London home to a fifth of the UK's businesses
If don't want to see the North-South divide, look away now", as the Saturday evening news might suggest. That statement itself strikes me as anachronistic: the rise of the Internet means most...
David Cameron’s visit to Jamaica last week led to vociferous demands for the UK to pay the Caribbean island billions of pounds in reparations for slavery. Most people here reacted with predictable...
Unintended consequences of the 5p bag charge
In the weeks prior to the introduction of the 5p bag charge in England, major supermarket chains decided to stock up on wire shopping baskets, with one chain reportedly purchasing an additional...
Global Goals are set to address poverty and underdevelopment
You may have seen the wonderful news from the World Bank, who have said that for the first time less than 10% of the world's population will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2015. "We...
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is Sealed!
A significant development in the history of international trade. The US, Japan and 10 other Pacific rim countries have signed a controversial and sweeping trade agreement that covers about 40% of...
Extreme Poverty Rate Falls Below 10%
The World Bank has said that for the first time less than 10% of the world's population will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2015. The bank said it was using a new income figure of $1.90...
Local councils to keep business rate revenues
George Osborne's address to the Conservative Party Conference has flagged up a number of interesting economic ideas - not least this one, implying a devolution of power from the centre, with local...
Dissecting the Commodity Price Meltdown
Roger Bootle writes here on commodity prices: blending micro- and macroeconomics. And, in a nutshell, that's one of the joys of the subject - the fact that in order to do it well, you need to grasp...
A ‘nudge’ to reduce plastic bag use
This week large retailers in England will have to charge at least 5p per bag (in Scotland and Wales the levy already exists). What will be the impact?
Read All About It! Topical News quiz for your Economics Students
Here's a topical Economics quiz for your students, using news stories from the past week. Hopefully, your students are regularly keeping up to date with what is going on in the real world and this...
Brazilian coffee farmers look to move up market
Development economics students - please read this article! A group of Brazilian farmers are trying to make their product less vulnerable to volatile global coffee prices by taking their coffee up...
Uber faces UK regulatory review
The 'creative destruction' associated with the emergence of Uber has created all sorts of great economics stories - is it promoting efficiency, what about its impact on the traditional black cab,...
Beyond the Bike - conflict minerals and smartphones
This week Stuart and Claire dipped into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with their bikes. In particular, they were interested in exploring the start of the supply chain for raw materials...
Um Bongo: a spotlight on modern social and economic behaviour
Readers who either had young children or were children themselves in the 1980s will recall the Um Bongo jingle. The advert assured us it was drunk in the Congo. A survey published last week to mark...
Mazzucato's Manifesto!
Mariana's Manifesto! Mariana Mazzucato is undoubtedly one of the economists of the moment. Her 2013 book The Entrepreneurial State is pretty much required reading I think for ambitious sixth form...
Eight radical tax ideas for cash-strapped finance ministers!
An almost perfect article to use for classroom discussion! Take the role of a cash-strapped finance minister and rank these eight ideas for raising extra tax revenues. How well does each perform...
IMF warns higher interest rates might trigger a new financial crisis
This is one of those big picture macro news stories that is worth a read because of the assertion that a huge rise in corporate borrowing (aka debt) by businesses in emerging countries has meant...
Copper prices collapse to a six year low
The Chinese slowdown is an important factor behind the slump in world commodity prices and copper is no exception. Prices have collapsed to a six year low and might well be the catalyst for the...
African governments issue more sovereign bonds
A growing number of African governments are going to the bond markets to raise funds for example to facilitate infrastructure projects. Typically the interest rate (or yield) on newly issued bonds...
Technology cuts insurance costs for young drivers
A brilliant article here from BBC news demonstrating the importance of information in allowing markets to function efficiently. In this case, the market is for car insurance and careful young...