Blog and updates
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23 Nov 2017
Focus on Productivity
Raising productivity was one of the key aspects of Philip Hammond's budget yesterday. The 'Productivity Puzzle' - namely why the UK's productivity has been lagging for so long - is a supply-side...
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23 Nov 2017
Christmas tree prices - blame the GFC!
As I was driving down the road the other day, I was shocked to see the high price of the "real" Christmas trees being sold on the side of the road. As an Economics teacher, I of course started...
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22 Nov 2017
Budget 2017 - "Reach the Peak" activity
Here's an activity to see how much your students know about Hammond's latest Budget. The 'Reach the Peak' activity is a 5 minute elimination game, perfect at the start of a lesson. Students are...
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22 Nov 2017
Autumn Budget 2017 - Powerpoint presentation of key points
Here's a ready-made simple Powerpoint presentation showing the key points from today's Budget by Philip Hammond for use in classrooms.
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21 Nov 2017
Where next for Norway's sovereign wealth fund?
The world's biggest sovereign wealth fund (worth in excess of $1trillion) has proposed dropping its investments in oil and gas stocks.
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21 Nov 2017
London's buses to be powered by coffee!
Think coffee powers you in the morning? Waste coffee is being converted into biofuel - today will see some London buses being powered by coffee-based biofuels. This marks the start of a move to...
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20 Nov 2017
Singapore's e-sports training academies
A superb two minute video here from the BBC on the growth of e-sports training schemes in Singapore. Annual turnover in the global e-sports market is forecast to reach $1.5bn in three years.
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20 Nov 2017
Businesses Switch to Dynamic Pricing
From hotels renting out spare car parking spaces to highly flexible prices in the gym industry Amazon changing price lists every ten minutes, dynamic pricing driven by a world of big data is big news.
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19 Nov 2017
Featured Snippets and Information Failure
How much do you trust your search engine? The WSJ investigates the accuracy of the Google Featured Snippet to consider how algorithms are -- and aren't -- working. Students should beware!
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19 Nov 2017
Universal Credit - A Case Study in Government Failure
This is deeply sobering six minute video from BBC Newsnight as we visit a food bank in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne.
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19 Nov 2017
Are there any unemployed people left in the UK?
Not according to the Chancellor who has been roundly criticised for a comment on the Marr Programme that - at the very least - appeared to be economically tone-deaf.
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19 Nov 2017
UK exports coal power to France as the cold bites
This is an unusual story - we normally 'exporting' pollution with developed economies locating production plants in developing economies. However, in this case, it's France getting coal-fired...
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17 Nov 2017
Economics Weekly News Quiz - 16 November 2017
Here's this week's economics news quiz. Good luck.
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17 Nov 2017
Economics Weekly News Quiz - 16 November 2017
Here's this week's economics news quiz. Good luck.
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17 Nov 2017
Richest 1% own half of the world's wealth
A Credit Suisse reportreveals the extent to which the meek seem increasingly unlikely to inherit the earth.
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16 Nov 2017
Just Eat and Hungryhouse - Takeover Cleared
A great competition policy applied example! The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has cleared Just Eat’s acquisition of Hungryhouse, following an in-depth investigation. They refer to the...
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15 Nov 2017
Rhino poaching, property rights and the economics of trading horns
You might not think that rhino poaching is an economic issue. I do.
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15 Nov 2017
Airbus secures $50 billion deal
A terrific example here of the balance of bargaining power when a duopolist (Airbus) meets a business owning a group of low-cost airlines (monopsony buying power) to reach a deal for 430 aircraft...
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15 Nov 2017
Behavioural Economics: Do Tube strikes make Londoners better off?
Do Tube strikes make Londoners better off? At first sight, the question is simply absurd. The answer is “no”.
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15 Nov 2017
Indie coffee shops battle it out on the high street
The number of coffee shops in the UK increased by over 6% last year - are we close to saturation point? Or will more entrepreneurs enter a space where non-price competition is so important?
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