Blog and updates
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28 Apr 2017
Swinton closes branches as consumers move online
Although there are macroeconomic implications, and negative multiplier effects associated with this news from Swinton Insurance, I think that it's more pertinent as a commentary on the changing...
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27 Apr 2017
Plain packaging as a nudge to quit smoking
This is a lovely article that suggests that the UK ban on branded cigarette packets could reduce the number of smokers by 300,000, if the measure has the same effect as it had in Australia....
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27 Apr 2017
The Changing Economics of the Book Industry
A timely and telling evaluation here of the state of play in the book industry. Retail sales of e-books are declining - the technology has not become as ubiquitous and popular as many assumed. As...
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25 Apr 2017
Nestle moves production from the UK to Poland
When it comes to the crunch capital flows to where the risk-adjusted expected returns are highest. Several hundred jobs are at risk in the UK as Nestle announces that production of the Blue Riband...
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22 Apr 2017
First Coal Free Day in Britain since start of Industrial Revolution
A remarkable statistic has emerged from yesterday: it was the first day since the Industrial Revolution that coal wasn't used to generate power.
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21 Apr 2017
China's Pet Project to Reshape Global Trade
Excellent resource, courtesy of Bloomberg which sets out the importance of the New Silk Road for China's global trade policy. This is a first-rate summary of what Xi Jinping's so-called 'Pet...
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20 Apr 2017
10 question multi-choice quiz on Demand and Supply-Side Policies
Here's a 10 question multi-choice quiz on demand and supply-side policies aimed at A Level students. It uses our 'Beat the Zombie' format which asks players to identify the correct answers before...
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19 Apr 2017
Trade in Services - More than just Shipping!
Two hundred years ago this week we were introduced to the concept of comparative advantage by David Ricardo. The BBC's Andrew Walker looks here at the growth in the service sector, as it accounts...
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19 Apr 2017
Tackling 4 Million Deaths a Year from Air Pollution
This World Economic Forum clip looks at how air pollution is responsible for around four million premature deaths worldwide. Princeton professor, Denise Mauzerall, looks at how China, in...
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19 Apr 2017
Industry Evolution - Why Most Businesses Fail
Is setting up a micro brewery a licence to print money? This month, a private equity company acquired 22 per cent of BrewDog for just over £200 million, netting a neat £100 million for the...
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19 Apr 2017
Multi-Choice Revision Quiz on Labour Markets
Here's a 10 question revision quiz on Labour Markets aimed at A level students about to take their exams. It uses a format called 'The Usual Suspects' which is a 'confidence-based' quiz. This means...
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18 Apr 2017
Martin Wolf on Elites versus the People
In this talk at the 2017 Warwick Economics Summit, Martin Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator at the Financial Times, talks about the state of democratic capitalism today and its impact on the future.
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18 Apr 2017
Will employers take a free ride on apprenticeships?
Here is a Guardian editorial packed full of evaluation of the latest attempt to beef-up vocational training via apprenticeships. In it, there's an acknowledgement of the difficulties of...
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18 Apr 2017
Drone footage captures scale of world's largest ship
It's big: check out the economies of scale associated with this ship, the largest construction vessel ever built.
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18 Apr 2017
Multi-choice quiz on market structures, business objectives and costs.
Click here for a 10 question multi-choice quiz on market structures, business objectives and costs.
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18 Apr 2017
Zimbabwe's cash cows
Two recent articles in the FT could make a useful starter to the new term, particularly for Year 13 students who are preparing for the synoptic paper. Both cover the move by Zimbabwe's parliament...
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18 Apr 2017
Poland - A Development Success Story
This is the World Bank's perhaps sugar-coated interpretation of Poland's transition from upper middle to higher income status - but a user primer for studying the economics of some countries that...
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17 Apr 2017
Is the war on diesel about to start?
It looks like the war on diesel is about to start, with the government apparently contemplating a range of policy options to tackle the nitrogen oxide emitted by these vehicles. A number of policy...
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17 Apr 2017
A Big Bond for Africa
Infrastructure needs are growing across the world and nowhere more than in many countries in sub Saharan Africa. Significant investment in rail, roads, renewable energy and telecoms could help to...
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17 Apr 2017
FinTech: How technology is changing the world of finance
Here is a timely BBC Newsnight report from David Grossman on the impact that financial technology (FinTech) is having on competition / contestability in the UK financial sector.
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