House prices are falling at their fastest rate since 2009. With average prices 5% or £14,600 lower than last year. (Both Halifax and Nationwide reporting similar falls) Whilst Property experts are hoping for a soft landing, the market still has to absorb more bad news with a record fall in mortgage approvals and the impact …
Measuring economic welfare is not an exact science. Often in economics, we focus on GDP statistics (measuring national output). However, quality of life depends on many other factors apart from just GDP. Quality of Life Indicators GDP – the total output of an economy. This is a guide to national output and influences the level of …
The competitiveness of British industry refers to whether British goods/service are more attractive to consumers than in other countries. A big factor is the relative price of British goods and services compared to other economies. However, as well as price competition, for many goods non-price competition will be important. For example, British fashion labels may …
Economics affects our daily lives in both obvious and subtle ways. From an individual perspective, economics frames many choices we have to make about work, leisure, consumption and how much to save. Our lives are also influenced by macro-economic trends, such as inflation, interest rates and economic growth. Summary – why economics is important The …
A lagging indicator is an economic statistic that tends to have a delayed reaction to a change in the economic cycle. A leading indicator is an economic statistic that tends to predict future changes in the economic cycle. A co-incident indicator is a variable that changes with the whole economy. The recession of 2008 was …
Interest rates have been cut to a record low of 0.25% – essentially due to grim economic news from the short-run demand side shock of Brexit. Economic theory states that in normal circumstances, lower interest rates should boost aggregate demand (AD). To give a quick recap, lower interest rates should in theory: Reduce the incentive …
Readers Question: Does growth forecast always corresponds to the mesured growth? If a bias exist, is it always on the same side? Recently, growth statistics published on February 26th showed that the GDP figures for the fourth quarter of 2009 were a higher than first recorded. GDP grew by 0.3%, rather than the initial estimate …
Readers Question: Why is US in Recession? According to the latest statistics provided by the Economist April 24th 2008 US economic growth is 2.4% year on year. In the last quarter, growth is 0.6%. This is still a long way off the technical definition of a recession – negative economic growth for two consecutive quarters. …