OTHER TOPICS

UK trade deficit widens - video

This is a great video from the BBC which discusses the UK trade deficit widening. Great revision or starter for balance of payments and exchange rates.

The pound weakens - video

This is a great video from the BBC explaining why the value of the pound has weakened further this week. It is full of economic concepts making it an excellent revision tool too.

International Economics in videos

Two great videos to keep you up to date over half term.
Will Chinese New Year hail growth and Euro slump

The World on Wednesday - China and US chicken dispute

The latest in a series of trade disputes between China and the US is over the sale of chickens by the US to China at what the Chinese say is unfairly low prices. The tariffs (a tax on imports) will commence on 13th February. This will make the price of US chicken more expensive in China and therefore less competitive.

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The World on Wednesday - Greece

This BBC video is a greater starter. Greece face a massive budget deficit and are now looking to the EU for help with how they deal with it. One of the major issues is that Greece’s problems could spill over and have damaging consequences to other EU countries.

Britain falls to 25th best place to live in the world

This could start a really good discussion on living standards. The 2009 Quality of Life Index published by International Living Magazine reveals that Britain have fallen to 25th place in the table. France top the table for the fifth year running.

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Great video on how to use the OECD website

The BBC have created a great short video showing how to use the OECD website. This will be particularly good for the OCR module on global issues.

UK trade deficit worsens - Q&A

This is often a topic that GCSE Economists struggle with. An interesting article on the BBC explains how the UK trade deficit has worsened due to the car scrappage scheme.

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Is a weak pound good?

As some of you may be discovering it isn’t a great time for UK holiday makers to go on holiday in the USA or Europe. As the value of the pound against both the dollar and the euro has weakened it has meant that it is more expensive to buy goods abroad (remember as a tourist going abroad we are an import because the money goes out of the UK and into the foreign country). Could this weak pound be good for the UK economy as a whole?

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New GCSEs - G20 Economies

A big element of the new OCR specification is the international economics area. This BBC article looks at each of the G20 countries and discusses what they have been doing to deal with the economics crisis and prevent it happening in the future.

BBC interactive recession map

Here is a great interactive world map by the BBC which aims to investigate the impact of the global recession. Being the BBC, it has load of videos and looks like it will continue to be added to over the next few weeks.

New GCSEs - WTO

An exciting new part of the OCR specification is the introduction of the international area of economics. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) appears in the specification for the first time. Originally formed in 1995 the WTO was designed to liberalise world trade. The World Trade Organisation deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalising trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants’ adherence to WTO agreements.

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The Mamma Mia effect

Our summer holidays are probably starting to feel like a distant memory now. Many Brits opted to stay in the UK this year due to the recession. This has affected many holiday destinations abroad, such as Greece.

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New GCSEs - globalisation

As most of us are now enjoying the summer break and therefore not in front of a class, I thought I would turn the attention to preparing for the new GCSE’s which start in September. Over the holidays we will look at some of the new topics and also some of the old ones.
Today is the turn of the OCR GCSE in Economics.

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25 per cent unemployment in the Canary Islands

Spain is an interesting economy for GCSE students to look at. In Spain tourism accounts for 10% of gross national product and one in eight jobs. Construction is also a very important industry. And both sectors are now struggling with the pain of recession.

Many hotels have temporarily closed even during the summer season and the bars, restaurants, hire cars and airports are being affected by the downturn in demand. Economists have a term for this - a negative multiplier effect.

This BBC news video looks at the Canary Islands where one person in four is unemployed (an unemployment rate of 25% is nearly four times the jobless rate we have here in the UK).

Great new resource from the OECD

Trawling through the BBC website on Thursday evening I came across an absolute gem. How often do we want interesting data to use with our classes? Well I think I have found an answer! The new online tool OECD Factbook eXplorer.

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