Category
Topic updates
Current account deficits - when to act?
What are Current Account Deficits, and what should countries do (if anything) when they occur?
Solar Power - Growth and Development in Bangladesh
A short but important mini case study of how investment in renewable capacity can drive sustainable growth and development in Bangladesh. More than 3.5 million solar home systems have been...
Irregular gaps between recessions
The gaps between recessions are in fact pretty irregular. For example, there was one in 1956 and another in 1957. The recession of 1973 was followed quickly by the one in 1975. In contrast, there...
Youth Unemployment in Spain
I have used this superb 2015 news report from Channel 4's Matt Frei when teaching the economics of youth unemployment. He visits a small town outside of Madrid where the majority of young people...
The Queen’s 90th birthday has quite rightly dominated the media over the past week. Her Majesty continues to break all sorts of records, spending longer on the throne than Queen Victoria and being...
UK Treasury's Analysis of Brexit
The UK Treasury has produced a lengthy document outlining the economic case for remaining inside of the European Union. Naturally the publication led to a fierce debate about the accuracy of their...
Views of Economists on Brexit
Here is a selection of short interviews with leading academic economists on the issue of Brexit. The interviews on Brexit were recorded at the Royal Economic Society annual conference at The...
Why the Minimum Wage Worked
It is nearly twenty years since the landmark research of Card and Krueger on the effects of minimum wages on employment in US fast food restaurants argued that higher wages might lead to a rise in...
I've been doing some research today on macro economic policy conflicts in preparation for a hoped-for joint webinar between the Bank of England and tutor2u as the next instalment of our...
Macroeconomic Profile for Zambia
This is an updated three slide economic profile for Zambia. It looks at the main macroeconomic indicators and provides an evaluation of the main barriers to growth and development facing this...
Macroeconomic Profile for China
This blog provides a download link to a 3 slide powerpoint economic profile for the Chinese economy
Social Safety Nets to Support Growth and Development
10 per cent of the world's population live in countries that are not covered by social safety net systems and only one third of the poor in the world are covered. Social safety nets in the form of...
Gross National Happiness - Images from Bhutan
This picture book from the Guardian looks at life in Bhutan. The country uses its own Gross National Happiness Index published each year.
The Modern Kuznets Curve - A Second Wave of Inequality
Inequality between countries has decline over the long run but has increased within them in a large number of cases. In a new book Branko Milanovic explores some of the long-term dynamics of income...
Fiscal Policy Revision: Focus on UK Government Debt
The government issues debt to help finance a fiscal (budget) deficit. The budget deficit is the annual amount the government has to borrow to meet the shortfall between current receipts (tax) and...
Will the new National Living Wage cost jobs?
In July 2015, the Chancellor George Osborne announced that a new National Living Wage (NLW) would replace the National Minimum Wage (NMW) for those aged 25 and over starting from 1 April 2016. The...
Fiscal Policy Update: UK Government Spending 2015-16
Here are two useful charts summarising the breakdown of UK government spending for the 2015-16 fiscal year and the change in public expenditure since 2010.
Does taxing people's rubbish work?
People might dislike taxes on their rubbish at first – but such taxes do encourage recycling and eventually become popular. That is the main finding of research by Stefano Carattini, Andrea...
Macroeconomic Profile for Chile
This is a revision resource for A level and IB economics students on a range of key indicators and issues for the Chilean economy.
We are much better off than the official statistics say
The oldest surviving map of Britain was created in Canterbury a thousand years ago. Our ancestors had a good idea of how to get around. The country is depicted in its familiar shape. Understanding...