Economics in the News : Archive for February 2007
The following articles on Economics in the News were published during February 2007

An appreciating currency does not seemed to have had much effect on the growth of Chinese exports, but the rising renembi Yuan has certainly boosted the profitability of exports according to new figures released by the economics team at Deutsche Bank.

Fair Trade fortnight has started and the supermarkets have been quick in on the act to promote their eco-friendly credentials! Big whole page adverts from Marks and Spencer dominated my newspaper reading at breakfast.“ the Independent talked about a new battleground between retailers as more products are squeezed into the ethical market space.

The British economy finished 2006 growing at an annual rate of 3% according to revised figures released last week.

London has come out top of a new ranking of regions within the EU in terms of income per head. Eurostat has released new figures showing that GDP per inhabitant in 2004 ranged from 24% of the EU27 average in Nord-Est in Romania to 303% in Inner London.

We have been considering the issue of housing affordability in our study of the economics of housing. This blog entry provides a link to a word file used as a handout for the lesson.

A report in the Sunday Observer argues that the UK economy is well placed to reap an economic reward from developing the capacity to serve the growing demand for carbon capture.

The Treasury Select Committee recently published an interim report on the performance of the Monetary Policy Committee in the ten years since the Bank of England was granted operational independence by the Government.

On Thursday evening I went to the Guildhall in London with a group of students to hear the XXth Annual World Traders’ Tacitus Lecture given by Antony Burgmans, Chairman of Unilever.

Which is the most important? Supporting the world's poorest farmers or buying locally grown products? Recent stories highlight this issue and offer a surprising conclusion...

I have just started teaching the economics of housing to my AS economcis students. Here is a word file copy of a quick introductory quiz on housing - together with a second file which contains the answers! Plenty of scope for adding in additional questions here!

A good research piece has come from Halifax Bank of Scotland which looks at the effect of inflation on the purchasing power of money.

What is globalisation? Top tips to the best web pages to find out more...

a)Explain the possible reasons for the changes in the pattern of trade between the UK and the rest of the world (20 marks)
(b)In the years 2000 to 2004, the annual average balance of payments deficit on current account for the UK was £22 billion. Evaluate the measures which may be taken to deal with a balance of payments deficit on current account (30 marks)

A2 Economics essay plan. (a)Explain the possible causes of economic growth (20 marks)

In recent years, eastern European countries, such as Poland, have joined the European Union (EU). New markets and business locations are developing, with resource mobility, including labour, increasing. This expansion of the EU has therefore brought opportunities for growth, jobs and investment to the UK.

(b) Evaluate the possible impact of this expansion of the EU on UK economic performance (30 marks)

Essay plan on a recent exam question on government borrowing. The 2005 Budget Statement has forecast that, for the period 2004 to 2010, the average annual borrowing by the UK government (the Public Sector Net Cash Requirement) would be £26 billion. (a) Explain the likely economic reasons for government borrowing (b) Evaluate the possible problems for the UK economy of increased government borrowing

I have updated my current list of twenty five excellent sites for keeping up to date with macroeconomic developments in the UK and overseas.

US High School students gain entrepreneurship skills whilst helping African farmers to get ecommerce underway.

An "army of women activists" is being launched by the UK government to help and inspire women to start businesses.

A politician in California is supporting legislation to ban the traditional light bulb. Good evidence of the approaches that can contribute to success in tackling climate change.

A new analysis from Barclays Capital suggests that climate change may provide a sizeable boost to the global economy in the years ahead on the back of an "energy revolution" as businesses look to reduce their dependence on hydro-carbons.

Base interest rates were left unchanged at 5.25% when the result of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest deliberations became known this lunchtime.

Perhaps erroneously I have been teaching my students that China has been a net importer of all sorts of important raw materials, commodities and components to satisfy its ever-growing demand for inputs to fuel the rapid expansion of their manufacturing industries. You will have come across those media-friendly stats about how much oil and gas China imports along with vast quantities of glass, steel and timber. From time to time some newspaper report chucks in a stat such as "China imported sixty per cent of the World's output of soya chunks in 2006" - that sort of stuff. And cement! Cement import stats are always good to put into the mixer.

Fast growing countries need power to fuel their economy and China is no exception. Tucked away quietly in the back pages of the most recent China Electric Power News was a quite staggering statistic.

How much would you pay for your early morning cappuccino on the way to school or work if, instead of the conventional menu listing prices, there was an honesty box situated close to the exit of the coffee store for you to pay on the way out?

A US-based oil giant made a staggering £20bn profit last year. But is the firm also the world's most profitable business?

One of the dangers of a country whose real economy is growing at scarcely believable rates is that asset prices surge to levels that are hugely over-valued using conventional criteria. China’s economic growth has appeared almost unstoppable with real national output (real GDP) growing in excess of ten per cent a year. The economy is doubling in size every seven to eight years and her enormous trade surplus is leading to a vast cash pile of foreign exchange reserves, mainly US dollars. The staggering economic growth is also accompanied by an explosion in share prices.

This link to a two minute BBC audio-visual news clip provides a good current illustration of the debt problems facing the UK consumer sector. It follows the problems of people struggling to pay off debts and some of the longer term costs of people who enter into individual voluntary creditor agreements as a means of reducing their debts.

Mark Milner reports in today’s Guardian that almost one in four of the workers at the collapsed carmaker MG Rover are still without a job nearly two years after Rover went into administration with the loss of over 6,000 jobs, while many of the rest have been forced to take lower paid employment.

There was a terrific example of the emergence of a new industrial cluster in the companies and markets section of Monday’s Financial Times. Andrew Bolger reported on the new funding that is going into the expansion of the Scottish Centre for Regenerative Medicine which includes research on how stem cells can rebuild human immune systems and repair bone and cartilage.

This is a forty slide presentation on the latest economic data developments for the UK economy.

In the week that Tata steel of India made a successful takeover bid for Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaker, in today's Sunday Observer, Ruth Sutherland argues that "Britain cannot live by the service sector alone."

Tim Harford writes in the Financial Times today on the chance of implicit price collusion by firms where one or more businesses engage in a price-matching marketing campaign.

There is a really good BBC audio-visual report from BBC Business Editor Robert Peston on the launch of Trident, made by Cadburys. An intense marketing battle is developing between Cadburys and Wrigleys.

I have uploaded a revision presentation on the Norwegian economy and the country’s relative macroeconomic performance in recent years. Norway is outside the EU and there is little chance of her wanting to enter the EU in the near future, even though she is in the single market and also a member of the European Economic Area.