Paul Ormerod: Sovereign debt and Euro zone reality
The recent debacle in Cyprus has essentially been shrugged off by the markets. The European Central Bank vigorously asserts the crisis in the Euro zone is over. So why is there continued unease about the financial viability of countries such as Spain and Portugal, a morass into which even the French are now being dragged?
Economic theory helps us understand a bit more about why this is the case. One thing which the last few years in Europe have shown very starkly is the massive difference between debt which is denominated in nominal terms and that which is in real terms. Nobel Laureate Chris Sims makes the point clearly in his recently published Presidential Address to the American Economic Association.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Unemployment in Europe (March 2013 Update)
The scale and depth of the unemployment crisis in Europe is confirmed by fresh figures released by Euro Stat. Unemployment in the Euro Zone was 12.0% in February 2013 and the jobless rate for the European Union as a whole was 10.9%. Last month there were 26.3 million people counted as out of work in the twenty-seven countries within the single market, 19 million of whom live in Euro Zone countries. In the last year alone, unemployment in the Euro Zone has jumped by over 1.7 million but this aggregate figure hides large country differences and persistent regional and local variations. Here is the contextual data to take into the exam:
Unit 4 Macro: The UK Economy Outside of the Euro Area
Evaluating the UK’s macro performance outside of the Euro Zone
- Decision made in 2003 that the UK would remain outside
of the single currency
- UK remains a full member of the single market
- Supportive of further EU enlargement but distanced from deeper fiscal / banking intregration
Crucial question both in the short and medium term is whether non-participation in the Euro makes a significant difference to key macro outcomes
- Real GDP growth, estimated Trend growth (LRAS)
- Core CPI inflation and inflation expectations
- Employment and unemployment rates
- Trade balances (with EU and beyond)
- Trends in relative productivity and per capita incomes
Unit 4 Macro: OECD World Economic Outlook
The OECD's world economic outlook is published twice and year and is a heavyweight publication with plenty of great relevant macro for ambitious A2 students. I have linked below to their latest report - including a streamed presentation on their key data forecasts and emphasis on some of the underlying challenges facing OECD countries.
read more...»The Nutella Tax - a tax on negative externalities
Those of you who felt angry or let down by the recent proposals for a Pasty Tax, or those that have been imposed on static caravans or toasties (turning the mighty Subway in to a new lobbying organisation) in the UK should spare a thought for the poor French citizens who are potentially about to have a new surcharge placed upon Nutella - that famous hazelnut and chocolate spread.
Unlike the previously mentioned British taxes, which were imposed or proposed to generate revenue or close apparent loopholes, this tax has been put forward for market failure reasons. The tax, of course, is not directly on the brand but upon one of its main ingredients - palm oil. The proposed increase by the French government is nearly 300%. The French are arguing that palm oil is a product with negative externalities - poor for the health of its consumers and a large burden on the health system. There is also a claim that the high production of palm oil in South East Asia has resulted in large-scale deforestation.
Read a short article on the issue at the Huffington Post. The cost of your morning crepe in Brittany may be about to increase!
Unit 4 Macro: Looking to 2060: A Global Vision of Long-term Growth
The balance of economic power is expected to shift dramatically over the coming half century, with fast-growing emerging market economies accounting for an ever-increasing share of global output, according to new OECD research. Here are some links to their report and to media coverage.
Unit 4 Macro: Teaching Trade in a Different Way
I am launching into a short course in international trade, balance of payments and links to economic development issues. The standard fare is inescapable and there will be plenty of opportunity to cover theories of comparative and competitive advantage, evaluate the costs and benefits of protectionism and look at key trends in the balance of payments, terms of trade and capital accounts for developed and developing countries.
This time, in an attempt to freshen things up I am starting by looking at the work of Cesar Hidalgo and Richard Hausman at the MIT Media Lab and the Observatory of Economic Complexity. I first came across their work whilst reading Tim Harford's last book Adapt. They are mapping vast amounts of trade data from across the world to explore the extent to which export complexity, dynamic advantage and per capita incomes are connected. The data visualisations are tremendously interesting and I will be asking my Year 13 students to explore their site and choose some data of their own that sheds light on revealed comparative advantage in the world economy.
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: The Euro Zone Crisis (Revision)
Here is a revision blog on some of the key economic challenges facing the seventeen member nations of the Euro Zone or Euro Area
read more...»Unit 4 Macro: Unemployment Scarring Effects
In the past we have discussed some of the long term economic and social costs of a persistently high rate of unemployment and we have used the term hysteresis effects. It seems that a new term is being used to cover some of the consequences of millions of people being out of work - unemployment scarring - and this revision blog looks at some of the causes of this.
read more...»France and Flexible Employment
This article could be useful as an illustration of the EU context in relation to employment in general, and flexible employment in particular. Attracting inward FDI is arguably a significant benefit of UK membership of the EU, and one of the advantages which the UK can offer compared to, say, France is relatively flexible employment laws.
read more...»European Economics: Resources on the CAP
This blog entry will provide a regularly updated set of links to resources to the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy and attempts to reform this contentious and complex system of farm support.
Check below for suggested links
read more...»Eurozone macroeconomics for 9 year olds - brick by brick
It’s time to start treating our A2 economics students like 9 year-olds…in a kind-hearted way. How? With this highly creative and engaging piece of analysis by the market analysts at JP Morgan.
The Eurozone crisis is both political AND economic, with the underlying issue one of who pays the bill for nation and bank bailouts. The political impasse in Europe over the crisis is difficult to understand. But this Lego-inspired graphic does a pretty good job of explaining who wants what. Follow the commentary underneath the graphic to hear the story.
Hand it out to your A2 students and see if they can make sense of it.
EU Economics: Comparing the UK with Europe
Stephanie Flanders has posted a very useful blog examining Eurozone growth, and whether the UK can best be compared to France and Germany or to Greece, Portugal and Spain. She starts with Ed Balls rejection of the Chancellor’s habit of likening the position of the UK economy to those of the southern states which are struggling so badly at present; the Shadow Chancellor believes a better comparison would be with our traditional competitors in northern Europe.
read more...»EU Enlargement - Evaluating the Impact
Many of Europe’s newer member states have outperformed established EU countries since they joined the single market in 2004 and 2007. And as a result there has been a process of convergence in average living standards and improved employment opportunities. Europe’s new nations have injected extra dynamism into the region despite inevitable teething problems along the way.
For students revising aspects of EU enlargement here is a streamed version of a presentation I gave to a Tutor2u event in London a few weeks ago
A streamed version of the presentation is available here
PDF Handout of the presentation
Related news issues
Germany expects influx of Polish workers (BBC news, April 2011)
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Tracking the effects of the recession on GDP
An excellent resource for Unit 2 and Unit 4 macroeconomics. Vishnu Padmanabhan from Timetric has this excellent look at the impact of the recession on real GDP growth in OECD countries. Which countries did best and worst in the recession? It turns out that Australia, Poland, Israel and South Korea were the countries least affected by the crisis and all avoided a full-blown recession - experiencing instead a soft landing. Here is Vishnu’s article. Our own growing selection of Timetric charts can be found by scrolling down to the bottom of this blog entry.
The OECD has just produced their annual review of Going for Growth - a largely supply-side look at policies designed to promote long-term growth in productive potential in the world economy. Details can be found here.
EU Economics: EU Economy in Charts Jan 2011
Here is an updated twenty five slide streamed presentation on macroeconomic developments in the 27 countries of the EU with a particular focus on the Euro Area and UK/EU comparisons.
read more...»Paris punishes the purse strings
Paris comes out on top of the world’s most expensive cities according to the new survey from the Economist - available here - The survey assesses the cost of living by comparing housing, food, clothing, transport and utility bills and the like in 132 cities around the world. This is a super chart to use when teaching about purchasing power parity adjustments when comparing and contrasting living standards between countries!
Revision Presentation - EU & the Euro Debate
This revised and extended revision presentation examines the debate about Europe’s Single Currency.
Launch revision presentation on EU & The Euro Debate
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