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Economics in the News : Archive for April 2007 The following articles on Economics in the News were published during April 2007 |
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| Revision Note: Effects of Exchange Rate Changes | The pound seems to have settled at £1=$2 for the moment. But what are the effects of a strong currency? This revision note looks at some of the effects and finds that the wider macroeconomic impact is quite complex: | ||
| Revision Note: Entry and Exit Barriers in Markets | Some revision notes on examples of entry and exit barriers in markets | ||
| UK Buy to Let Housing Market is under pressure | The Financial Times on Friday raised the problems and risks facing buy to let investors as signs emerge that this fast-growing aspect of the UK housing market may have reached its peak. | ||
| University Open Days | A selection of dates for the Open Days of some of the UK's leading universities. Further details are available from their respective websites. | ||
| Garrison America | By 2012, the United States will have more private security guards than high school teachers. The USA is becoming a garrison economy and the UK is not far behind! | ||
| Revision Note - Growing a Business | Business can grow in one of two main ways, either through internal or external expansion. There was a revealing article in the Financial Times a few days ago which reported that one of the world's biggest manufacturers of soft drinks, Pepsi, plans future expansion through takeovers rather than the organic growth of the business. | ||
| Revision Note - Stagflation | Stagflation is a dangerous combination of slower economic growth and rising inflation. It tends to come about when there has been an inflationary supply shock in the economy, such as a rise in the cost of imports, or higher energy prices. | ||
| 2007 BBC Reith Lectures look at Development and Globalisation | The 2007 Reith Lectures are given by one of the world's foremost economists, Professor Jeffrey Sachs. | ||
| Do we still want the 1p? | Will we always have banknotes and coins? Hard to say, but the penny might be the first to go... | ||
| Sterling settles above $2 | Having climbed above $2 a few days ago, sterling seems likely to remain above this level for the time being. | ||
| April 15th - the date the UK went into ecological debt | As our consumption of goods and services grows every year, so the date when we move into ecoological debt arrives ever sooner with each passing year. | ||
| Dutch brewing cartel is exposed | Three Dutch brewers, Heineken, Grolsch and Bavaria, have been fined a total of 273.7m euros by the European Commission (£185m) by regulators for price fixing. | ||
| Who works harder: women or men? | Academics think they've found an answer to this age old question..... | ||
| Bank misses the inflation target for the first time! | Remember the date - the 17th of April 2007. Tantalisingly close to the tenth anniversary of the Bank of England being granted independence and the power to run monetary policy, new data shows that consumer price inflation in the UK has risen to 3.1% - outside of target range for the first time. | ||
| Inflation - New Chart Presentation | A new chart presentation on the rise in UK inflation which has taken it beyond the target range for the first time since the Bank of England became independent. | ||
| The Surging Euro | The value of the Euro in the foreign exchange markets has climbed to the highest level in two years against the US dollar raising the prospect of more economic pain for some of Europe's least competitive countries. | ||
| $2 Pound is just an Inch Away! | Sterling is set to break the two dollar benchmark in the next few days as the value of the pound continues to rise on the foreign exchanges. | ||
| 99% of nurses are priced out of the housing market | Halifax Bank of Scotland have released their latest figures on housing affordability and the problems that key public sector workers have in getting onto the property ladder. | ||
| Extreme global poverty falls below one billion people | The World Bank has just published its latest World Development Indicators and it finds that global poverty rates continued to fall in the first four years of the 21st century. | ||
| Zimbabwe delays the release of inflation figures | The BBC news online site reports that the Zimbabwean authorities are delaying the release of their latest inflation figures thereby masking the extent of the hyperinflation which is behind the economic meltdown in that country. | ||
| Who should pay for health care? | A poll carried out by the British Medical Association has found that nearly two thirds of junior doctors thought patients would be charged for some health treatments in the future. | ||
| World Trade Review for 2006 is launched | The world economy and trade grew vigorously in 2006 according to the latest annual review from the World Trade Organisation. | ||
| "Competitive" electricity market is still flawed | Research from Warwick University has found evidence that the UK retail electricity industry is still not delivering the benefits to consumers that might be expected from increased competition within the industry. | ||
| Road congestion - is a trading system the answer? | Giles Keating, head of research for private banking at Credit Suisse, argues for a congestion charge trading system in today's Financial Times. | ||
| Shareholder activism at struggling Woolworths | Today there was a great story about some pressure being applied on an under-performing management team with the news that Icelandic management company Baugur, the largest shareholder in Woolworths has told the senior management team to get its act together! | ||
| Farmers ruined by subsidy | There was a powerful report in the Times today on the deep problems facing cotton producers in Burkina Faso and the impact that huge producer subsidies paid to cotton farmers in the United States are having on world cotton prices and the incomes of millions of the world’s poorest people. | ||
| Economics Revision Courses on the Tutor2u VLE | A new series of free online revision courses for AS & A2 Economics students have been developed as part of our embryonic Moodle-based VLE. | ||
| Will there be a new world gas cartel? | Could a new gas cartel emerge to seek to fix the world price of gas? | ||
| Bank of England holds rates at 5.25% | The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee left base interest rates on hold at 5.25% after their April meeting. | ||
| Tesco raises prices for dairy farmers - but it it too late? | For years milk farmers have been complaining that the price they get from buyers for their milk has been insufficient to justify remaining in the industry. Over eight hundred dairy farmers have shut down production in each of the last three years and the farming industry has been warning of a potential meltdown in the industry. | ||
| European Union launches probe into iTunes pricing | The EU Competition Commission is launching an inquiry into the pricing of iTunes downloads amid claims that Apple may be abusing its dominant position in the market | ||
| Homeowners borrow £50bn out of their property in 2006 | The Bank of England has released new figures for mortgage equity withdrawal and it shows that thousands of property owners in the UK have been willing to unlock some of their equity in their homes. | ||
| Siren voices on the housing market | Edward Conway, Economics Editor for the Telegraph has a lead story in the Daily Telegraph today reporting that the overvalued UK housing market is at risk of a crash in 2008. | ||
| Dell tries to achieve critical mass in the Chinese market | Dell has unveiled a low-cost personal computer designed to tap into the fast-growing market demand for computers among China's vast emerging middle classes. | ||
| Royal Mail seeks Zonal Pricing | The Sunday Observer reports that the Royal Mail is planning to charge businesses a higher price to deliver post in London and in low population density rural areas. | ||
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| Other essential economics resources: | |||
| econoMAX - the Economics Magazine for AS & A2 Economics | |||
| Economics Exam Technique - Guidance from the Examiners | |||
| The UK Economy in a Nutshell | |||
| The European Economy - New Free Resources | |||
| Economics - Student Discussion Board | |||
| GCSE Economics Revision Notes | |||
| AS & A2 Economics Revision Notes | |||
