Readers Question: I thought your explanation about whether to worry or not about the National Debt was pellucid but I would like to know, from an economics perspective, why governments (and people) were not worried about the debt after World War 2 given that it was far higher for many years than the UK debt …
“Don’t Panic, Captain Mainwaring.” – Dad’s Army The famous catchphrase could perhaps be adapted to UK debt levels. The 1940s and 1950s, were an example of high debt, but, it didn’t cripple the UK economy, the 1950s proved to be a decade of full employment and was one of the longest periods of economic expansion …
It’s the time of the year when many students are getting to start economics for the first time. It can be a little confusing with so many new concepts and words. But, if we had just one lesson, what could we teach about economics? Society wishes to optimise the distribution of resources. Economics considers how …
Definition of Fiscal Space – The difference between the current level of public debt and the level of debt that is sustainable and manageable. A key issue for many advanced economies is being aware of the level of government borrowing that is sustainable in the long term. Basically, how much can a government borrowing without …
There is speculation about how long interest rates will stay at zero. – See: – How long will interest rates stay at zero? Another issue is the limitations of zero interest rates. There is much hope / expectations that fiscal austerity can be offset by loose monetary policy – i.e. if we cut government spending …
In the past few years, we have had a bewildering array of different crisis – credit crunch, financial crisis, fiscal crisis, banking crisis, economic crisis, depression economics, oil price shock, currency crisis, housing crashes and more. Arguably, we should be calling continued mass unemployment a crisis. In many ways, it is more serious than a …
Readers Question: How can the U.S. economy be growing, even at 2%+, when the unemployment rate is so high. The unemployed don’t pay taxes, and obviously can’t spend their earnings. The US economy may be growing by 2%, but, it is still along way below potential output. It is merely recovering from a deep recession. …
One feature of the past few years is the rapid rise in government borrowing. – not just a rise in real debt but a rise in debt to GDP. This means debt burdens are a bigger % of National Output. It’s not the first time this has happened. A rise in debt to GDP typically …