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Topic updates
Coronavirus update: Are there risks of deflation?
With the world economy in recession - The IMF forecasts global growth at –4.9 percent in 2020-and with many individual countries experiencing much deeper downturns than this (including the UK), how...
The coronavirus pandemic will undoubtedly have an impact on the market structures of many industries.
Coronavirus update: Are vaccines public goods?
Too what extent can and should we regard the manufacturing and deployment of a covid-19 vaccine as a public good?
How coronavirus is widening the UK gender pay gap
Excellent long read in the Guardian about the impact of the pandemic on the gender pay gap.
Should the UK introduce a new wealth tax?
61% of UK public support wealth tax for individuals with assets worth more than £750,000, (excluding pensions and value of main home) according to a survey from YouGov.
Can we learn from history? An excellent book by Ben Gummer on the Black Death in 14th century Britain, “The Scourging Angel”, shows that we can.
Greening the Economy - No Trade Off with Growth
The Guardian makes the case that there is no need for there to be a trade-off between growth and environmental concerns.
How to stop plastic getting into the ocean
This is a really powerful Economist film about one group's work in tackling the issue of marine pollution and plastic waste.
Are corona bonds a moment of truth for the EU?
This article is a reflection on the future of the EU which wonders whether coronavirus is its ultimate test of unity.
China economy: Why it matters to you
A short video introducing you to the changing nature of the Chinese consumer, not least via the purchase of luxury goods, iPhones, energy and other commodities.
The impact of conflict on long term development
Another excellent development clip looking at the impact of conflict on development, echoing the findings of Paul Collier's seminal "The Bottom Billion" which identifies conflict as having a...
Sustainable Sanitation and Water Services in Nairobi
This World Bank clip looks at the importance of sustainable water and sanitation to improved developmental outcomes.
Number of UK workers living in poverty rises for third straight year
The latest Joseph Rowntree Foundation report makes for grim reading: more than one in five people in the UK live in poverty.
Fuel from faeces - Kenyan innovation to address deforestation
Recycling of the first order, the circular economy, environmentally-friendly, health enhancing, and developmentally beneficial. A Kenyan social enterprise Sanivation is producing fuel out of faeces...
The Precariat - Life in the Gig Economy
A think tank has released a report highlighting what most people intuitively know. That employment in the gig economy is not most people's first choice, that it places a great deal of stress on...
Does our obsession with home ownership ruin the economy?
The Economist argues in this special video that government policies to encourage home ownership have led to damaging unintended consequences.
Why does productivity matter?
Productivity growth matters for profits and real wages. Why has productivity growth slowed down? Professor Danny Blanchflower points a finger at the impact of fiscal austerity.
What happens when interest rates rise?
Professor Danny Blanchflower explains why an increase in the policy interest rates set by central banks matters.
What is happening to UK unemployment?
Danny Blanchflower has encouraged us to think more deeply about underemployment as the official jobless rate has declined in recent years. In this short video he explains his own interpretation of...
Economic growth is the best way to raise living standards
A rebuttal of much of the material that makes a case for abandoning existing measures of national income in favour of broader measures of well-being and/or happiness.