited as the father of modern macroeconomics, passed away. Some of our main resources on Keynesian economics can be found here
Google accused of anti-competitive behaviour in the app industry
"We believe that Google’s behaviour denies consumers a wider choice of mobile apps" so says the European Union competition authority when launching a new case against the web search giant today....
The Economics of Vinyl
In the last few years we have seen the revival of vinyl records, with sales passing a million in 2014 (the first time since 1996), and growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. So...
Will OPEC agree an output squeeze to raise crude prices?
A number of oil producers - both OPEC and non-OPEC members are meeting in Qatar to discuss what to do about levels of production. At the moment there's only one agenda item: whether or not to agree...