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

Chenyang LiNovember 1, 2021December 2, 2021Leave a comment

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?

Ludlow MorrisOctober 13, 2021March 27, 20231 Comment

Chart of the Month, Environment, UK

Chart of the Month – October 2021

The lines show the number of publicly available electric vehicle (EV) charging points in each region of the UK, per 100,000 people. London is included as an outlier. The grey bars show the number of devices installed per month for the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme. It is read off the secondary axis, on the right-hand side of the graph. October’s Chart of the Month focuses … Continue reading Chart of the Month – October 2021

Chenyang LiSeptember 30, 2021October 18, 20211 Comment

Economics, International, Politics, UK

Financing Think Tanks

Think tanks are defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a research institute or other organization providing advice and ideas on national or commercial problems.” In modern democracies, think tanks play a crucial role in economic decision-making. They help the public to understand both sides of important policy decisions whilst holding governments to account. They also help policymakers: governmental entities, such as the Low Pay … Continue reading Financing Think Tanks

Chenyang LiSeptember 30, 2021October 18, 20211 Comment

Business and Technology, Chart of the Month, UK

Chart of the Month – September 2021

This month’s Chart of the Month shows the real (inflation-adjusted) monthly value of UK fish and shellfish exports, bound for EU destinations. It reflects the short-term and potential long-term impacts of Brexit on UK businesses. Over the last twenty years, fish exports to the EU have remained relatively stable. The spike in August 2003 is unexplained, although it may have been caused by an unexpected … Continue reading Chart of the Month – September 2021

Chenyang LiSeptember 4, 2021September 30, 2021Leave a comment

Politics, UK

A New Wealth Tax for the UK: Delicately Plucking the Golden Goose

The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing. – Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Finance Minister to Louis XIV Starting in early 2020, life as we knew it came to a stop, as governments around the world locked up their countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. The resulting economic impact … Continue reading A New Wealth Tax for the UK: Delicately Plucking the Golden Goose

Merritt FactorMay 19, 2021March 27, 20231 Comment

Business and Technology, UK

The End of Tax-Free Shopping in the United Kingdom

This article explores the potential economic impact, particularly on the West End of London, of the recent decision by the Treasury to discontinue the VAT Retail Export Scheme for international visitors. Continue reading The End of Tax-Free Shopping in the United Kingdom

Rob WebbMay 7, 2021March 27, 2023Leave a comment

Bus passing the Bank of England at night

Economics, Podcast, UK

Assessing the Virtues of Negative Interest Rates

Early this year, the Bank of England (BoE) was reported to have instructed banks to prepare for negative interest rates within six months. The BoE purportedly did so as part of its plans for a monetary stimulus to resuscitate the UK economy ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic. Economists have since been divided on whether driving the BoE’s base rate from the already ultra-low 0.1% to … Continue reading Assessing the Virtues of Negative Interest Rates

Marco BulatApril 27, 2021March 27, 20234 Comments

Business and Technology, UK

The Effects of Nationalisation on the British Coal Industry

Although Britain had defeated the Axis Powers in the Second World War, the country was falling from its status as the world’s sole economic heavyweight. 1945 was the second consecutive year that GDP per capita had fallen. Influenced by economists like William Beveridge and John Maynard Keynes, British economic policy operated under the guidance of the “Post-War Consensus”. From the end of the Second World … Continue reading The Effects of Nationalisation on the British Coal Industry

Nathan Osafo OmaneApril 27, 2021March 27, 20231 Comment

Business and Technology, Environment, UK

The Future of the UK’s Sustainable Automotive Industry: Can it save us from a double-dip recession?

On the 18th of November 2020, Boris Johnson announced his Ten Point Plan to drive the UK’s ‘green industrial revolution’, an ambitious plan with reforms in many high-carbon industries such as electricity and transportation. With the predictions that unemployment could reach 2.6 million by mid-2021 along with the fears of a double-dip recession, we may ask whether such costly reforms are currently appropriate, given the … Continue reading The Future of the UK’s Sustainable Automotive Industry: Can it save us from a double-dip recession?

Carl ScandeliusApril 27, 2021March 27, 2023Leave a comment