more economics blogging

Jim Riley has a blog on the tutor2u website. Its updated regularly and has some great graphics:

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics

you can subscribe to to the feed...

economics U$A

30 minutes videos covering a range of economic concepts from a US perspective. The suits and haircuts may be dated but the economics is still relevant:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series79.html

unit 5 - cost of growth

how many planets?

an eye catching way to look at the impact of economic activity on the environment:

http://hdr.undp.org/en/climatechange/

unit 5 - human development report 2007

all 399 pages with a focus on the climate challenge available in pdf:

http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_complete.pdf

unit 5 - tourism

world economic forum data relating to tourism with country profiles:

http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/TravelandTourismReport/index.htm

unit 5 + unit 6 - global competitiveness report 2007/2008

you can find the latest assessment of global competitiveness at the following link:

http://www.gcr.weforum.org/

remember it can be thought of as price X quality

factors to consider:

price side - domesic inflation x exchange rate

quality side - innovation reputation and design issues

unit3 + unit 5 - global growth rates

World Economic Outlook
IMF Sees World Growth Slowing, With U.S. Marked Down

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2008/res012908a.htm

unit3 + unit 5 - global growth rates

World Economic Outlook
IMF Sees World Growth Slowing, With U.S. Marked Down

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2008/res012908a.htm

unit 3 - index number and weighting

interesting article from the guardian showing the change in household spending from 1957- 2006:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/jan/29/familyfinance.consumeraffairs

unit 5 - south korea and development

South Korea to 2013: how much will it change?
By Mr Aidan Foster-Carter, Leeds University

On: Monday 4th February 2008
Open: 5pm

Venue:
Department of East Asian StudiesFaculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Sidgwick Ave
Website:
www.ames.cam.ac.uk

unit 3 - us interest cuts

largest cut in 25 years as Bernake goes .75% to kickstart the economy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7210000/newsid_7210000/7210021.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&nol_storyid=7210021&bbcws=1

brave foolish or desperate?

unit 3 - monetary policy

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC):

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/index.htm

unit 2 - merit goods healthcare

a site has been designed to aid post 16 students studying healthcare economics. You can find it at the following link:

http://www.oheschools.org/

unit 5 - fair trade in malawi

trade has been identified as a path out of poverty but being locked into primary production means for many LDCs the experience has been price instability, diminishing returns, declining prices and at the bottom level very little income being paid to farmers by state buying agencies and exporters. "Fair trade" is meant to change that. The Observer considers farmers in Malawi:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jan/27/fairtrade

unit 2 - demerit goods

sin taxes are compounded by rising input costs to mean that Britains are leaving the public house for more private consumption. Does this mean the one external benefit of drinking "social lubrication" is being lost?

this graphic from the guardian breaks down the price of beer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/graphic/0,,2213708,00.html

related article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2213809,00.html

the smoking ban in bohemian Berlin doesn't go down too well:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2243763,00.html

in the US the Environemental Protection Agency (EPA) has a handout highlighting the dangers of second hand smoke (in English and Spanish):

http://www.epa.gov/smokefree/pdfs/trifold_brochure.pdf

unit 3 + unit 5 - purchasing power parity (ppp) explained

you will find details on the adjustment of monetary measures to take account of cost of living at this link:

http://www.oecd.org/faq/0,3433,en_2825_495691_1799281_1_1_1_1,00.html

the problems of applying the theory of ppp to the real world is explored in the following article from the economist. has the level of chinese gdp been over-estimated by 40%

http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10209215

unit 5 - oecd data + imf debt relief and development

According to an IMF Survey:

Debt Relief Yields Results in Niger Debt relief from multilateral and bilateral creditors is showing results in Africa. Lower debt service, budgetary aid, and higher domestic revenue mobilization is having an impact on spending in education, health, and the rural sectors.

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2008/car012508a.htm

for general development data the oecd factbook 2007 :

http://oberon.sourceoecd.org/vl=8095824/cl=14/nw=1/rpsv/factbook/

this is focused on the top 30 "richest" economies but does make comparisons across a wide range of data

unit 5 - Geographically based Economic data (G-Econ)

Yale University has a project linking economic data with world geography. You will find some interesting 3d maps at:

http://gecon.yale.edu/

unit 2 - the economics of climate change

the stern review on the economics of climate change was hailed as a wake up call for the impact our present approach has on the environment and criticised many traditional methods of "internalising the externality" such as taxes. You can listen to the lecture and see the powerpoint presentation at the link below:

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/sirnicholasstern/

the full report is available from:

Stern Review on the economics of climate change

unit 3 - aggregate demand + unit 5 - sources of growth

A workers' manifesto for China
Oct 11th 2007
From The Economist print edition
How workers are losing out in China, and why it matters to the rest of the world

the economist magasine - economics focus

one section inparticular is of interest to those stuying the subject:

http://www.economist.com/finance/economicsfocus/

unit 6 The UK in the Global Economy

Public Seminar @ LSE

Single Monetary Policy and the Analytics of OCAs: what has the Euro area experience taught us?

Date: Monday 18 February 2008
Time: 6:30-8pm
Venue: Old Theatre, Old Building
Speaker: Nicholas C Garganas
Chair: Howard Davies

If any wants more details please ask as I will be attending. Its the first Monday back after half term.

Economics in Cambridge and London

There are more specialised seminars available from the Economics Department at Cambridge:

http://www.econ.cam.ac.uk/index.html

London School of Economics have a full range of public lectures in the social sciences - their prospectus is available at:

http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSEPublicLecturesAndEvents/

London is only and hour away remember!

If you think £14 is a bit much the lectures are available in mp3 form and supporting powerpoint presentation @

http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/podcasts/publicLecturesAndEvents.htm

Young Economist of the Year 2008

Young Economist of the Year 2008

The Royal Economic Society and tutor2u announce a competition to find the Young Economist of the Year 2008.

The RES is particularly keen to encourage students to enter the competition who are in the first year of their studies. In 2007 over 750 entries were submitted, with Zoe Hart from Colchester RGS taking the first prize.

The winner of Young Economist of the Year 2008 will win £1,000, with two runners-up each receiving £500.

The title to be used for essay entries is as follows:

"Which economic idea or policy has the most power to improve our lives?"

The following introductory guidance is provided for students and teachers:

Essay length: 1,000 - 2,000 words

Deadline: Complete entries should be submitted via email by 10.00 p.m. Monday 12 May 2008 or by post bearing a postmark of 12 May 2008 or earlier. The winner will be announced in early August 2008.
Entries must be word processed – the preferred format is Microsoft Word.

All sources must be properly acknowledged

All entries will be judged by a team of practicing Economics teachers appointed by the RES. A shortlist of final entries will be submitted to a two-person Judging Panel of senior Economists who will determine the prize-winners.

All short-listed entrants (and their teachers) will be invited to the prize ceremony at the Royal Economic Society Annual Lecture in November 2008

unit 2 unit 5 + unit 6 - climate as a global issue

Bono and Al Gore agrue the need to come up with a global price for carbon emissions. Its a shame at the Live Earth Concert they prefered to take a limo rather than cycle!

ITN News Davos World Economic Forum

unit 2 + unit 5 - externalities + carbon trading

unit 2 unit 5b

china and economic growth leads to pollution levels rising

airlines attacked on climate

greece and industrial pollution

how carbon tading works

can carbon trading work?

EU emissions limits

unit 2 + unit 5 - environment

Ronald Coase's paper about extension of property rights

http://www.sfu.ca/~allen/CoaseJLE1960.pdf

case study from bized on the environment

http://www.bized.co.uk/current/mind/2003_4/271003.htm

news articles from the bbc

kyoto
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_4270000/newsid_4270700/4270783.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&nol_storyid=4270783&bbcws=1

trade off issues biofuel and poverty:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7090000/newsid_7095800/7095826.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&news=1&nol_storyid=7095826&bbcws=1

Talks and Seminars in Cambridge

one of the external benefits of studying Economics in Cambridge is taking advantage of the University circuit of talks and seminars:

http://www.talks.cam.ac.uk/

www.cam.ac.uk/whatson/

You will be surprised how informative and interesting they can be - many are aimed at a general audience.

unit 5b development economics general links

the dynamics of development is a text published in 2005 as a general introduction to the topic. The supporting website has a links page which provides a great overview of development data available of the web:

general links

data sets

The Dynamics of Socio-Economic Development
by Adam Szirmai, www.dynamicsofdevelopment.com

unit 3 + unit 5 + unit 6 - deflation / hyperinflation / price controls

ASA2 Unit 3
Mervyn King Governor of the Bank of England on the outlook for 2008

A2 Unit 5b
China's growth finally looks to be creating inflationary pressures as bottlenecks are created

ASA2 Unit 3 + A2 unit 5b
Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe + price controls in Zimbabwe
Deflation in Japan

Unit 1 Supply and Demand in the food market:
Evan Davis examines why food prices in the UK are rising at 5%, twice the inflation rate.

unit 5 costs of growth + unit 3 inflation and unemployment in the uk

Market Failure and development issues:
Land Rover offsets carbon emissions in Uganda

Historical context of unemployment:
AsA2 Unit 3
Unemployment become an issue for the first time since the Great Depression challenging the Keynesian hegemony: 1972

Conservatives under Thatcher manufacture a crisis of capitalism as the country grinds to a halt under the brake applied through high interest rates and the switch to inflation as the over-riding concern for macro policy: 1982

unit 2 transport economics + unit 3 inflation

AS Market Failure:
Miliband's lecture "The Transition Economy - a future beyond oil?"
40 minutes but interesting - extending carbon trading to roads with heavy polluters buying credits to from greener drivers... is it workable?

ASA2 Inflation used this morning:
Look East "The Cost of Living Soars"
A bit regional? But considers the impact of food and energy costs on fixed income households

unit 3 + unit 5 - General links and World Growth Data

There is something designed for IB students available at the following address:

general economics links

the general links have a Mexico / Latin American bias but something more specific to the Edexcel A Level course will be available soon.

A2 students studying unit 5b development economics and ASA2 students studying unit 3 managing the economy may find the following link interesting:

IMF Datamapper