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Norway's Electric Car Success
Richard Milne from the Financial Times looks at the Norwegian success in adopting electric cars - starting by looking at the world's largest charging station and then considering the policy...
Managing the National Debt
Drawing on over 320 years of data on UK government debt, economist Andrew Scott considers why government debt increases and whether different types of debt should be used to fund government...
Globalisation: Why Average Isn't Good Enough
A short but very astute and relevant video here on the distributional effects of trade liberalisation / globalisation. Sergey Nigai (winner of the Austin Robinson Prize) finds that using data...
Debt vs. Equity: The Shifting Moods of Business Finance
Debt finance is increasingly attractive to many companies not least because of tax advantages and historically low interest rates. Fewer companies are going public to raise capital - a problem for...
Should we worry about the death of cash?
What would be the consequences of removing cash from society altogether? Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator, gives his view on the cashless society.
A succinct summary (and a 6 minute video) of the key UK macro numbers ahead of the exams!
This article from the Wall Street Journal is superbly relevant for any exam question that asks students to evaluate the economic impact of a currency depreciation. The rising level of import...
Productivity Matters!
Productivity is not just some abstract concept from economic theory. It has huge practical implications. Ultimately, it determines living standards
Surge pricing comes to the supermarket
This is a really interesting article from the Guardian about the rise of dynamic pricing by supermarkets - drawing on the power of big data and ubiquitous mobile technology to personalise prices...
Why Can’t Economists Sell Free Trade?
Two centuries on from the emergence of the idea of comparative advantage as the basis for specialisation and trade, why does it remain hard to sell the idea of free trade?
Explaining the Dominant Currency Paradigm
The dominant currency paradigm is about the fact that the US dollar matters a huge amount in setting the prices at which trade takes place in the global economy.
Learning from Economic Shocks
How to make sense of unexpected changes in the economy and how this effects the 'big system'. This short video from the 2017 RES conference looks at how an economy that is one big system cannot...
Can Asia reach high-income status?
A useful blog here from the Asian Development Bank on some strategies for Asian countries wanting to escape the so-called middle-income trap. Spending more on research and innovation is seen as key...
Key Macro Topics to Revise for June 2017
Here are some of the key macro topics that I would want my own students to revise for the summer 2017 exams. They are not exam board specific but intended to cover a range of important current...
EU Supply Chains after Brexit
Complex products such as engine parts for the motor industry often cross national borders many times before the final product is ready for the market. This Newsnight video is superb for students...
Public Debt - A Long Run Perspective
Elections create uncertainty. But we can be sure of one thing. Regardless of the result, during the course of the next Parliament stealth taxes will rise. This week, we have a sharp rise in...
Trade in Services - More than just Shipping!
Two hundred years ago this week we were introduced to the concept of comparative advantage by David Ricardo. The BBC's Andrew Walker looks here at the growth in the service sector, as it accounts...
Poland - A Development Success Story
This is the World Bank's perhaps sugar-coated interpretation of Poland's transition from upper middle to higher income status - but a user primer for studying the economics of some countries that...
FinTech: How technology is changing the world of finance
Here is a timely BBC Newsnight report from David Grossman on the impact that financial technology (FinTech) is having on competition / contestability in the UK financial sector.
Why China leads the world in renewable energy
We have said for some time that emerging and frontier economies will figure prominently in global league tables for investment in renewable energy. For some, the imperative is to cut import bills...
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