Swipe-it! Positive and Normative Statements
A couple of weeks into the first year of a new Economics course should just be about the right time for teachers to explore the concept of positive and normative economic statements. Here's a...
The Star Wars Multiplier Effect
Here is an example of a positive multiplier effect - this time from the filming of the new Star Wars movie. The multiplier is - to my mind - the single most important macroeconomic concept that you...
Zambia's River of Acid
A must post article to the Development Economics board because here we have a graphic illustration of the negative externalities created from intensive copper mining in Zambia. This country has one...
Taxis vrs Uber: Substitutes or complements?
I’ve taken the title of this blog from an Economist article. Uber arrived in New York City in 2011. Are they a substitute for the city’s famous yellow cabs, or do the two complement one another?
Meet the UK Interest Rate Setters!
I especially wanted to read this article because Martin Weale - who has been on the Monetary Policy Committee for nearly six years - was my Tutor at Cambridge and encouraged me to move into...
Can China be Rich and Green?
This is a light-hearted view of China's capacity to continue to grow given its environmental problems. But we should be careful when we apportion blame: we've gone through the same process during...
Nuclear energy can complement renewables
Lord Hutton writes here a persuasive articleLord Hutton writes here a persuasive article on the need for a nuclear core capacity at the heart of Britain's energy network as a way of providing...
How will a Population Boom Change Africa?
According to some forecasts, by the end of the century, 40% of people on our planet will be African. This article from the BBC news site is well worth reading for the four different perspectives on...
An update on Abenomics (September 2015)
Shinzo Abe came to power committed to rejuvenating economic growth in the Japanese economy. Two FT journalists from the Tokyo Bureau discuss whether Abe has made enough progress in stimulating the...
Is Carbon Capture a White Elephant?
This FT video highlights the need for scepticism regarding carbon capture and storage technology. It is typically FT: excellent, data rich and looks at the economics of this innovative, currently...
Your Full English Breakfast is Getting Cheaper!
Grain stocks are at a twenty-nine year high, world coffee prices have dropped by nearly 30% and global prices for pork, sugar and milk are also well down from where there were six years ago. Little...
IKEA's Staggering Revenue Growth Continues
IKEA is one of those go-businesses when you want to applied your understanding and analysis of economies of scale, fast organic growth (yes ... it can happen) and to find a poster-child of...
When US Interest Rates Rise - A Short Primer
The United States Federal Reserve is the Central Bank for the USA and seems poised to start raising monetary policy interest rates gradually later on this autumn or early in 2016. This would be the...
Apple & Microsoft: Collaboration not Competition
An excellent piece here from BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones on the changing relationship between Apple and Microsoft.
Economic Principles of the Refugee Crisis
Emotions are running high over the refugee crisis, with heart-breaking images arousing waves of compassion across Europe. As ever, however, economics lurks in the background. The tragic stories of...
Africa in Numbers
For students taking the EdExcel Unit 4 Global Economy course this data rich article from the Guardian comes highly recommended. They take seven indicators to help emphasise the structural...
EU lesson resources
Based on this week's Beyond the Bike adventures from the City of London and into Europe, here are three lesson ideas, complete with resources that are ready-to-use in classrooms.
Beyond the Bike - a journey to the heart of the EU from London
This week Stuart and Claire cycled through France and Belgium and into the Netherlands. This is Stuart's blog post exploring whether Britain should stay in or leave the EU. You can see the original...
Peston on the Rising UK Trade Deficit
His holiness, Robert Peston responds to the disappointing July trade figures that were released today: the trade deficit is rising, manufacturing output has stalled and the only thing that is...
UK Oil and Gas Sector Sheds Thousands of Jobs
Oil and Gas UK have reported that there's been a precipitous decline in employment in the UK oil industry - and this could have a had a negative multiplier effect, not least on the Scottish...