News Briefing – 09/10/2023

This Week: Israelis woke on October 7th, Simchat Torah and Shemenj Atzeret, two Jewish festivals, to attacks from Hamas militants. The fortified ‘smart border’ fence between Israel and the Gaza Strip had been breached by bulldozers with explosives and fighters who flew over using motorised gliders, in what has been described as a major Israeli intelligence failure. UK Economics World Economics UK Politics World Politics … Continue reading News Briefing – 09/10/2023

Reviewing the Minimum Wage with Scepticism

The first national minimum wage was implemented in New Zealand in 1894. It was intended to protect the rights of workers and give them fair pay for the work that they do. This move has since been followed by a majority of countries around the world however, there are certain notable exceptions. These include Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Italy. In these countries, minimum wages are, more often than not, set de facto by individual industries. Put … Continue reading Reviewing the Minimum Wage with Scepticism

News Briefing – 26/06/2023

This week: On Saturday, the Wagner Group, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, began and ended an armed insurrection against Vladimir Putin, sending troops towards Moscow, causing alarm in the Kremlin. Prigozhin justified the mobilisation by claiming that the regular Russian army had attacked his forces. Putin called the act a “a knife in the back”, assuring a “harsh” response. UK Economics World Economics UK Politics World Politics … Continue reading News Briefing – 26/06/2023

Tencent: The King of Video Games

Tencent is not only the world’s largest game company; it also controls large shares of important markets in China such as music, social media, and films. Since April 2021, Tencent’s stock has seen a slow downward trend, falling from its highest closing price of HKD 757.00 on 14/2/2021 to HKD 266.40 as of 9/30/2022. This has been driven by anti-monopoly laws recently published by China, … Continue reading Tencent: The King of Video Games

Education is the Remedy to UK Inequality

The 2017 Grenfell Tower Fire, which claimed 72 lives, served as a wake-up call to the inequalities in rich countries. Inequality, which is the variance in levels of wealth within a population, is globally measured using the Lorenz Curve. Figure 1: Lorenz curve for the UK (2018/19)  In figure 1, the 45 degree line (red) represents perfect equality, and the more a Lorenz curve sags … Continue reading Education is the Remedy to UK Inequality

Should We Tax Wealth or Income?

Wealth and income inequality have become focal points of social and political contention and are often conflated together by politicians. However, the two must be addressed separately. Wealth is the value of an individual’s assets and is often difficult to assess, monitor, and tax. Income includes various streams of revenue that a household or person earns, and drives well being and standards of living. But … Continue reading Should We Tax Wealth or Income?

Calm Before the Storm: Falling House Prices in the UK

House Prices are Falling The UK’s current housing market might shock much of the British population, as high interest rates have led to house prices being down 3% nominally and 11% accounting for inflation since their peak in August 2022. (Bloomberg UK, 2023) However, this surprise is understandable as UK house prices have been a one-way bet for a long time, consistently rising since 2012, … Continue reading Calm Before the Storm: Falling House Prices in the UK