MACROECONOMICS TOPICS

Economy tracker

The BBCs economy tracker has been updated with the latest unemployment figures. This is a great resource to use in the classroom. Click here to go to it.
Particularly great for revision, students will be able to see what has happened to unemployment over time and also read about unemployment.

How do interest rates work

Here is a great sort video for revision from Business Basic that explains about interest rates.

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The north south divide

This is a great piece of data to help you look at cost of living and the North/South divide.

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Inflation basket

The constituent parts of the basket that makes up the measure for CPI & RPI inflation is being updated to reflect changes in trends.

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Happiness

The world of work has fundamentally; more part time and flexible working hours. However this is not a change which is making many of us happy, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
A report, published today, examines working life in 1952 – and what it is like for workers in this country 60 years later.

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Figure of the day - unemployment

Just watching the news and I heard a great statistic that you could use with your students this week. For every job vacancy in the UK there are 5.8 unemployed people. Five years ago this figure was 2.8.

Should the Pound shop be renamed?

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Supermarket price wars cause inflation fall

Figures released today show that inflation has fallen to 4.2% in December. Many retailers, in particular the supermarkets launched heavy tactics to ensure sales in the run up to Christmas.
A supermarket price war broke out after Tesco announced a £500 million price-cutting campaign, Asda guaranteed to be 10% cheaper than its rivals and Sainsbury’s launched its own brand price matching scheme.

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The grocery shop is getting cheaper!

A great article here for students to get to grips with what real terms is. Comparing the grocery shop today with what it would have cost in1862 shows that A Victorian shopper would have needed £1,254.17 in real terms to fill their weekly basket with a selected range of food, drink and house-hold items, compared with £93.95 today.

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Unemployment rises again

With the news yesterday that unemployment has once again risen there is a huge number of useful articles to use with our students.
First of all here is a great short video.

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Tax - do you pay in more than you get back?

This is a great tax calculator from the BBC. You could make up some fictitious households for your students to compare. A great tool to look at tax and benefits in the UK. There is also a short video to introduce the topic.

Inflation - great short video

I showed my class this really good short video on inflation this morning. It is great as a recap or a starter on inflation. Lots of the key points students need to know are in there.

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VAT relief on DVDs

The Treasury is scrapping an exemption on VAT for goods valued at less than £15 dispatched from the Channel Islands

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Inflation - interactive guide

The updated inflation interactive guide is here. Following the announcement earlier today that inflation has jumped to 5.2%. The interactive guide is a great way for students to get an idea of what has been going on with inflation since 2006.

Unemployment hot spots

Liverpool, Nottingham and Glasgow have found themselves, for the second year running, with the highest level of households where no-one is in work. Liverpool and Glasgow the figures actually fell in the past year from 32.1% and 31.1% to 31.9% and 30.7%. However in Nottingham it increased from 31.3% to 31.6%.

 

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Great graphic for a starter

As we all start to think about the start of term here is a good graphic that could be used for a starter lesson for getting the students to start thinking about macroeconomics.

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Unemployment map

This unemployment map would make a greater starter for a discussion on consequences of unemployment. It shows a real North-South divide opening up.

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Squeeze on family income

Food prices have hit a two year high putting a big strain on family incomes. I have certainly noticed in the past 6 months my weekly food bill is rising almost week by week, even though I am buying the same things!
With the price of petrol, insurance and energy also rising alongside wage freezes in some sectors, families are facing a very tough balancing act.

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Petrol pushes cost of owning a car up

We have all seen the constantly increasing price of petrol in recent times. So you will not be surprised to hear that the increasing cost of petrol is one of the main factors causing the cost of running a car to jump by 20%. In addition insurance premiums have risen significantly.

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Inflation up again

Figures released today show that the CPI has risen to 4.5% in April. This is a larger than expected rise.

Click here for a great short video.
And for those students working on their revision ahead of their exams the BBC have produced a great short article “Inflation explained”

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Eurozone crisis in graphics

Here is a great set of data on the Eurozone crisis from the BBC. Graphs showing the budget deficits, GDP, unemployment and debt in the Eurozone countries and the UK. This is great for setting practice data questions and revision of some key topics.

Budget 2011 - how will it affect you?

Another great interactive guide from the Guardian, this time it looks at how the 2011 budget will affect different people. The guide is packed full of key terms so would be excellent as a revision exercise.

Budget 2011 - how much tax?

The Guardian have once again come up trumps with a great interactive guide to how much tax will be raised from the new budget. It would make a great lesson activity, giving the students the grid and the list of taxes and asking them to decide which brings in the most and least money.

Budget 2011 - government income and expenditure

Here is a great graphic on the income and expenditure of the government. It would make a great revision exercise for taxation and spending.

iPhone in, shoulder of pork out

The Office for National Statistics has announced the changes to the basket of goods used to calculate inflation. Smartphones and ‘apps’ along with dating agency fees have gone into the basket. On the outgoing list is shoulder of pork, women’s fleece jackets and hardboard.
The ONS collects about 180,000 prices every month for a basket of about 650 goods and services - the most comprehensive survey of its kind in the UK.

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Great short video on interest rates

Here is a great video on interest rates and why a rise might not be a great idea. It contains lots of great concepts for students to discuss.

Great inflation resources

Once again we have seen a rise in the inflation rate. January saw inflation measured by the CPI rise from 3.7% to 4%. The data below would be great for a data description question:

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Takeaways face a fat tax

Obesity seems to becoming a bigger concern for the government as the number of overweight people in the UK rises and causes knock effects on health and work. The government are now considering placing a ‘fat tax’ on takeaways. Burger bars, kebab houses and fish and chip shops would be forced to pay the £1,000 before being allowed to open their doors to the public. This would also hit High Street fast food giants like McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Dominos.

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Fun Friday - Happiness!

Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, has referenced the Ken Dodd 1964 song “Happiness” in his recent speech about the global economy. King said: “When it comes to measuring success, don’t count money count happiness. The advice of Ken Dodd in 1964.”
So what is more important to your students?

Delicious data - shock contraction in UK economy

Figures released today showing that the UK economy contracted by 0.5% in the last quarter of 2010 where said to have shocked many economic analysts.
The following data would make an excellent question describing data

To read more on the shrinking economy click on the following links:
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3