On the day, that the official unemployment figures fell to 7.8%, there was also news that more than 1,700 people applied for 8 positions at Costa Coffee in Nottingham. (Independent) The labour force survey suggests that here are currently 2.50 million unemployed people, down 14,000 on July to September 2012 and down 156,000 on a …
Iceland’s crisis was brutally severe. With a bloated current account deficit and bad debts, Iceland experienced a severe balance of payments crisis and banking losses. Iceland responded by: Not guaranteeing all banking debt. Many large banks failed and were seized by the government Allowing the currency to devalue by 50%. Imposed capital controls to prevent …
Welfare spending in the UK is a controversial topic. There is significant political and public concern at the growth of welfare spending in the past few decades. In particular, there is a fear that the growth of the welfare state is encouraging a ‘dependency culture’. But, how much has welfare spending actually increased by? Are …
Interesting post by David Blanchflower about the best form of economic stimulus – Here’s a way to end the slump (Useful for any economic student wishing to understand marginal propensity to consume – mpc) A fiscal stimulus could involve a tax cut or government spending increase. This should increase overall aggregate demand, and boost economic …
We tend to consider the impact of immigration on our own country. – How do immigrants affect UK unemployment? UK housing? UK labour markets? and GDP (e.g. economic impact of immigration). However, the flip side of the coin, is how does migration affect developing economies? Recently, the World Bank reported that migrants working in developed …
Recently, there has been much focus on US public sector debt – the total amount the government borrows. These graphs show the combined debt levels of both the public and private sector. Private sector debt is split up into households, non-financial companies and financial corporations. In the run up to the 2007 financial crash, we …
When examining debt levels in the UK, there is government debt – measured by public sector borrowing (often referred to as National debt). See: UK National Debt. We also have private sector debt which is composed of personal loans, personal mortgages, business debts, and debts of the financial sector. Total Debt includes both private sector …
The past few years have seen many big names on the High Street close down. Chains such as Comet, HMV, Borders, Virgin have all been victims to the recession and competition from online retailers. I was listening to a radio debate following the closure of HMV and some young girls said that usually when shopping, …