The economies of Superbowl advertising

A highlight of the year for many sports fans, the Superbowl presents advertisers with a unique opportunity to reach over 110 million captive viewers.

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Demand and Supply in Action - nail polish

Over the past year Superdrug have seen nail polish sales rise by 37 %. L’Oreal’s nail polish sales were up 24%, double the increase in lipstick and lipgloss sales.
‘We live in an image-obsessed world and nail varnish has become the ultimate accessory. Women want a quick and affordable way to get the latest look. A new varnish provides an expression of individuality and the same buzz as a new outfit for 10 per cent of the cost.’

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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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Tesco’s market share drops

Tesco’s market share has fallen below 30% for the first time in 7 years. This time last year Tesco commanded a 30.5% market share.
Sainsbury’s and Iceland both saw their market shares rise.

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Great video - Widening gap between cities

This is a great short video on the widening gap between UK cities. Lots of key terms for your budding economists to listen to.

Perfectly price inelastic supply

What cost $10 in 1937 and would now set you back $1 million?

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Introduction to globalisation via the UK car market

For those of us eagerly awaiting the release of the Case Study for OCR GCSE Economics Unit 593, the topic of globalisation provides a nice stepping stone to the more challenging material. Data out this week from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders gives an insight into the motor industry and shows an increase of 5.8% in production by Britain’s car assembly plants.

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Sales will take their toll

Interesting figures released today by the Office for National Statistics show that retail sales, excluding fuel, grew 0.6% in December 2011 compared with November 2011. These figures represented a 1.7% increase from December 2010. This seems to paint a rosy picture.

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Demand and Supply in Action - what’s in a name?

It has been suggested in a new report that Skegness should change its name to boost demand in the ailing resort. This links really well with fashion and trends in demand. Skegness has become less popular with the rise of the package holiday (substitute) and younger people seeing Skegness as a less desirable place to go on holiday.

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Delicious data - UK debt compared

Here is a great graph for using with your students to do a delicious data question.

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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.

End of the line for the staycation?

The staycation became the answer to recession blues. It was cheaper to stay here in the UK than go abroad at a time when real incomes were falling.
The cost of taking a holiday in the UK is the highest in Europe, given the price of accommodation, food, attractions and petrol.

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House prices fall

According to official figures, house prices declined in all areas of Britain except London, East Midlands and the North East over the last year.
House prices in Britain fell by 0.3 per cent on average in the year to November 2011.

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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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Demand and Supply in Action - Recession boosts fast food demand

The recent recession has led to a surge in demand for fast food. This means that 50.4% of all meals eaten out of the home are now at a so-called quick service restaurant, up from 47.3% just two years ago. The term quick service restaurant is used by the industry to describe any outlet where the consumer queues to buy take-away food so includes coffee shops.

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Global house prices

Some really interesting data here on global house prices.
It shows that the UK is ranked 30th in terms of how house prices have changed in quarter 3 of 2011.

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Christmas 2011 - who were the winners and losers?

The Guardian has done it again with a brilliant interactive guide to the winners and losers on the high street this Christmas.

Fun with Widgets

Here are some interesting widgets that you could get your website administrator to put on your economics page of the school website. This site has a widget for US national debt and this one shows UK national debt.

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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Demand and supply in action - oil prices

A great demand and supply in action story to start the year off. Oil prices have risen by 4%. The cost of Brent crude jumped $4 a barrel to $111.4 by yesterday. The reason is the tensions between Iran and the US.

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Starting a business - video

This video clip is more of a business one but still great for Economists as well. Deborah Meaden on BBC news this morning talking about entrepreneurs and starting a business.
Click here to see the video

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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Eurozone in charts

Another great set of interactive graphs here. This set allows you to compare all EU countries deficits, GDP, debt and unemployment. Not only is this great for starting up some discussion but also could be used for some delicious data questions.

Best and worst case scenarios for the EU

Here is a great interactive graphic from the BBC to show the best and worst case scenarios for the EU. A good resource to be using at the end of term!

Great graphic - European debt

It can be quite hard for students to understand the European debt crisis. This interactive graphic from the Telegraph is great for showing students.

Demand and Supply in action - chocolate prices soar

Here is a great demand and supply in action story to get students practising their diagrams and explaining them.
The price of chocolate is set to soar over the next decade. This is due to a worldwide shortage of cocoa beans.
In addition growing taste for cocoa in China, rising demand for dark chocolate and an awareness of its health benefits are forcing up demand.

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Structural Unemployment

Sticking with the unemployment theme, this article would be useful for explaining structural unemployment. Many businesses are complaining they need workers but they are finding it hard to find suitably skilled staff. After reading the article students could discuss ways in which the government could reduce this type of unemployment.

Link

Jobs for Christmas - Seasonal employment

Here is a video to show season employment. Before showing the video I asked my class to think of companies that only require extra workers at Christmas.

Link

How happy are you?

British people rate their life satisfaction as 7.4 out 10 in the new flagship happiness survey. The poll of 4,200 adults was carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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