World of Business - Peter Day on the BBC Web Site
I am delighted that one of my radio 4 heroes Peter Day is starting a new page on the BBC news website. Peter has always had a happy nap for understanding the dynamics of change in business and markets, expect plenty of revealing and thoughtful insights linking to his radio 4 work including World of Business. Click here to access his new page
Econ3 - Sexism and Ageism alive and well on our TVs
Those of you who are about to take your Econ 3 exam (or whose students are getting ready for the final push), might find this story about sexism in TV an interesting example of inequality in the labour market. A report out yesterday and being pursued by Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Harriet Harman suggests that a lowly 18% of UK TV presenters over the age of 50 are women. Some channels are worse than others.
The story is also a good example of how current government intervention in this labour market is having little effect. Anti-ageist and sexist laws exist and yet there appears a very real 'glass-ceiling' when it comes to women over the age of 50 wishing to work on TV. If legislation is ineffective what other policies could students suggest might improve the situation? A quota system? Fines? Here is a real chance to offer critical and evaluative analysis on government intervention.
Follow this link to read a report.
T-Shirts and consumer choice
Firstly, I hope the first AS exam went well, whether that was macro (OCR), micro, and whether for the first time or a retake. I also hope that in amongst the revision you’re in the market for a more random blogpost…
This one’s a topic on which Paul Ormerod would have something to say. On NPR’s Planet Money radio show/podcast, they’re launching a T-shirt, and using this as a stimulus for a whole set of reporting on its genesis, from cotton subsidies to its design. The latest podcast investigated the colour of their T-shirts. “What’s the economics in that?”, I hear you cry…
Unit 3 Micro: Businesses Prospering During the Depression
This is a cross posting from the Business Studies Blog
It is now six years since the global financial crisis triggered a prolonged downturn in economic activity. The UK economy, like other developed economies, has struggled to escape from a period of stagnant economic growth.
However, despite the weak economy, many UK firms have succeeded in significantly growing their revenues and profits.
Here are three examples of such businesses. Their strategies for success are different – but there are also some similarities.
Can you compare and contrast these three – and also identify some other businesses that have enjoyed similar success despite the tough economic environment?
You might also consider:
- What factors have driven revenue growth at each of the three businesses?
- Has their growth strategy been one or organic or external development?
- To what extent has their growth been driven by international expansion?
- Do you think their recent success can be sustained?
- What factors might that continued success depend on?
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The exams are nearly here - as if you need reminding! Well, here’s a reminder!
Here's a very simple, but totally unsubtle reminder for your students on the upcoming dates and times of the AS and A level exams in Economics for the AQA, Edexcel and OCR awarding bodies.
Follow this link to download the 'Exam Countdown' file. There you will find a small and easy to use Powerpoint file called 'Exam Countdown'.
Follow this link for a quick tutorial on how to use the resource.
Open and run the slideshow (ensuring that you have 'enabled macros'). The screen will change to a setup slide after a couple of seconds. Click on the exam that you wish to remind your student about and the countdown timer will start. The timer shows how many days, hours, minutes and seconds remain before their exam starts. There's nothing like instilling a sense of urgency!
Please note this file is fully functional. If you would like an editable version (where you can edit the times, dates and 'event') you will find one as part of the 'Super Teacher Utility Belt' resource available from our PowerPoint games-based learning site.
AS and A2 Key Term Glossaries
Brought together in one blog resource - click below for details
AS, A2 & IB Economics Revision Quizzes - Master Listing
[updated 22 April 2013]
Our Economics team have been busy over the last few weeks authoring a comprehensive new collection of multiple-choice revision questions designed to support AS, A2 and IB Economics students.
Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be uploading these quizzes to the tutor2u website and also creating Zondle versions to enable them to played using the tutor2u mobile and tablet App.
Please bookmark and share the link to this blog entry and visit regularly to check on our progress as we add new revision quizzes.
read more...»Unit 3 Micro: Mergers and Acquisitions Update
Some examples here of recent merger and acquisition activity - students might want to consider the types of business integration on display in these examples:
read more...»Onze helden zijn terug! Our heroes are back!
Scoop it Boards for Economics
A growing number of teachers are curating Scoop It Boards focusing on specific exam courses or aspects of the subject - ranging from ones on market failure and government intervention through to international economics, China, and relevant articles and resources for papers such as OCR F585 and Pre U. Maybe students can be encouraged to curate and develop their own boards as a way of keeping a study log of interesting blogs, news features, analysis and evaluative pieces?
read more...»Economics Revision - Mind Map and Visual Notes Competition
There are thousands of AS and A2 students out there at the moment putting in some serious hours of revision ahead of the May and June papers. Effective revision is more of an art than a precise science but many students are producing some superb mind-maps, revision flash cards and other visual resources to telling effect.
We like to showcase some of them at this stage of the year. In the spirit of friendly competition, we will offer some book prizes to our favourite mind maps and similar revision notes. You can email them through to us (ideally one image per mind map, 800 x 600 size works best for us but we can resize any image). Or post them on twitter and add @tutor2u or @tutor2u_econ to your tweet so that we can see them!
We will announce the winners on the 1st of May! Check below to see some of the early entries. This blog will be updated on a regular basis.
read more...»Woodhorn - Celebrating Coal Community and Creativity
On the morning that news of the death of Margaret Thatcher came through on the news wires, I was visiting Woodhorn Colliery Museum near Ashington in Northumberland. It was an eagerly anticipated journey having seen the Pitmen Painters (now on a national tour) a few weeks earlier.
The play celebrates the work of the Ashington Group of painters who began studying art as part of an Workers' Educational Association course in the mid 1930s and eventually found themselves on a life-changing pathway as they drew inspiration from their life and work in the pit communities of the North East.
If you are in the North East please pay a visit to the Woodhorn Colliery Museum. First of all, it is free save for the £3 car parking charge. Second there is a stimulating, evocative and often moving exhibition on the rise and eventual fall of the coal mining industry in the UK. Just a few weeks back Maltby Colliery one of the last deep mines in England, was closed as owners Hargreaves Services said it was no longer viable. And the Daw Mill colliery in north Warwickshire recently shut down with 650 jobs being cut, after a big fire at the facility which made future use of the mine impossible. Despite a plethora of open cast mines, there are now only two deep mines left in the UK at Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire and Thoresbury Colliery, Nottinghamshire both run by UK Coal.
read more...»Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Perfect Competition (1)
This 10-question revision quiz focuses on the model of perfect competition.
Launch Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Perfect Competition (1)
Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Monopoly (1)
This 10-question revision quiz focuses on model of monopoly.
Launch Revision Quiz: AS Economics: A2 Economics: Monopoly (1)
Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Economic Efficiency (1)
This 10-question revision quiz focuses on economic efficiency.
Launch Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Economic Efficiency (1)
Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Contestable Markets (1)
This 10-question revision quiz focuses on the concept of contestable markets.
Launch Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Contestable Markets (1)
Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Business Costs & Revenues (1)
This 10-question revision quiz focuses on business costs and revenues.
Launch Revision Quiz: A2 Economics: Business Costs & Revenues (1)
Unit 3 Micro: Minimum Wage and Inequality
The UK national minimum wage (NMW) has been in the news in recent days with several reports suggesting that Coalition government ministers are considering introducing a freeze on the pay floor or going further and reducing the minimum hourly pay rate. The NMW was introduced into the UK in the spring of 1999 and has been up-rated regularly but never cut. It is presently at £6.19 an hour and recommendations on changes to the pay floor come from the annual review conducted by the Low Pay Commission
Unit 3 Micro: Small firms and innovation
The success of small firms is crucial to hopes of a sustained recovery in the UK economy and the government is keen to promote innovation within small and medium sized enterprises with a range of tax incentives including the Patent Box. The Patent Box system allows companies to apply an effective 10 percent preferential rate of corporation tax to profits attributable to patents and is introduced from April 2013.
Will this fresh supply-side fiscal policy prompt a significant boost to patent applications from UK firms? The evidence so far is mixed. The number of patent applications to the UK Intellectual Property Office from within the UK was just 15,370 in 2012, almost equal to the 2011 figure of 15,343. (Source: Independent, March 2013). But there has been a large rise in the number of patent applications made in the UK by foreign businesses especially in the pharmaceutical sector.
The reality is that most small businesses are too busy reinvesting their revenues back into growing their businesses rather than going through the lengthy, uncertain and often costly process of making multiple patent bids on their new product and process ideas. In a recent blog from the Wall Street Journal it was claimed that "it is almost impossible to defend software or business process innovation patents in the UK." Others are more optimistic - read this short piece from the Scotsman which claims that the Patent Box fits well with the ambition of the Scottish government to attract inward investment from high-knowledge businesses.
read more...»A2 Economics Revision Notes
To support Year 13 students preparing for their final A Level Economics exams, we've been busy updating and extending our collection of free revision notes for A2 Economics core topics. Set out below are links to the current A2 Economics revision notes. Please bookmark or share this blog entry as we'll update this master listing each time we add new revision notes.
AS Economics students can find a full collection of AS Revision Notes here
read more...»Paul Ormerod: The Market for Speeding Points
What is it worth to take someone else’s speeding points? The Huhne-Pryce case has brought this into sharp focus. Setting aside the moral issues, the question raises interesting topics in economics.
It turns out that there is a market in these points. The Daily Telegraph discovered that prisoners are willing to take points. By the time they get out, the points will often have expired. For around £200, someone will take your three points. But mingling with a group of England supporters after the Wales debacle on Saturday, their tongues loosened by alcohol, I discovered that one respectable woman claimed to have done it for £500.
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Bitter losers and winners 2013 Budget
Office For Budget Responsibility forecasts for the economy in 2013. The Treasury's Budget details are here.
Politicshome's live Blog showing that hell hath no fury like pressure groups scorned, with plenty of useful links to early comments on The Budget.
Evening Standard's coverage here, it managed to pre-empt the Chancellor's statement.
Budget 2013 stimulus presentation
With Evening Standard-like speed, please follow this link for a short set of questions about today's Budget.
Migration, Movement and Development
I attended a fantastic lecture by Michael Clemens from the Centre for Global Development (CGD), Washington DC at the University of Manchester last week...
A Rapidly Changing State
the IFS outlined some aspects of The Rapidly Changing State and showed that predicted public spending in 2017-18 will take a similar proportion of national income as it did in 2003–04. But where and how its spent are quite different. This was alluded to by Penny Brooks earlier today.
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Paul Ormerod: Hip Hop and Why Some Things Succeed
Just over a month ago, a group of young men from a fairly
yokel part of Australia posted a video on YouTube. Nothing remarkable about that. Except that the video now has over 21 million viewings. More than 170,000 variants of the original
theme have been posted on YouTube.
A few have received even more viewings than the original, with one
notching up over 63 million.
The wider repercussions have been even more dramatic. Australian miners have been sacked for
recording their on version underground.
People have been arrested in Russia for copying it on a World War Two
tank. In Israel, two soldiers have
been jailed. A flight from San
Diego is the subject of a major investigation when the passengers attempted to
redefine the Mile High Club and create a version in mid-flight.
This phenomenon of popular culture is called the Harlem
Shake. Its essence is that a group
of people perform a comedy sketch, accompanied by excerpts from the 1980s
hip-hop song of the same name. King Lear it is not.
Unit 3 Micro: The battle for 3rd place in mobile operating systems
Lots of companies are battling for third place in the market for smartphone operating systems. Apple's iOS and Google's Android dominate, how much scope is there for more rivals targeting mid and low-tier mobile devices. Mozilla, Microsoft and Blackberry are featured.
read more...»Unit 3 Micro: Winning Bids in 4G Licence Auction
The winning bids for the 4G licences in the UK have been announced. Paying for a licence is an entry barrier into this market - but the total value of the bids was a small fraction of the £22bn gifted to the government in 2000 when the 3G licences spectrums were sold - the latter was an example of the winners' curse in action.In 2013 the telecoms businesses were more savvy - freeing up money to invest infrastructure and capacity. Will this be a kick-start to growth that the UK government expects?
Revision Presentation - Public Goods
This updated revision presentation provides an introduction to the concept of public goods.
Money can’t buy happiness - the backward sloping supply curve tells me so
Like many teachers, I'm firmly of the belief that money is not the root of happiness. I have to think like that - otherwise how do I argue with my old university friends who went to join the big banks that there’s more to life than big cars and foreign holiday homes ("Come and join us, Jon," they used to say to me, "you can set your own Libor rate and everything" ). It's important that we remind the 'those-who-can't-do' brigade that teaching is a life-style. It's a vocation. A calling.
Well, according to research by US academics Daniel Sacks, Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, the evidence suggests that wealth is a determining factor in happiness after all. Apparently, the data shows that there are no upper limits to happiness with regards to money – yes, the increase in happiness slows down but still rises.
Quick, somebody tell Victoria Beckham before David gives away all of his cash to the Paris children.
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