Stephen King - Great Article on Macroeconomics
Stephen’s piece in the Independent on Monday would make for a terrific Unit 4 discussion with your A2 students. Here is the link to follow Ten things people thought they knew about economics
You can follow all of Stephen King’s recent economics articles in The Independent by clicking here
Unit 2 Macro: Should the EU introduce a Tobin Tax?
AS Economics student Freddie Bickford-Smith looks at some of the argument surrounding proposals to introduce a financial transactions tax in the EU. I will post another essay on this topic from a fellow student, offering an alternative perspective from that developed here!
Following the financial crisis of the past few years, and the amassing of blame on the financial sector for it, it has come to the attention of many - including the European Commission - that there must be a way of rectifying the situation, and promoting greater economic stability.
One popular suggestion is the ‘Tobin Tax’, an idea proposed by Professor James Tobin (the Nobel prize-winning American economist) for a tax on worldwide financial transactions
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Has the time come for a Tobin Tax?
This week I am setting my AS micro students a question on proposals for a Tobin Tax - partly because it is hugely topical and also as a way of developing their evaluation skills on paper and coming to a reasoned final conclusion. Here are some of the links to suggested reading and some video shorts on this topic:
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: China and India - Notes from Martin Wolf
Pete Davies from Greenhead College attended a superb talk by Martin Wolf CBE (Financial Times) at Leeds Business School last week. The focus was on the Great Convergence between developed and emerging economies, and Peter kindly took some excellent notes from the talk which will be of great use to teachers and students covering this key globalisation / development topics. They can be downloaded below as a word file - many thanks to Peter for making them available through the blog!
Martin_Wolf_Lecture_Oct_2011.docx
The World Economy: how did we get here and where are we going?
On Wednesday 26 October 2011, I attended a fascinating lecture at the LSE by Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director of the IMF.
She started with outlining the role of the IMF as a cooperative of 188 countries (the newest member being South Sudan), who poor their resources and finances in order to support each in times of difficulty. She then went on to talk about the current slowdown, its causes, the risks involved if the slowdown was to continue and the potential policies needed to aid a recovery.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Who is to blame for the Crisis?
The new series of Stephanomics is being filmed and made available on the BBC web site. In this episode, Stephanie Flanders asks who is to blame for the global financial crisis? She is joined by the billionaire investor George Soros, Sir Howard Davies, former chairman of the Financial Services Authority and former deputy governor of the Bank of England, and Dr DeAnne Julius, chairman of Chatham House and a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee. This is gold-dust for unit 4 macro students who want some tremendous evaluation on causation of the crisis from three incredibly well-placed figures.
Unit 4 Macro: Should TNCs make full disclosure on factory wages?
Peter Day’s World Business programme on BBC this week is an evocative report on the travels of two people who have explored where we get most of the clothes and the shoes adorned with global brands.
read more...»World Collapse explained in 3 minutes
A nice summary of the world economy situation…... compressed into three minutes .... click on the You Tube link below
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: World Food Day
Here is one of the short information videos launched by the World Bank on the occasion of World Food Day - excellent as an introduction to the economics of high and volatile world food prices. Every night, 1 billion people go to bed hungry because food is too expensive.
read more...»Can the “invisible hand” solve Africa’s poverty?
At last night’s Senior Economics Society at Oundle we had a riveting talk by Hywel Rees-Jones, Managing Director of CDC, which covered so many areas of the issues of development economics. The talk was entitled “Can the invisible hand solve poverty in Africa?” Whilst conceding that some of the statements were broad generalisations across a variegated continent, Hywel discussed some of the key issues facing Africa.
read more...»Keynes Prize: The Economics of Cities (2)
In this second extract from his prize-winning essay, Ross van der Watt focuses on the question “Should Rapid Urbanisation in Developing Countries be encouraged or resisted?”
read more...»Unit 2 Macro: Can Exports Drive a Recovery?
UK overseas trade is in the news today with the release of a batch of figures showing a record level of UK exports - see BBC news - UK trade deficit cut by higher exports
read more...»Keynes Prize: The Economics of Cities (1)
In this first extract of the winning essay in the 2011 Keynes Prize for Economics, Ross van der Watt asks “How important are Cities to Economic Growth?”
read more...»UK Unemployment in October 2011
There were some desperately disappointing unemployment and employment numbers published for the UK economy today. Even taking due note of the need not to focus too much on one set of data the UK labour market looks to be weakening as fast as the autumn leaves are falling. The human and social cost of the high jobless figures is enormous and the macroeconomic effect of fewer people in work and paying taxes will dent further hopes of a solid recovery.
read more...»Unit 1 Micro: Rice market intervention
A good example to discuss of government intervention into agricultural markets - in this case Thailand’s government have intervened in the market to buy unmilled rice at 15,000 Thai baht per metric tonne, which is a 50% premium on the current market rate. A good discussion of the possible impacts can be found, with a discussion of the economic rationale/consequences of it, here.
Will Jean-Claude Trichet be missed?
JCT is no longer president of the European Central Bank and he leaves, after eight years at its helm, with as many detractors as there are supporters. The ECB is widely perceived as being ‘genetically’ close to the German
Bundesbank following the neo-classical school where inflation is the route of all problems and so needs to be controlled no matter the cost.
A2 Micro: Concentration Ratio for the US Smartphone Market
We´re going to be looking at this part of the syllabus very soon and the two graphics below from here and here look at how the US market for smartphone operating systems is split between the major firms and also how global market share for mobiles as well as smartphones is split.
read more...»King on QE2
The Govenor, Mervyn King, explains how he hopes that by injecting 75 billion of newly printed cash into the economy Aggregate Demand will be stimulated enough to avoid a double dip. See video below and the full article here.
read more...»Fat tax: Denmark
Earlier this year, the Royal Economics Society had the Young Economist of the Year competition with one of the titles being to debate the use of a Fat Tax. This week, Denmark have announced exactly such a tax on some of its foods! Read more here.
Supporting article on the Danish fat tax from Time Magazine
And this feature on the efficiency and equity arguments surrounding the fat tax from Steve Sexton writing in the Freakonomics blog.
Fuel for Thought
When teaching elasticities, fuel always seems to have been a favourite example of a good with very inelastic demand in response to price changes. However, this AA research adds further to the evidence that suggests that even fuel has now reached it’s limit in terms of quantity demanded remaining firm at it’s market price.
read more...»Ali G and demerit goods
When discussing demerit goods, it is always good to be able to show a few examples. In these youtube clips, Ali G interviews a police superintendent about offensive weapons and a US federal agent about illegal drugs.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: USA edges closer to naming China as a “Currency Manipulator”
The U.S came closer to finally calling the Chinese a currency manipulator and retaliating in the new round of protectionism fears. A good summary of the key issues here.
Unit 1 Micro: Producing Coffee - Kenya in Pictures
If you are teaching the economics of commodity prices and coffee in particular - this resource - will appeal strongly to your visual learners! The Guardian Pictures web site has a quite stunning set of photos of Kenyan coffee producers - growers who are hoping that rising world prices will bring respite after years of difficulty including volatile crop yields, poverty prices and incomes and a long term decline in investment.
3 for 2 no more
The book world was shaken this month when it emerged that Waterstone’s, the UK’s largest book chain, is going to ditch its decade-old 3-for-2 offer. Good for A2 micro when discussing firms’ strategies for growth and profit. Read more here.
Unit 4 Macro: Protectionism
Here is an interesting, if slightly challenging, article for the A2 macro economists on protectionism and the state of the global economy in the Telegraph: Protectionism beckons as leaders push world into Depression
Unit 2 Macro: Homework Assignment on Consumer Spending
I have attached below an example of a homework assignment for my Unit 2 macro economic group which focuses on some of the main drivers of consumer demand for goods and services. It is available for free download as a pdf file. Discussion in class will centre on income, wealth, interest rates, confidence and expectations as key determinants. This is a particularly important stage of the economic cycle and there are many influences constraining household demand as we head towards the end of 2011.
Unit 1 Micro: Homework Assignment on Market Prices
I have attached below a homework assignment for my Unit 1 AS Micro students on market prices. The assignment focuses on the global markets for coffee and also for steel and is attached below as a pdf file for download if teaching colleagues might like to use and adapt it!
China - helping or hindering economic development in Africa?
If Africa was a physical battleground between east & west during the cold war of the 20th Century, it can arguably be seen today as the ideological 21st Century battleground between the difference approaches to promoting economic development: the western aid model versus the Chinese trade model. Is the Sino-Africa relationship mutually beneficial? I certainly don’t claim to have a comprehensive answer to this but it has been interesting talking to Africans on my journey so far about their perception of this, particularly in Zambia…
read more...»AS and A2 Macro: Exchange Rates and “Safe Haven” Currencies
This article from the WSJ highlights one determinant of exchange rates that we may not be too familiar with, whether or not a particular currency is regarded as a “safe haven” i.e. if a particluar investor fears that a currency will not hold its immediate or future value, then said investor may choose to exchange it for one which is more likely to.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: When China Met Africa
Film-makers Marc Francis and Nick Francis won many plaudits and awards for their wonderful documentary Black Gold - uncovering the struggles of coffee farmers in Ethiopia to sustain their businesses against the monopsony power of multinational coffee roasters. They have a new film being released in the UK this autumn - When China met Africa. On the front line of China’s foray into Africa, the lives of a farmer, a road builder, and a trade minister reveal the expanding footprint of a rising global power. Watch the trailer using the link below.
read more...»
