The renminbi - the growth of a global currency
This short video from the Financial Times focuses on the rise of the renminbi as a global currency: it is now the fifth most traded currency in the world but still only accounts for 2% of the...
Streaming and the Music Industry
This excellent FT video looks at how businesses like Spotify, YouTube and Apple are revolutionising the way we consume music.
FT's new UK Economic Dashboard
The Financial Times has just launched a new Economic Dashboard for the UK economy and quite simply it is a stunning tour de force.
Disneyland Paris accused of price discrimination
Disneyland Paris has been accused of engaging in location-base price discrimination by charging consumers from EU countries different prices for vacation packages at the resort.
Royal Mail in the dock over delivery charges
The recently privatised Royal Mail has breached competition law according to industry regulator Ofcom through discriminatory delivery charges imposed on rival business Whistl (formerly known as TNT...
Revenue growth as an objective for Twitter
Twitter has a mission statement to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers but their Founder and interim CEO Jack Dorsey has been remarkably...
Banks and the Principal Agent Problem
The activities of the House of Lords are very much in the news at the moment. But the members do carry out serious work, not least on the economic affairs committee. Last week, Lord Green, former...
Summer 2015 Oxbridge Economics Reading and Videos
In this blog I am curating a selection of articles recommended for Oxbridge economics - feel free to contact me with other suggestions and I will add them to the listing!
Chocolate consumption by country
Chocolate lovers can be forgiven for being in an perpetual state of confusion about the health effects of their devotion to the cocoa bean. One week they are told that nailing their favourite bar...
Major trade deal to cut tariffs on digital products
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has announced a landmark IT trade deal, which it is hoped will eliminate import tariffs on a wide range of digital products within the next three years.
Where next for the IMF?
The BBC World Service programme "In the Balance" regularly provides content of tremendous relevance to teachers and students. I recommend you have a look at their home page to find plenty of...
Firms risk eating themselves argues BoE Economist
The Bank of England's Chief Economist Andy Haldane has hit out at historically high rates of dividend payouts and share buy-back programmes by highly profitable stock-market listed businesses. He...
Overseas Aid and Development Debate
How effective is overseas aid in promoting and sustaining growth and development in poorer countries? This is a huge ongoing debate in development economics. Our Storify draws on different...
China struggles to limit environmental impact of growth
This is a really excellent article on the sustainability challenges facing China.
Post-China 16 Countries
The Post-China16 (PC16) is a term used for a group of countries that are widely expected to partially replace China as the low-unit cost manufacturing hub for the global economy in the years to...
Why cricket is like spam
The holiday season gets into full swing, but a shadow has been cast by the abysmal failure of our boys to get anywhere near the enormous target of 509 which Australia set them to win in the second...
IKEA to pay UK workers the Living Wage
Ikea has announced that it will pay all its 9,000 UK workers at least £7.85 an hour from April 2016. The rate for employees in London will be £9.15 an hour. It is estimated that half of their...
Evaluating Economic Reforms in Greece
A new paper written by Campos and Coricelli finds evidence that the Greek economy has suffered from poorly implemented structure economic reforms both before and after the economic and financial...
Has Africa Outgrown Development Aid?
BBC Africa ran a debate on aid assistance to Africa broadcast from the British Library. Ideal enrichment for A2 macro.
Here is a link to the speech given by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney at Lincoln Cathedral in July 2015. In it he said that policy interest rates are likely to start rising again from their...