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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.
Sustainable growth - Dutch pioneer precisions farming
This World Economic Forum clip looks at how Dutch farmers are among the most innovative in the developed world, largely as a result of the competition inherent in an country with such high...
How can we fund a Green New Deal?
This New Economic Foundation clip looks at the prospects for a Green New Deal, starting from the premise that if we can bail out the financial sector, then why can't we save the planet?
Do protectionist tariffs hurt those they are meant to protect?
Protective import tariff measures introduced by the United States against products from China, as well as retaliatory actions by China against US products, have achieved more or less the exact...
Are There Winners and Losers of Globalization?
The excellent Marginal Revolution team have come up with this video exploring some of the benefits and drawbacks of globalisation. The Branko Milanovic "Elephant Curve" makes a notable appearance!
Ethiopia's innovative power plant that turns waste to energy
I love using short videos like this in my economics classroom - they seem to capture the essence of how new technology and appropriate capital investment can make a real difference to the lives of...
Opportunity Cost: How much do I cost the NHS?
This Guardian database of NHS costs for specific surgical and other treatments is potentially really useful for individual student investigation into opportunity costs, budget constraints and other...
Remittances: the hidden engine of globalisation
This is a hugely important aspect of the changing world economy and pathways to development for many lower and middle income countries. 2019 might be the year that the value of remittances could...
Using Choice Architecture for Good
Here is a new report from Deloitte on Government Trends in 2020 which focuses on and examines the use of behavioural nudges to influence choices and social outcomes.
The Rise of Superstar Firms
Professor John Van Reenen - formerly at the LSE but now based at MIT in Boston - discusses research work he has done on how 'superstar firms' such as Google, Netflix, Facebook and Apple have...
Progress in reducing open defecation
Achieving universal access to basic sanitation is one of the critical Sustainable Development Goals. A new report from the UN finds that nearly 700 million people globally are denied toilet...
Demographics: Tracking declining working age populations
Working age populations are in decline among several member countries of the OECD. The infographic below highlights the steepness of the decline for Japan and Italy in particular.
Is it time to end our fixation with GDP and growth?
Richard Partington's briefing article on GDP and economic growth in the Guardian is a great read and terrific enrichment for students wanting to understand more about the debate over measuring...
Natural Capital: The Wealth of a Wetland
Here is a World Bank clip looking at the importance of wetlands to sustainable development in Uganda, and tangentially the issue of how we measure development itself. It is also clear that there...
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