Blog and updates
-
27 Sept 2019
Economics Weekly Quiz 27 September 2019
Here's this week's economics news quiz. Good luck!
-
26 Sept 2019
Scottish minimum alcohol price reduces demand
Here is an interesting insight into the impact of a minimum price for alcohol in Scotland: the amount drunk by Scots has fallen by 7.6%, twice the forecast amount built into the modelling estimates...
-
26 Sept 2019
Have factories made the lives of workers better?
Here is Tim Harford's short piece on The Factory - in series two of fifty things that made the modern economy. Factories are changing and scaling to almost unprecedented sizes. But the increase in...
-
24 Sept 2019
What the company of the future might look like
The Big Read in the Financial Times today is a superb piece by Andrew Hill on the limits of the pursuit of profit. In this very accessible and clear video, he talks through some of the main themes...
-
24 Sept 2019
The Fall of Thomas Cook
Strip away the short term dynamics of poor management, Brexit uncertainty and the falling pound. The best explanation that I have heard for the demise of Thomas Cook is that it was fundamentally an...
-
24 Sept 2019
Investors snub £250m bond sale by Metro Bank
The challenger brand Metro Bank is going through some tough times at the moment, not helped by the mis-classification of loans worth nearly £1 billion earlier this year. A new bond issue worth...
-
24 Sept 2019
Bali bans plastic bags
The island of Bali has banned plastic bags, responding to a remarkable campaign led by a 16 year-old girl.
-
24 Sept 2019
Universal health coverage - a progress report
This WHO clip looks at how far we've moved towards the SDG goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage, with the WHO Global Monitoring Report charting how much progress there's been.
-
23 Sept 2019
Student essay: Will Uber ever be profitable?
Year 12 student Max Ghose has written this superb introductory micro essay on Uber.
-
23 Sept 2019
Economies of Scale: The Largest Sandwich Factory in the World
Here is a great five minute video looking at mass production of sandwiches in the biggest sandwich factor in the world based in Nottinghamshire. Lots of potential economies of scale evident here...
-
22 Sept 2019
Google signs up to $2bn wind and solar investment
Google is going green, having signed the largest renewable energy deal in history, meaning that the company will be supplied with clean energy from wind and solar power.
-
20 Sept 2019
Economics Weekly Quiz 20 September 2019
Here's this week's economics news quiz. Good luck!
-
19 Sept 2019
Spare ribs? China to tap pork reserves as swine fever hits industry
Here is a niche but really interesting example of government intervention in markets. The Chinese government is releasing stocks from its pork reserve to keep pork prices down. You should be able...
-
19 Sept 2019
Booking.com still duping customers says industry watchdog
This might get you thinking about the importance of perfect information in markets, and how Booking.com failing to act to ensure perfect information results in sub-optimal outcomes and exploits...
-
19 Sept 2019
Why industries should fear Amazon
How great is the competitive threat from Amazon facing businesses in markets such as food delivery, retail pharmaceuticals and commercial banking? This FT video is business economics gold-dust...
-
18 Sept 2019
Are we moving to more worker-owned firms?
This article looks at the notion of increased worker ownership of firms - with the Left looking at the idea in both the UK and the US. Of course, European firm ownership is already predicated upon...
-
18 Sept 2019
Are we still worse off than in 2008?
The latest New Economics Foundation research offers an interesting take on the standard of living in the UK. It says that contrary to official statistics, the average Briton is still worse off in...
-
17 Sept 2019
Are There Winners and Losers of Globalization?
The excellent Marginal Revolution team have come up with this video exploring some of the benefits and drawbacks of globalisation. The Branko Milanovic "Elephant Curve" makes a notable appearance!
-
17 Sept 2019
How we make pencils
Get those pencils ready to pick out a huge amount of microeconomics in this brilliant 4 minute clip from Faber-Castell which produces 2.3 billion pencils a year and has been in business for over...
-
17 Sept 2019
Road transport emissions up despite efficiency gains
A really interesting piece here that highlights the fact that despite improved miles per gallon, and a decline in emissions from individual cars, the level of road transport emissions has risen...
Get email updates
Subscribe to our email updates and we’ll let you know whenever new content we think you’ll find useful is added.