Chart of the Month – April 2023

April’s chart shows that inflation in the UK is lasting longer and staying higher than much of the OECD. We can see that, while inflation dropped 0.3% in the UK in March, inflation fell by 1.6% in the Eurozone; in the US, it peaked last June. Food inflation remains at 19%; energy inflation at 67%. Why is the UK struggling to take the wind out … Continue reading Chart of the Month – April 2023

Chart of the Month – March 2023

March’s Chart of the Month displays the percentage differences in tertiary education, participation in the workforce, and average wages, between women and men in the UK. It highlights the gender disparities that still exist within the labour market. For instance, in 2020 average wages for female workers were 15% lower than for men, yet they were 5% more likely to be in tertiary education. Over … Continue reading Chart of the Month – March 2023

India’s rapid population rise: A blessing or a curse?

The world’s population surpassed 8 billion in November 2022. India and China are currently the two most populous countries, with 1.408 billion and 1.412 billion citizens, respectively. In April 2023, India is expected to overtake China to become the most populated country in the world. This rapid population growth will, no doubt, have numerous impacts on India and the rest of the world, but will … Continue reading India’s rapid population rise: A blessing or a curse?

Chart of the Month – February 2023

Strikes in the UK are at a record high. February’s Chart of the Month examines the causes behind this unparalleled increase of discontent in wages and its implications on the UK’s economic recovery. In the last 10 years, there have been two spikes in working days lost to strikes. Over several days in July 2014, millions of people took part in protests, including teachers, firefighters, … Continue reading Chart of the Month – February 2023

Tourism and Development: the path less travelled

Recent decades have seen an unprecedented amount of economic development as ’emerging nations’ have sought to raise incomes per capita and reduce levels of absolute poverty. Their economies have grown, and citizens have experienced an improvement in their overall standard of living.  Developing countries share some characteristics such as lower growth, lower standards of living, worse education, and lower life-spans, when compared to developed countries. Many … Continue reading Tourism and Development: the path less travelled

WW2 bombers in sky

Bust to Boom: How the American economy thrived during WWII

The USS Gerald R Ford, the USA’s latest aircraft carrier, took more than eight years to build. In contrast, by 1945, the US Navy finished the production of an aircraft carrier every week. The US was the only allied country to emerge from the war with its economy not only intact but thriving, and the only economy which saw an expansion of consumer goods despite … Continue reading Bust to Boom: How the American economy thrived during WWII

Slide or Bounce? – The Post-Pandemic Prospects for the UK

On the 31st of December 2019, the first report of Covid-19 was submitted by China to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Since then, the effects of the repeated loosening and tightening of preventative measures in the UK, including three national lockdowns, has seen unprecedented change in the UK’s economic performance. This comes on top of the disruptive influence of Brexit. There are twenty-one major economic … Continue reading Slide or Bounce? – The Post-Pandemic Prospects for the UK

An Investigation Into the Kuznets Curve

In the 1950s, the American economist and statistician Simon Kuznets, as a result of his work on economic growth and income distribution, developed the Kuznets curve: a model which posits that as an economy develops, inequality first increases and then decreases. It was first proposed in a 1955 seminal paper. This hypothesis is expressed on a graph of inequality plotted against income (or GDP) per … Continue reading An Investigation Into the Kuznets Curve

The Dark Side of the Belt and Road Initiative

The last 40 years have seen China’s GDP grow by a record 9.1% per annum, attracting a plethora of investors and businesses worldwide. With its newfound capital, it has gained international influence through trade and become the world’s largest trading partner in 2012. China seeks to optimize this trade network through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a scheme unveiled in 2013 by Chinese President … Continue reading The Dark Side of the Belt and Road Initiative

The Psychology of Investing

It is only recently that the concept of human nature has been applied to economics, yet its impact can be seen everywhere. Contradicting traditional economic theory, it is believed now that human nature is intrinsic in every action we take from the small scale to the large. The recent GameStop trend was fuelled by individual investors taking an opportunity to turn a profit and retaliate … Continue reading The Psychology of Investing