65 Million Subscribers for Netflix
In the increasingly contestable market for online streaming of movies, tv series and other forms of entertainment, the drive to grow your installed user base is right up at the top of the objective...
The Depth of the Greek Economic Depression
This article from the BBC news considers a range of macroeconomic indicators for the beleaguered Greek economy. "It is now generally agreed that Greece has experienced an economic crisis on the...
Natural resource booms and local communities
The macroeconomic impact of a boom in natural resource extraction for developing countries has been thoroughly researched in recent years giving rise to an ongoing debate about whether natural...
Amazon - A Business Built to Make Losses?
I really enjoyed reading an article on Amazon from Rory Cellan-Jones, the Technology Correspondent at the BBC. In a telling quote he says "Throughout its history, Amazon has seen its revenues climb...
Scandinavia provides evidence for Osborne’s war on welfare
George Osborne’s budget has been met with predictable outrage from the poverty lobby. The cuts to the welfare budget will allegedly create shocking levels of deprivation. Young people in...
Costs and benefits – mercury emissions from burning coal
America’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thinks like an economist. By that, I mean that the agency has to weigh costs against benefits. Here’s an interesting case, in which the US Supreme...
RES Public Lecture 2015 - Starbucks and Tax
Tuesday 24th November is the date fixed for the 2015 Annual Public Lecture which will be given by Professor Rachel Griffith at the Royal Institution in London.
Skills Shortage in UK - CBI warn of 'skills emergency'
The CBI has once again warned the Government that the UK is facing a 'skills emergency'. Their suggestion, and the opinion of many of its members, is that the education system in the UK is not...
Doctors call for a 20% tax of sugary foods and drinks
The British Medical Association - an insider pressure group - has published a new report lobbying for a new 20% tax on high-sugar foods and drinks. It estimates poor diets are causing around 70,000...
Building Capabilities - Car Manufacturing in Ghana
Building capabilities across networks of industries is key to raising productivity and competitiveness in developing countries. This BBC news video http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-33319484...
Labels are for cans not for people
A summer hat tip to behavioural economist Paul Craven for highlighting the many behavioural biases addressed in this brilliant advert for Coke.
Microsoft and Nokia - A Merger Made in Hell
The marriage between Microsoft and Nokia will go down as a classic example for students to consider when analysing and evaluating the risks associated with corporate integration.
Building Sustainable Transport in Vietnam
This short video from the World Bank looks at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam which is developing a rapid bus transit system using green technology, which runs through the city's important economic...
Mapping out the financial system
Financial economics is given a greater weighting in the new economics specifications and this new Bank of England video from their Quarterly Bulletin will help to explain how the different parts of...
Calling all budding Economics journalists!
Tegh and I would like to invite applications from any passionate and enthusiastic economists moving into their final year of school to apply for a role on the editorial body of the student magazine...
Is the 2015 Budget Regressive for Poorer Families?
The July 2015 budget was championed as improving work incentives for poorer households. But there are many claiming that welfare reforms and benefit cuts will actually worsen poverty among hundreds...
Social Safety Nets in Developing Countries
New research from the World Bank underlines the lack of social safety nets facing hundreds of millions of people in many of the world's poorest countries. The World Bank finds that only 1/3 of the...
Uber Surge Pricing and the Tube Strike
The strike on the London Underground perhaps inevitably caused a spike in market demand for taxis among them drivers who provide services via the fast-growing taxi app Uber. Uber employs a surge...
Osborne rebrands the Minimum Wage
One of the most eye-catching announcements in the July 2015 Budget came right at the end, namely a decision to rebrand the minimum wage into George Osborne's interpretation of a compulsory Living...
Key Decisions in the July 2015 Budget
A summary of some of the key measures announced by George Osborne in his July 2015 Budget