Despite the rise of populism, the economic scorecard for the last 50 years hasn’t been that bad under the old liberal regime, where half the people who have ever lived, live now. Some extracts from the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) report “A World of Change” below: The world population grew from 3 billion in 1965 […]
The FT’s City Editor Jonathan Guthrie commented after the Brexit referendum that “…Two tribes, it transpires went to war on polling day. Remainers, whose beliefs reflect economics, and Leavers, whose economics reflect their beliefs. Unless the first group can understand and win over the second, the prospects for both look equally grim…” It is true […]
“The UK faces a productivity challenge whereby its performance has weakened compared to the rest of the G8 economies. Research demonstrates that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are a key under-tapped resource for addressing this challenge… We believe the education of high-growth small businesses has a vital role to play in enhancing this enterprising economy” …Michael […]
It’s breath-taking that the UK government can seek to reduce its own debt burden by transferring that same burden to small businesses – specifically to the most innovative of the UK’s SME sector… Driven by the exchequer’s target to cut the deficit, Innovate UK, under the department of business, innovation and skills (BIS) misguided leadership looks […]
Quantitative easing (QE) is defined by Investopedia as “…an unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases government securities or other securities from the market in order to lower interest rates and increase the money supply. Quantitative easing increases the money supply by flooding financial institutions with capital in an effort to promote […]
Most people, businesses and governments want more money, but where does it come from? This question is addressed in a 2012 book published by the new Economics Foundation called simply “Where Does Money Come From?” In this treatise, the authors Richard Werner and his co-authors Josh Ryan-Collins, Tony Greenham and Andrew Jackson piece together information […]
The Prime Minister has recently announced that large companies will be forced to prove what they are doing to stop slavery and trafficking in their supply chains. The new rules, which will apply to more than 12,000 firms with a turnover of £36m or more, will begin in October 2015. As part of the Modern […]
Business minister, Anna Soubry is no stranger to speaking her mind, rebuking Alex Salmond for his comment to her to “behave yourself woman” and amongst claims that she swore at Ed Miliband in the House of Commons, she has also given some fairly graphic descriptions of Nigel Farage… Becky Milligan, reporting from the BBC said […]
Mark Berrisford-Smith, the Head of Economics for HSBC UK Commercial Banking, gave an insightful address to Buckinghamshire Business First’s Focus Funding event in High Wycombe last week. He opened with the comment that the next economic downturn is closer than the last and then went on to say that can’t be a surprise since the […]
By any measure, today’s debt is cheap if you can get it. Not only cheap, but in many countries the cost of debt, of borrowing money, is tax free. Cheap untaxed borrowing means that equity has comparatively less attraction and companies tend to be more leveraged and thus operate at a higher level of financial […]
