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Economics in the News : Archive for September 2006 The following articles on Economics in the News were published during September 2006 |
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| What are brands for and how have some lasted for so long? | |||
| It is now more than a week since we had our first Keynes Society meeting of the academic year, sufficient time to reflect on a truly outstanding presentation and discussion with Lord Karan Bilimoria, the Founder and CEO of Cobra Beer. | |||
| The latest batch of house price figures show continued strength in demand and prices. But siren voices are becoming louder suggesting that a sizeable house price correction in the UK may not be too far away. | |||
| Household spending and borrowing is starting to grow strongly once again after the lull in 2005. | |||
| There is a neat editorial in this morning's Financial Times on the revisions to national income data by both the UK and the Greek statistics authorities | |||
| The Economist this week has a feature on the possible return of the Phillips Curve, the curve that tried to demonstrate a trade-off between the rate of unemployment and the rate of wage inflation in an economy. The article covers the attack on the Phillips Curve during the 1970s; the phenomenon of stagflation and the emergence of the NAIRU concept and the output gap. | |||
| Some cracking business and economics news stories this week feature in our popular classroom quiz. | |||
| Is today's news a public relations stunt or a practical plan to combat climate change? And what does it tell us about the strategic objectives of firms? | |||
| A word file containing three short answer numerical questions using cost and revenue diagrams - the word file can be downloaded for amendment by the teacher | |||
| On the day that oil prices fell back below $60 per barrel, economist John Jose explains some of the background to cause and effect in the global oil market. | |||
| Bulgaria and Romania are expected to be given the green light today to join the European Union as the next wave of EU enlargement draws closer. Both countries will still need to provide reassurances to the EU authorities that they are doing enough to fight organised crime in order to receive their entitlement to regional aid and farm support. | |||
| Pressure is building for television and radio to ban adverts for junk food as part of measures to address the obesity epidemic | |||
| The Telegraph has been running a series of broadly critical articles on the performance of Gordon Brown as Chancellor during his nine year tenure at 11 Downing Street | |||
| The Financial Times this week has been running a series of articles on the changing nature of the British economy and society during the years that the Labour party has been in government. One especially noteworthy feature is a flash-based interactive map of Britain developed by the FT’s Economics Editor Chris Giles. | |||
| Heather Stewart, economics correspondent of the Observer had a piece in the newspaper at the weekend which highlighted to enormous scale of the financial subsidies available to farmers as part of the (reformed) European Union Common Agricultural Policy. | |||
| A couple of new 'league tables' shed light on what it means to be massive. | |||
| The Undercover Economist is now available freely on the Financial Times website | |||
| The average pay of FTSE100 chief executives has risen by 40 per cent in the past year to nearly £3m. | |||
| What looks like a hugely impressive and substantial piece of economic research has been published by the World Bank. “Dancing with Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy” analyzes the influences on the rapid future development of these two countries and examines how their economic growth is likely to impinge upon other countries. | |||
| It is easy to be fooled into thinking that short term fluctuations in commodity prices might be the start of a much deeper trend. But perhaps we are starting to see the tail end of the recent commodity price boom. An article by London-based Morgan Stanley economist Serhan Cevik published on their Global Economic Forum argues that the sharp fall in commodity prices may be a harbinger of a trend shift. | |||
| Two education stories really caught my interest this week | |||
| Homework assignment for AS economists studying macroeconomics | |||
| A2 microeconomics homework on profit maximisation and the causes of changes in equilibrium prices, output and profitability | |||
| UK employers have come up with a wide range of excuses for failing to comply with minimum wage legislation | |||
| Tyrrells Crisps, Chris Tarrant, a green oak tree and GCSEs were all in the business news this week. See if you can work out why with our weekly business quiz | |||
| An Irish firm has invented a machine that makes free energy. Apparently. | |||
| Firms are finding business opportunities in an growing new market | |||
| A report in the Times today raises the important issue of balanced growth for countries that seek sustainable non-inflationary periods of expansion in output and employment. | |||
| The mother of all trade gaps has just got wider and this time the main culprit is the sharp rise in oil prices which has caused the import bill for America’s gas guzzlers to get even more expensive. | |||
| A selection of interesting news stories from the online media. | |||
| A word file containing a brief exercise used in class to introduce AS economists to the use of index numbers. | |||
| A homework assignment for students introducing them to the concept of a business or trade cycle from which different stages of the cycle can be identified and discussed in broad terms. | |||
| Tony Blair came under fire this week for apparently announcing some of the data on unemployment numbers due for imminent release a day or two later. | |||
| A class exercise on injections and leakages from the circular flow, also available for download as a word file. | |||
| There is a good example of the idea of consumer surplus in the news today with some papers reporting the results of market research commissioned by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport which has found that people would pay more than the BBC itself has asked for when submitting requests for increases in the statutory licence fee. | |||
| In our microeconomics lesson a few days ago we were discussing Ryanair's business model as an introduction to the idea of business objectives in different markets. Here is a ten point summary of some (but not all aspects) of their business model. | |||
| Singapore has come out top in a ranking of countries where it is easiest to conduct business. The latest report for 2006 from the World Bank Group places Singapore at the top of the pile with New Zealand in second spot and the United States and Canada in 3rd and 4th place respectively. The United Kingdom occupied sixth place down one place from the 2005 report. | |||
| Details of the first macroeconomics homework set this term for my A2 level students. | |||
| The emergence of China as an economic powerhouse is one of the most significant macroeconomic developments of the age but the environmental costs of growth are clearly apparent | |||
| Tim Harford’s fourth and final programme in his series Trust Me I’m an Economist went out this week focusing on forecasting the future. | |||
| The battle to establish green credentials is becoming evermore fierce in the UK food retail industry. Growing concerns about the volume of waste that comes from our purchases of foods is translating itself into commercial decisions about the amount of plastic and packaging that consumers take home with them every time they leave the store. | |||
| For the first time since mid June, oil prices have fallen below $67 per barrel raising hopes that emerging inflationary pressures in developed countries might be held in check thereby limiting the risks of further rises in interest rates. | |||
| The Competition Commmission has relaxed regulatory controls over directory publisher Yell - mainly due to the increasing competition it is facing from the Internet. | |||
| There is a simple way to add the latest entries on the Economics Blog to your school/college or departmental website | |||
| Terror threats, blazing heat and the World Cup have combined to make summer 2006 a dreadful period for tour operators | |||
| This is our regular update on some of the key data for the UK economy – presented in a streamed PowerPoint presentation. | |||
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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 | |||
