Category
Explanations
Counter-intuitive effects of fuel subsidies in Madagascar
The World Bank looks at how the Malagasy government has spent a significant amount subsidising fuel.
When is the best time to get a cheap airline ticket?
This is a deceptively simple question but one whose answer has many layers of complexity. Conventional economic theory suggests that travellers who book very close to departure time tend to be...
Why Cuban cab drivers earn more than doctors
A snappy and revealing short video on the differences in earnings between Cuban taxi drivers and Cuban doctors. Ideal as a discussion stimulant when covering economic systems.
Is poverty self-perpetuating?
Excellent for Theme 4 Development Policy, Professor Maitreesh Ghatak from the LSE discusses the implications of a randomised control trial in Bangladesh, where some ultra-poor women were given a...
Does technology hinder development?
According to development economist Dani Rodrik, although new technologies allow developing countries possibly to by-pass old models of industrialisation, the main barrier is that in many countries,...
Exchange Rates and Trade with Gita Gopinath
Here is a really clear and hugely relevant short video featuring IMF Chief Economist Gita Gopinath who explains why - because many traded goods and services are priced in US dollars - a...
Hyman Minsky - The Financial Instability Hypothesis
Hyman Minsky was an American economist who lived from 1919 to 1996, living through the Great Depression which undoubtedly moulded his heterodox post-Keynesian economics.
Why The Inequality Gap Is Growing Between Rich And Poor
This video focuses on the USA but has a broader currency in helping to explain some of the structural factors behind increasing inequality.
Brazil dam disaster: The cost of economic development
This is a hugely sobering video from BBC Newsnight about the human cost of the collapsed dam at an iron ore mine in Brumadinho. For many, the tragedy is a stark consequence of a pattern of...
Why are glasses so expensive?
Why Glasses Are So Expensive? One glaringly obvious answer is that Italian firm Luxottica owns 40% of the US market and has a major presence in many other developed and emerging countries. This is...
Technology and the innovation possibilities frontier
If there were a betting market in future winners of the Nobel prize in economics, MIT’s Daniel Acemoglu would be at pretty short odds. His highly innovative work has already won him a string of...
A Brexit Thread for Core Understanding
A homely hat tip to the economics team at RGS Guildford who today published this really focused twitter thread on Brexit.
The Aldi Effect
Essential reading for both Economics and Business Management students alike: it looks at the rise of the discounters and how Aldi took on, and started to beat their complacent established rivals,...
Globalisation: How can we tax the footloose multinationals?
Joseph Stiglitz writes on the thorny question of tax avoidance by multinationals, such as Apple, and concludes that for all their talk, the notion of corporate social responsibility is largely hot...
How Porsches Are Made
Wow! A stunning four minute video that takes us behind the scenes of the Porsche factory in Leipzig in Germany where thousands of robots (and some humans) come together to manufacture 160,000...
Why Multinationals Love Some Places, but Ignore Others
A great short overview here from researchers at the London School of Economics of some of the economic factors that cause multinational corporations to favour some countries over others when making...
Learning Macroeconomics On A Roller Coaster
In the company of Paul Krugman, Stephen Colbert asks some searching macroeconomic questions!
Long Read: Do companies have too much monopoly power?
A new paper from Princeton economist Jan De Loecker finds that the mark ups (profit margins) of the world's largest global companies has been increasing raising fresh concerns about the impact on...
The Rise and Fall of GDP
Super short video from Project Syndicate on whether GDP as measurement tool has reached the end of a long run.
Inside an ultra-efficient BMW factory
A sensational short video from Business Insider which visits a BMW plant in the USA that makes 1,400 vehicles a day. Over 500 robots and 450 employees work together to produce one SUV. A great...