We effectively have four Political Parties, not one of them has shown any signs of leadership that could bring the UK economy out of it's malaise. There is a singular lack of ideas, they trade in platitudes and half truths. They pander to the media … just generally we have to say "They are not …
Anyone who has read much of what I have written will be aware that I consistently take a position that appears contrary to current "popular thought". If you read carefully you might see that I tend toward a more rational, rather than emotional view of economic events. This modern world is very much caught up …
As computers intrude deeper and deeper into our everyday lives, it starts becoming more important to have, at least an elemental, understanding of the level of risk we are being exposed to. We hear more and more about cyber attacks, hackers and hacking, but what are they? In recent months we have had major companies …
The impact of supply side economic policies is affected by many cultural factors, that make it difficult to take something that works in one country and simply assume that it will work in another. If we just consider for a moment the discipline of the German people, and compare that with the easy going Italians …
Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan … Supply side reigns. The modern Liberal, certainly subsequent to Franklin Roosevelt, no longer believes in the total “laissez-faire” of Adam Smith, and while believing that free markets are more efficient than centrally controlled markets, he finds it necessary to temper the excesses of totally free markets with a certain …
While Keynes postulated that the growth and development of the economy could be controlled and manipulated through the consumer, the demand side of the equation, the classical school believes that those factors that influence the decisions of enterprises (businesses) to invest and expand are the critical issue. Neither of these schools of thought are absolutely …
Printing Money First the old fashioned way, simply printing a whole lot of new £50 notes. This always gave a problem, how do we get the things into circulation? In today's world money in the guise of notes and coins, has all but been superseded by plastic. In times gone by wages were paid in …
Very much the Keynesian choice! Government Deficit. Generally a Government keeps control of the creation of bank credit through the maintenance of a system of liquid asset requirements by the Banks, this ratio defines the level to which Banks are expected to hold Government Bonds, and is the primary form of money creation. The reason …
To give perspective to the Keynesian analysis, I will attempt to give a very brief, and maybe somewhat simplistic, view of how money is created in today's world. I will create a separate post for each of the different forms of money creation. Bank Credit. Firstly we must look at the …
Economics is not a science where we can say “If you do x, y will happen”, it is rather an attempt to understand human behaviour and their reactions to various circumstances. It starts with the assumption that people will always do what they perceive to be in their best interests. Perception is all about …