• The Power of Networks

    Updated: 2012-05-31 19:17:44
    Network effects are becoming increasingly important in Economics and many teachers will be wanting to introduce or develop network concepts into their teaching in the future. In this superb new RSA animate Manuel Lima senior UX design lead at Microsoft Bing, explores the power of network visualisation to help navigate our complex modern world. One of Tutor2u’s favourite economists Paul Ormerod has a new book out on this very subject - ‘Positive Linking: How Networks and Incentives Can Revolutionise the World - he is speaking about it at the RSA on the 12th July. Details here

  • Can China Save the World?

    Updated: 2012-05-31 19:17:44
    Students of the Chinese economy will be delighted to hear that Mo Tanweer has just delivered another lecture on the Chinese economy at Cambridge University to great acclaim. The lecture notes are available here on slide share - some gold dust here to sprinkle over your A2 macro papers!

  • Your Economics CPD for June 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-31 11:16:35
    Half-term has arrived for most, bringing with it a deserved break from exam invigilation! When you return to the silence of the exam hall, your thoughts might turn to the opportunity to get away from exams for a day or two and meet up with fellow Economics teachers from around the UK. So I thought you might like to know about a series of CPD courses and conferences being run by tutor2u in central London in the coming weeks.

  • End Depression Now! Paul Krugman at the LSE

    Updated: 2012-05-30 12:58:46
    Paul Krugman made an impassioned plea for a reversal of austerity policies in a talk to a packed Peacock Theatre at the LSE in London last night - I was live tweeting the event and I have brought together these tweets and some other comments together with some of the charts in his talk. I have also drawn on the live tweets of Stuart Foster whose excellent twitter feed can be found here: @econbant The slides from Krugman’s talk at the LSE can be found here Paul Krugman talks to Evan Davis on the Radio 4 Today programme: Click here Niall Ferguson provides a contrary view here: ‘You can’t solve debt with more debt’ See also: European Commission supports UK deficit-cutting course (BBC news)  

  • BBC Guide to the BRICS

    Updated: 2012-05-30 04:58:09
    The BBC have just released an excellent video guide titled ‘How solid are the BRICS?’ Read on for the link…

  • Happy Tax Freedom Day!

    Updated: 2012-05-29 20:57:34
    The Adam Smith Insititute have announced that according to their research, today is ‘Tax Freedom Day’, a milestone which they say has been reached two days later than last year.

  • Euro crisis hits Eurovision

    Updated: 2012-05-26 11:34:51
    Amidst the depths of concern about where the Greek crisis and the eurozone might take us, can I offer a lighter note. Putting aside UK contingency planning to deal with mass immigration and Bankia’s request for a 19bn bailout, perhaps the ultimate indicator of the crisis is the news that Spanish TV has instructed their entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest that she is not to win. If Pastora Soler wins with her ballad Quedate Conmigo (Stay With Me), then according to the rules of the contest the public broadcaster of the nation that wins must host the following year. And Spain’s broadcaster TVE cannot afford that at the moment. Surely this explains how/why countries choose their Eurovision entry, and is a great example of game theory which we should use in the classroom?

  • Small government is beautiful - discuss

    Updated: 2012-05-26 11:34:50
    Does a smaller Government sector mean more economic growth? This example of normative economics from The Centre For Policy Studies offers a case that it does. The CPS is trying to convince you and me, that smaller government leads to lower taxes, less crowding out, more enterprise amongst other outcomes. It is trying to shape decisions about the mixed economy, or change the behaviour of governments and voters. It might provide some food for thought about what sort of mix of private and public sector is desirable. If you wanted to weigh up the case for more intervention, what would you highlight? Does the data used show that the relationship between government size is based on correlation or coincidence?

  • “Give Me Money!”

    Updated: 2012-05-25 15:53:17
    | Peter Klein | I’ve received quite a few emails from various academic organizations asking me to help defeat the Flake Amendment, which would eliminate National Science Foundation funding for political science research. The American Political Science Association is all over this, even publishing a virtual special issue of APSR highlighting NSF-funded research results. Ironically, [...]

  • Greek Euro Exit Flowchart

    Updated: 2012-05-25 15:10:44
    Here’s a good one for the end of the week, if you want a discussion regarding the possible outcome(s) of the € currency crisis, or a handy revision tool. This Guardian interactive page is very helpful.

  • The Merkeltaur - my favourite Greek crisis cartoon!

    Updated: 2012-05-25 06:10:15
    The Greek economic crisis has led to many amusing and insightful cartoons, and my students and I have enjoyed discussing the cross-curricular links between Classics and Economics that many of the cartoons reference.

  • BMW - Bavarian Monopolist at Work

    Updated: 2012-05-24 21:57:47
    BMW have been fined SFr156m ($163m) by Swiss Competition Authorities for restricting the supply of BMW and MINI cars to Swiss purchasers.

  • Investment in Energy Infrastructure

    Updated: 2012-05-24 05:56:21
    Many people take as given a pressing need to increase capital investment in the infrastructure of our energy sectors - but how strong are the economic and social impacts of such investment? The LSE Growth Commission met this week to discuss this and I have brought together some of the arguments drawing on a number of various twitter feeds

  • Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK

    Updated: 2012-05-24 05:56:20
    Our focus in an AS macro revision session was on the difference between cyclical issues and events and the wider / deeper structural problems and issues facing the UK economy at this fascinating time. Key macro policy decisions affect the path of an economy out of recession, but are these the same policies that will address the supply-side constraints and weaknesses that hold back growth, development and contribute to growing inequality?

  • A2 Macro: You Have $75 Billion To Save the World - How would you spend it?

    Updated: 2012-05-24 05:56:18
    Five top development economists including 4 Nobel Laureates were asked how they would best spend $75 billion to improve human welfare especially in developing countries and the list below is what they came up with in order of priority.

  • Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: Kindle Edition Now Available

    Updated: 2012-05-23 20:01:12
    | Peter Klein | Here’s the link — and the price is right, just $16.50! According to the latest sales figures, we’re up to #1,070,026 on Amazon. So close to the top spot! Incidentally, my sole-authored Capitalist and the Entrepreneur is just behind at #1,210,245, suggesting that the market places only a small value on the marginal [...]

  • More Coase

    Updated: 2012-05-23 05:59:56
    | Peter Klein | Russ Roberts interviews Coase on EconTalk. Familiar stuff, but it’s great to hear Coase talk about it at age 101. Some highlights: Roberts: “[I]t’s hard to measure transactions costs; it’s hard to quantify the theory. Is that correct or is it irrelevant.” Coase: “It’s very relevant. But the state of economics is [...]

  • For $24.95, George W. Bush Will Share His ‘Strategies For Economic Growth’

    Updated: 2012-05-22 16:37:26
    If you’re looking for some light post exam season poolside reading material, perhaps the previous US President’s thoughts on how to achieve economic growth will appeal. However, according to this report by the Economic Policy Institute under Bush’s watch “between the end of the 2001 recession (2001Q4) and the peak of that expansion (2007Q4), the U.S. economy experienced the worst economic expansion of the post-war era.”

  • AS Macro (Unit 2) Economics Online Revision Clinic - Tuesday 22 May 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-22 00:36:21
    The second in our series of online revision clinics for AS Economics students taking their Unit 2 exams will be 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm on Tuesday 22 May 2012. To participate in the revision clinic (e.g. ask questions, comment etc) you will need to login using your FB or Twitter ID.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Evaluation on Supply-Side Policies

    Updated: 2012-05-22 00:36:20
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  • An Economists Guide to Teaching Styles

    Updated: 2012-05-22 00:36:18
    Many thanks to Paul Bridges for this witty and revealing interpretation of teaching styles - I am sure our student and teaching community can suggest additional styles and we will happily showcase the best! Over to you!

  • Oxbridge Economics: Introduction to Game Theory

    Updated: 2012-05-22 00:36:17
    Here is an “Introduction to Game Theory” lecture, which offers a broad introduction to the field, with some exercises to do at the end. (The yellow-underlined text hyperlinks out to other resources).

  • Unit 3 Micro: Game Theory and Business Economics

    Updated: 2012-05-22 00:36:16
    Game theory is mainly concerned with predicting the outcome of games of strategy in which the participants (for example two or more businesses competing in a market) have incomplete information about the others’ intentions. This revision blog looks at some of the ways in which game theory can be applied to business economics decisions.

  • Reminder: “Alternative Investments” Proposals due 15 June

    Updated: 2012-05-21 14:27:50
    | Peter Klein | Reminder: Proposals for the Managerial and Decision Economics special issue on “Effects of Alternative Investments on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Growth” are due 15 June 2012. Don Siegel, Nick Wilson, Mike Wright, and I are editing the special issue and organizing a paper-development conference 29 October 2012 at the SUNY Global Center in Manhattan. Click the link above [...]

  • Unit 2 Macro: The Current Account of the Balance of Payments

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:18
    A revision note for AS economists on the current account of the balance of payments

  • Unit 2 Macro: UK Trade in Services

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:16
    A revision blog on UK overseas trade in services

  • Unit 2 Macro: Positive and Negative Multiplier Effects

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:15
    An initial change in aggregate demand can have a much greater final impact on equilibrium national income. This is known as the multiplier effect. It comes about because injections of new demand for goods and services into the circular flow of income can stimulate further rounds of spending – in other words “one person’s spending is another’s income”. Put another way, spending becomes someone else’s income. This can lead to a bigger eventual effect on output and employment.

  • Unit 2 Macro: The Importance of Productivity

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:13
    Productivity is a key measure of supply-side economic performance and labour efficiency.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Real Interest Rates

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:12
    The real rate of interest is important to businesses and consumers when making spending and saving decisions. The real rate of return on savings, for example, is the money rate of interest minus the rate of inflation. So if a saver is receiving a money rate of interest of 6% on his savings, but price inflation is running at 3% per year, the real rate of return on these savings is only + 3%. Real interest rates become negative when the nominal rate of interest is less than inflation, for example if inflation is 5% and nominal interest rates are 4%, the real cost of borrowing money is negative at -1%.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Human Development Index (HDI)

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:10
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  • Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps?

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:09
    Q&A: For AS macroeconomics, what do we need to know about output gaps?

  • Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap

    Updated: 2012-05-21 01:30:07
    How much spare capacity does an economy have to meet a rise in demand? How close is an economy to operating at its productive potential? Has the recession damaged the economy’s productive potential? These sorts of questions all link to an important concept – the output gap. The output gap is the difference between the actual level of national output and the estimated potential level and is usually expressed as a percentage of the level of potential output.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Migration and the UK Economy

    Updated: 2012-05-20 17:29:21
    A revision blog on the economic impact of migration on the UK economy

  • Unit 2 Macro: Measuring Unemployment in the UK

    Updated: 2012-05-20 17:29:19
    The unemployed are people able, available and willing to work at the going wage rate but cannot find a job despite an active search for work. Unemployment means that scarce human resources are not being used to produce goods and services to meet people’s needs and wants. Persistently high levels of joblessness have damaging consequences for an economy causing both economic and social costs.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Measuring Inflation in the UK

    Updated: 2012-05-20 17:29:18
    Inflation is a sustained increase in the cost of living or the average / general price level leading to a fall in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation is deflation which is a decrease in the cost of living or average price level.

  • Revision notes on unemployment

    Updated: 2012-05-20 17:29:16
    A revision blog on possible unemployment questions on AS and A2 papers

  • Vertical (Dis)integration and Technological Change

    Updated: 2012-05-18 20:40:11
    | Dick Langlois | One of my longest-running interests has been the relationship between economic change, including technological change, and the boundaries of the firm. In broad strokes, my story is this: when markets are thin and market-supporting institutions weak, technological change, especially systemic change, leads to increased vertical integration, since in such an environment [...]

  • Peston on The Eurozone

    Updated: 2012-05-18 03:38:06
    As the Eurozone continues to be bufferted by instability in Spanish Banks, and uncertainty over Greek membership of the single currency. Robert Peston fronts a programme on The Euro on BBC2 tonight. It remains to be seen if he offers any answers to Mervyn King’s observation, that the UK biggest trading partner, the euro area, is “tearing itself apart without any obvious solution,”

  • Why Do Firms Differ?

    Updated: 2012-05-17 20:52:30
    | Peter Klein | This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of two major contributions to strategy and organization, Nelson and Winter’s Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change and Lippman and Rumelt’s “Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences in Efficiency under Competition.” Both tried to explain inter-firm performance differences without reference to market power or random shocks. [...]

  • tutor2u Visit to the Middle East - April 2013

    Updated: 2012-05-17 19:37:15
    We have been invited by several colleagues to organise a visit to the Middle East in April 2013 to provide a programme of CPD and student revision workshops. As part of our planning, we’d like to invite colleagues in the area to let us have their thoughts on the content of the programme. Please use this online survey to have your input into the tour planning! https://tutor2u.wufoo.com/forms/2013-uae-qatar-programme/

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on Government Intervention

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:26
    Here is a short 35 slide revision presentation on government intervention in markets designed for AS microeconomics revision

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on Externalities

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:25
    Here is a short revision presentation on externalities streamed using Slide Share

  • Unit 2 Macro: Bank Cuts UK growth Forecast for 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:23
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  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on Elasticity of Supply

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:21
    A slide share revision presentation on price elasticity of supply

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on Elasticity of Demand

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:20
    A slide share revision presentation on elasticity of demand

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on the Price Mechanism

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:18
    Here is a slide share presentation on the price mechanism in action focused in students taking their AS microeconomics papers.

  • Improving Evaluation Skills in Economics Exams

    Updated: 2012-05-17 11:36:17
    Here is an updated version of the WEESTEPS approach to economics evaluation designed to boost the evaluation scores and exam results for AS and A2 students. Paul Bridges is the mastermind behind this superb approach to evaluation - it gives you some great pointers about the evaluative approaches that can be used. Works well for micro and macro - but particularly when you have to evaluate a specific policy intervention in a market / industry / or a macro policy discussion.

  • Date Announced for RES Essay Competition Judging

    Updated: 2012-05-16 16:36:57
    Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th June are the days set aside for the teacher judging panel to assess the hundreds of entries for the 2012 RES competition. The main judging takes place on the Tuesday and we will post a list of shortlisted and highly commended essays sometime on the evening of the 12th June. The final shortlist will then proceed to judging from the RES panel.

  • Eurozone Crisis - Lessons Learnt

    Updated: 2012-05-16 16:36:56
    Last week I attended a very interesting lecture at the LSE on the Eurozone crisis, given by Leszek Balcerowicz, a Polish economist who is former chairman of the National Bank of Poland and Deputy Prime Minister. The following blog outlines his thoughts, but also includes useful links to articles to read. Using the crisis as a case study will hugely benefit A2 students as it encompasses many of the topics covered in the syllabus.

  • Grexit - Andrew Balls on Greece and the Euro

    Updated: 2012-05-16 16:36:55
    Following on from Ben Christopher’s article, a BBC Radio 4 interview with Andrew Balls, an investment fund manager, and younger brother of The Shadow Chancellor on the possibility of a Grexit - Greek exit from the Euro.

  • Jonathan Portes to speak at the Economics Teacher National Conference 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-16 00:35:41
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  • Peston on a Greek Euro Exit

    Updated: 2012-05-16 00:35:40
    Speculation about a Greek exit from the Eurozone has reached fever pitch particularly after today’s talks between the national political parties failed to achieve any agreement over forming a government to make the tough decisions required to free up the next tranche of the bailout package. If the second lot of elections are as inconclusive as the last, then a Euro exit is inevitable according to what seems to be the entire world’s press. Clear explanation here by the inimitable Robert Peston on what the Eurozone members are facing if Greece is forced to revert back to the Drachma.

  • Unit 4 Macro: African Human Development Report 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-16 00:35:39
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  • Under-employment - the dark side of flexible working or just a sign of the recession?

    Updated: 2012-05-15 16:34:41
    Today, TUC figures showed that the number of men working part time who are looking for full time work has doubled in the last four years from 293,000 to nearly 600,000. Is this a sign of the recession or is it an inevitable result of a move towards more flexible working?

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Rice Prices

    Updated: 2012-05-14 04:22:05
    A revision blog on developments in international rice prices

  • Unit 1 Micro: Price Elasticity of Supply

    Updated: 2012-05-13 20:20:44
    Revision Blog on Price Elasticity of Supply

  • Unit 1 Micro: Income Elasticity of Demand

    Updated: 2012-05-13 20:20:43
    A revision blog on income elasticity of demand

  • Unit 1 Micro: Price Elasticity of Demand

    Updated: 2012-05-13 20:20:41
    Revision note on price elasticity of demand

  • Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Cocoa Prices

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:18
    A revision blog on recent developments in the international cocoa market

  • Unit 1 Micro: Market Failure Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:16
    This blog provides a glossary of many key market failure terms

  • Unit 1 Micro: Price Volatility in Markets

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:15
    Here is a revision presentation which should be useful for AS economists revising for core microeconomics topics Revision presentation on Price Volatility in Markets Download printable slife handouts (pdf) Link below for related articles on global food price volatility and world food price inflation

  • Unit 1 Micro: Economics of a Minimum Wage

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:14
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  • Unit 1 Micro: Poverty and Inequality and Market Failure

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:12
    In a market economy an individual’s ability to consume goods & services depends upon his/her income or other resources such as savings An unequal distribution of income and wealth may result in an unsatisfactory allocation of resources and can also lead to alienation and encourage crime with negative consequences for the rest of society. The free-market system will not always respond to the needs and wants of people with insufficient economic votes to have any impact on market demand. What matters in a market based system is your effective demand for goods and services. When we are discussing inequality and poverty, we cannot escape making value judgements i.e. normative views about what is an acceptable scale of inequality and what is not

  • Unit 1 Micro: Asymmetric Information

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:11
    For markets to work, there needs to be symmetric information i.e. consumers and producers have the same level of knowledge about the products, and they know everything there is to know about them. Asymmetric information occurs when somebody knows more than somebody else in the market. This can make it difficult for the two people to do business together. This is an example of information failure in a market  

  • Unit 1 Micro: De-Merit Goods

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:09
    This is a revision blog on the concept of de-merit goods

  • Unit 1 Micro: Differences between Merit and Public Goods

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:08
    Here is a brief summary of the “textbook” differences between merit goods and public goods

  • Unit 1 Micro: Public Bads

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:06
    A public bad is the opposite of a public good – it provides disutility or dis-satisfaction to people when consumed and therefore reduces our economic welfare.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Government Spending

    Updated: 2012-05-12 20:15:05
    Government spending (or public spending) and in Britain, it takes up nearly half of our annual GDP. Spending by the public sector can be broken down into three main areas:

  • Coase on NPR

    Updated: 2012-05-11 21:07:48
    | Peter Klein | Last week. Filed under: - Klein -, New Institutional Economics, People, Theory of the Firm

  • IT and Higher Ed

    Updated: 2012-05-11 16:45:26
    | Peter Klein | Joshua Gans’s Forbes piece on Stanford’s online game theory course brought up a larger point about higher education. I’ve been involved in various online, distance, web-based educational activities for many years. When designing an online course, the typical professor imagines each element of a traditional course, then creates a virtual equivalent. [...]

  • econoMAX May 2012

    Updated: 2012-05-11 14:16:32
    The latest edition of econoMAX (May 2012) is now available to download. The new articles and case studies are summarised below:

  • Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:21
    Supply-side policies are mainly (but not exclusively) micro-economic policies designed to improve the supply-side potential of an economy, to make markets and industries operate more efficiently and contribute to a faster underlying-rate of growth of real national output. Most governments believe that improved supply-side performance is the key to achieving sustained growth without causing a rise in inflation. Supply-side reform on its own is not enough to achieve this growth. There must also be a high enough level of AD so that the productive capacity of an economy is actually brought into play.

  • How do we promote growth in Europe?

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:19
    Read on to find out about an interesting BBC News report published today investigating what can be done to promote growth across Europe…

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Blogs on Markets and Intervention

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:18
    Here is a selection of a recent blog resources on topics that appear on the core Unit 1 Syllabus focusing on changing market prices and examples of interventions to address perceived market failures

  • Unit 1 Micro: True and False Revision Questions on Elasticity

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:17
    Here is a ten question quiz on elasticity of demand to give you a little extra variety in your revision!

  • Unit 1 Micro: Revision Quiz and Game on Market Prices

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:15
    Test your understanding of market prices using this newly created Zondle game

  • Knoema: ‘The Youtube of Data’

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:13
    I have found Knoema incredibly useful for collecting data and imagine it would be an excellent site for teaching colleagues and researchers, particularly with its focus on Economics. The Guardian’s data team have a good article on it today.

  • Fact or Forfeit!

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:12
    It’s the year 13’s last ever day at school today so I thought it was time to come up with a new idea for a game. Read on to find out how to play ‘fact or forfeit’...

  • Unit 3 Micro: Innovation in Markets

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:11
    A presentation on the key topic of innovation in markets - including drivers and the differences between product and process innovation

  • AS / A2 Economics Revision Clinic - Market Failure (Monday 14 May 2012)

    Updated: 2012-05-10 22:15:09
    The next in our series on online revision clinics for AS & A2 Economics students takes place at 9pm on Monday 14 May. This time, the topic will be Market Failure.

  • Unit 1 Micro: Getting Higher Marks for Evaluation!

    Updated: 2012-05-09 22:57:04
    Some brief advice on getting higher evaluation marks

  • Command Words in Questions

    Updated: 2012-05-09 22:57:02
    A quick overview of command words and what they mean in economics exam papers and how many marks are awarded

  • Supported MC Questions for EdExcel Unit 1 Economics

    Updated: 2012-05-09 22:57:01
    Some advice on answering these questions

  • Unit 2 Macro: Model answer for revision data question

    Updated: 2012-05-09 22:57:00
    Here is a suggested answer for the first of the practice questions available from this resource: AS_Macro_Revision_Trade_Sterling.docx

  • Poverty tells many stories

    Updated: 2012-05-09 14:56:23
    Poverty tells many stories - this is a powerful award-winning short film that will raise many issues with your students

  • Unit 1 Micro: Minimum Wages and Living Wages

    Updated: 2012-05-09 14:56:22
    The campaign for a living wage has gained renewed prominence in the last year or so. Students and teachers wanting to know more about the minimum and the living wage debate might find this background blog from Channel 4 news relevant and useful. More here on the living wage from the Citizens UK web page.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Practice Questions for EdExcel AS Macro

    Updated: 2012-05-09 14:56:21
    Here are a couple of practice questions for EdExcel AS macro - one 30 marker on exchange rates and macro objectives, one 12 marker on interest rates and the distribution of income and wealth. Hope they might be useful. AS_Macro_Revision_Trade_Sterling.docx

  • Unit 4 Macro: Fiscal Policy Revision Charts

    Updated: 2012-05-09 14:56:20
    This PowerPoint contains four fiscal policy charts for the UK - I have been using them in a revision session this morning. I will blog a little bit more about them later on Fiscal_Policy_Revision.pptx

  • Unit 3 Micro: The Dawn of a Shareholder Spring?

    Updated: 2012-05-08 22:55:09
    Here is a pertinent and timely resource from Channel 4 news on overcoming the principle agent-problem. Are shareholders in some of our leading companies becoming more active in holding senior executives to account for poor performance? or more concerned with their own shareholder value at a time when CEO earnings continue to grow well above inflation? I own plenty of shares but have never once been to a company AGM or exercised my right to vote. Could planned legislation further embolden activist shareholders and shake up boardrooms across the UK? More on the debate over the shareholder spring here See also BBC news: FTSE 100 bosses’ pay ‘rose 11% last year’ And: FTSE 100 bosses’ pay unrelated to results, report says (BBC news, May 2012)

  • Development Economics Revision Pack- Updated for 2012!

    Updated: 2012-05-08 22:55:08
    I’ve updated my development economics revision pack with lots of new case studies for 2012. Read on to find out how to download the pack

  • Made in China - but not quite so cheaply…...

    Updated: 2012-05-08 22:55:07
    How long can China keep its comparative advantage of cheap production for manufacturing goods? We are aware of rising inflation in China which is eroding their advantage, and here is an article about a UK firm which manufactures cushions, some from a factory in Kirkby on Merseyside and some from his factory in the Zhejiang province in China. The story comes from a programme ‘The Town taking on China’ to be shown on BBC2 at 8pm tonight - and subsequently on i-player.

  • With the Pols

    Updated: 2012-05-08 20:52:42
    | Peter Klein | Two years ago I was in D.C. on Hayek-Klein day and found myself on an elevator with Ben Bernanke, upon which I persuaded him to sing me a few bars of Happy Birthday. True story. This year I was in D.C. again, this time to give an organizational economist’s perspective on [...]

  • UK Economy Update - AS/A2 Econ Evaluation Special

    Updated: 2012-05-07 22:53:25
    Geoff and the team are holding an online revision clinic for an hour on Tuesday 8 May (9pm here on this blog entry) for AS & A2 Econ students who would like to refresh their understanding of the key recent developments in the UK economy. The focus will very much be on helping students build their confidence to evaluate issues and potential policy options for the UK economy.

  • AQA Unit 3 Micro: Practice Paper

    Updated: 2012-05-06 22:47:54
    A selection of practice questions for this paper are shown below

  • F585: Recent Articles of Relevance

    Updated: 2012-05-06 14:46:30
    A Sunday hat tip to Tom White for providing this super selection of recent articles relevant to students preparing for the OCR F585 paper in June 2012

  • Unit 2 Macro: Exchange Rates Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:21
    A short glossary covering concepts relevant to exchange rate economics

  • Unit 4 Macro: TV Assembly Back in the USA

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:20
    Here is a small, tentative counter-weight to the inevitable shift of global manufacturing / assembly to the East. A short video about a US firm that has started to manufacture televisions in the USA. Tariffs and transportation costs have played a role in making it viable and their marketing department has been quick to exploit nationalistic feelings among some consumers.

  • Unit 2 Macro: Growth and Development Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:18
    A short selection of key terms connected to economic growth and development for AS macro students

  • Unit 2 Macro: Monetary Policy and Inflation Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:17
    A selection of key terms on monetary policy and inflation

  • Unit 2 Macro: Trade and Balance of Payments Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:15
    A short glossary of some international trade and balance of payments key terms for AS macro

  • Unit 2 Macro: Unemployment Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:14
    A selection of key terms linked to the topic of unemployment

  • Unit 2 Macro: Fiscal Policy Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:12
    A selection of economic terms linked to government fiscal policy

  • Unit 2 Macro: Economic Cycle Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:11
    A short glossary of key terms connected to the economic cycle

  • Unit 2 Macro: Aggregate Demand Glossary

    Updated: 2012-05-06 06:45:09
    A glossary of some key terms related to aggregate demand

  • Sustainable Transport

    Updated: 2012-05-04 22:27:02
    Mindmap of Sustainable Transport for OCR Transport Economics StudentsMindmap on Sustainable Transport Policy for OCR Economics A Level

  • Economics Revision Workshops - Spring 2013 (Units 2 & 4, including F585)

    Updated: 2012-05-04 22:27:01
    The dates and locations for our Spring 2013 AS & A2 Economics revision workshops are now confirmed - please see below. Provisional bookings can now be made using our online form: https://tutor2u.wufoo.com/forms/as-a2-economics-revision-workshops-spring-2013/

  • Darden Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference

    Updated: 2012-05-04 01:39:21
    | Peter Klein | The Darden Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference is now underway in Charlottesville, Virginia. Keynote and roundtable sessions will be streamed on the conference website. Filed under: - Klein -, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Strategic Management

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