Category: Economics

Economics-driven content, perfect for students and teachers alike. Highly accessible and open to all.

Economics, Europe, History, UK

The Galloway Hoard: Economics of the Early Middle Ages

The Galloway Hoard is more than just buried treasure. Discovered in 2014, this Viking-age deposit offers a glimpse of life during the Early Middle Ages, a century after the first Viking raids across Scotland. The collection contains more than 100 silver, gold, glass, rock crystal, stone, and earthen objects, most of which date to roughly 900AD. Our modern stereotype of the Viking age is framed … Continue reading The Galloway Hoard: Economics of the Early Middle Ages

Unknown's avatarChenyang Li1 Comment
Economics

Real Business Cycle Theory

The real business cycle, also known as the boom-and-bust cycle, is a term that illustrates how an economy evolves over time. The real business cycle shows that macroeconomic fluctuations within an economy can be described by technological shocks and changes in productivity. The change in growth affects the decision making of firms on investment. In RBC theory, business cycles are created by agents responding optimally … Continue reading Real Business Cycle Theory

Unknown's avatarEtonomicsLeave a comment
Economics, US

The Economics of Private Prisons

When it comes to incarcerating criminals, there are two options in the US: state or private. A state prison is entirely owned by the government. The government then needs to oversee almost everything, from hiring the guards to providing the building itself. Although, even with state prisons, much of the work, such as food service and prisoner transportation, is outsourced to private contractors. With a private prison, … Continue reading The Economics of Private Prisons

Unknown's avatarEtonomicsLeave a comment
Behavioural

Time Preference and Economics of Self-Control

Last year, in the last week of school, I was trapped in a painful dilemma: should I continue revising for that onerous Economics exam or should I flip open the laptop and switch on England’s (not so) dramatic Euro’s Group D decider? Adam Smith back in 1759 would’ve explained my situation as a battle between my passions and my impartial spectator. That is, I found … Continue reading Time Preference and Economics of Self-Control

Unknown's avatarTristan Hand2 Comments
Chart of the Month, UK

Chart of the Month – November 2021

UK vacancies are at a record high. November’s Chart of the Month examines the causes behind this unprecedented labour shortage and its implications on the UK’s economic recovery. During pandemic restrictions, domestic aggregate demand for consumer goods and services slumped. Businesses faced sharp falls in revenues and a loss of profitability. Without government support, many firms would have shut their doors forever. To prevent irreversible … Continue reading Chart of the Month – November 2021

Unknown's avatarChenyang LiLeave a comment
Economics, International, Long Read

Modelling Supply and Demand: An Investigation of Price Volatility

Introduction     For those who have lived through a pandemic, price volatility is no new phenomenon. In the early days of lockdown restrictions, dramatic images of empty shelves surfaced across media outlets, prompting fears of widespread shortages and price increases. Economic theory provides a standard explanation: a change in consumer preferences (as the jargon goes) results in a rightwards shift in demand. This leads to shortages, … Continue reading Modelling Supply and Demand: An Investigation of Price Volatility

Unknown's avatarChenyang Li4 Comments
Environment, International

The Economics of Poaching

A century ago, more than ten million wild elephants roamed the forests and savannahs of Africa. Now there are fewer than 500,000 left. The exorbitant price of ivory, at $1,800 per kilo, makes the grisly economics of poaching extremely valuable, condemning 35,000 elephants each year to an ugly death. Despite its trade being banned since 1989 and a global struggle to enforce an ‘ivory crush’, strong demand from East Asia has seen the market expand by 66% since 2003 and has … Continue reading The Economics of Poaching

Unknown's avatarTristan HandLeave a comment
"Central Bank Digital Currency" in typewriter font
Business and Technology, Economics, Finance and Markets

Central Bank Digital Currencies

While the physical world has been frozen in lockdowns, the digital world has been accelerated into our living rooms. Even in a tide of new financial assets, cryptocurrencies have become the most speculative. In the first four months of 2021 alone, Bitcoin has doubled in price, continuing to hear the praises of its early devotees and adding hedge fund titans like Paul Tudor Jones to … Continue reading Central Bank Digital Currencies

Unknown's avatarJohn Chang1 Comment
brown deer near withered tree
Economics, Environment, UK

Is Rewilding Economically Viable in Britain and is it Important for the Future?

One of Britain’s often overlooked key macroeconomic objectives is sustainable use of the environment. The role of GDP growth, often the dominant indicator of the health of the economy, may need to be altered in the face of climate change.  A reimagined goal proposed by Kate Raworth is “to achieve human prosperity in a flourishing web of life”. To achieve this, we might want to … Continue reading Is Rewilding Economically Viable in Britain and is it Important for the Future?

Unknown's avatarLudlow Morris1 Comment
Development, International

Foreign Aid: The Double-Edged Sword

The coronavirus pandemic, dubbed the ‘Inequality Virus’, will push a further 150 million people globally into poverty by the end of 2021. The pandemic’s negative repercussions have been worst felt in low-income countries (LICs), where they have been described as ‘a serious setback to development progress’. Foreign aid has been at the forefront of supporting developing countries for many years, reaching ‘an all-time high of … Continue reading Foreign Aid: The Double-Edged Sword

Unknown's avatarAaryan HariaLeave a comment