Blog and updates
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5 Feb 2016
Three-O2 Merger Plans Under Scrutiny
The Three-O2 merger is at a very delicate stage: it's clear that OFCOM have serious reservations about the merger largely because of its effects on concentration in the mobile market. However,...
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5 Feb 2016
A Eurosceptic View - Roger Bootle on the Trouble with Europe
Roger Bootle is a well-known economist with euro sceptic views on the future of the European Union. In this one hour lecture delivered at the University of Leeds in the spring of 2015, he outlines...
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5 Feb 2016
The gender price gap battle continues
The "pink pricing" outrage that has hit consumers over the last week seems to be ramping up, with more examples coming to light of consumers paying more for the 'feminised' version of products.
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5 Feb 2016
The power of drug cartels
This TED talk on the power of drug cartels in Mexico is a combination of fascinating and dark material - a powerful insight into the externalities associated with the drug market, as well as an...
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3 Feb 2016
GoPro's revenue growth is slowing as rivals enter the market
Perhaps it was inevitable. The phenomenal success of the GoPro product has been much heralded in the last couple of years and the business went public with an IPO in 2014. But there is evidence...
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3 Feb 2016
Sainsburys agrees a deal with Home Retail (Argos)
What are the commercial / strategic factors behind the agreed deal between Sainsburys and Home Retail? A takeover has been agreed that values Home Retail, the owner of Argos, at about £1.3bn. But...
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3 Feb 2016
Does UK government spending help the poorest – or the middle class?
Economists often recommend subsidies or other forms of government expenditure to help address the chronic problem of income inequality and other forms of market failure. But do these transfers...
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3 Feb 2016
Micro experiments - If it costs nothing, is it worth anything?
Most of us hate our banks. We have all experienced the unanswered letter, the seemingly interminable waits on hold before being put through to someone who gives the impression of auditioning for...
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3 Feb 2016
Happiness in the UK - a new version of the Higher or Lower Game
Anyone who knows me will also know that if a set of ranking stats comes out I love to turn it into the 'beloved' Higher and Lower game. It's a simple idea - in this example, students just have to...
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2 Feb 2016
Stellios opens his easyFoodstore with 25p offers!
Just when the incumbents felt that the discounters had started to become really annoying, this happened. The undoubted king of the discounters, Stelios Haji-Ioannou decided it was time to join the...
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2 Feb 2016
Behavioural economics: making poor financial decisions
Behavioural economics tries to offer realistic insights into decision making. Traditional economics assumes people make rational decisions and consistent choices based on effective computation.
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2 Feb 2016
What makes us feel good about work?
The importance of wages and other pecuniary advantages to work is at the heart of labour market economics, but economists are also aware of the importance of the many non-pecuniary advantages of...
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2 Feb 2016
Youtube and Contestability - The Fine Brothers nearly changed the game
Here's a story that got me thinking about Youtube and concepts of Perfect Competition and contestability. Examples of perfect competition are thin on the ground and we talk much more about...
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2 Feb 2016
Should we make mosquitoes extinct? An application of Cost-Benefit Analysis.
As the WHO declares mosquito borne Zika fever a major health emergency, scientists claim that we now have the knowledge to make extinct the species of mosquito which carry disease.
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1 Feb 2016
Salmon Supply and Sushi
This is no fishy story. Salmon prices have reached a 30-year high as a result of supply issues from the major Norwegian salmon producers.
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1 Feb 2016
How worrying is Britain’s current account deficit?
Almost all of the talk of "the deficit" is in reference to the fiscal deficit, which is the balance of tax revenues and public spending. But what about the "other deficit"?
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31 Jan 2016
What’s behind the recent steep fall of £ Sterling?
According to The Economist, Sterling has had a very choppy history, marked by crises such as 1967, 1976 and 1992. And it is having another rocky period. Thanks to Guy Tennant at Norwich School...
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31 Jan 2016
Mock Exam Data Question on Ethiopia
I have put together an A2 macro data response question on the Ethiopian economy. The main focus is the balance of payments. exposure to external shocks, aid & debt relief, the economics of a...
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30 Jan 2016
World Bank Video on the Internet Economy
The 2016 World Development Report focuses on the digital dividends from the rapid expansion of the web and associated technologies. This 3 minute video outlines some of the benefits of the internet...
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29 Jan 2016
Digitisation and the Future of Work
In this video clip, economists from the OECD look at the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how the digitisation of work will affect labour markets. It is a fantastic clip that looks both backwards...
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