It’s economics 101: to pay down debt, you must restrict spending or raise taxes. To stoke an economy, you’ve got to do the opposite. So which way will this government go?
George Ward, London School of Economics and Political Science
While Conservative pundits wonder why high scores for economic competence aren’t boosting poll numbers, some clues might lie away from financial measures.
The long view: Australia is bidding to boost energy productivity by 40% by 2030, but other countries are already doing more.
Mattingbn/Wikimedia Commons
Australia’s federal government wants to boost ‘energy productivity’ by 40% by 2030. A good idea, but the plan needs to cut energy use, not just deliver more economic bang for the energy buck.
Amy Auster, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
This week’s Reserve Bank interest rate move surprised virtually everyone, bringing the cash rate to 2.25%, yet another historic low. Despite Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey suggesting the rate cut means…
Two things stand out about the economic recovery in Britain. One is the sluggish growth in real wages. The other is the sluggish growth in productivity. That the two phenomena have coincided is no accident…
The price of growth? Ebola management in Guinea.
European Commission DG ECHO
If ever we wanted a reminder of how global capitalism has got things wrong, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa serves the purpose well. Our assumption that economic growth is essential is not only a feature…
‘China forward!’ … but at a slight slower rate.
How Hwee Young/EPA
Kamel Mellahi, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
China’s 7.4% growth in GDP is the weakest full-year growth rate in more than two decades, and the government’s official growth target last year is missed. But don’t expect an overreaction from the government…
Global environmental and social welfare per capita has not improved since the 1980s.
www.shutterstock.com
The focus of the recently concluded G20 summit was economic growth. The final communiqué begins: “Raising global growth to deliver better living standards and quality jobs for people across the world is…
All bark no bite? Green shoots of growth hide risks as well as opportunities.
Sharon Mollerus
Not too long ago, cynics were wondering if David Cameron’s fears over the global economy were a ploy to shift blame for any flaws in the UK’s performance as we near the May 2015 general election. However…
Taken at face value, David Cameron’s warning this week about risks in the global economy sounds like it might be wonderfully prescient. Here’s the country’s economic chauffeur, carefully checking his instrument…
When discussing the state of the economy, politicians deploy two key tricks. First, get your excuses in early. Second, take all the credit for any good news but blame others for any bad news. David Cameron…
Having a ball: How politicians can make smiley happy people.
seanbjack
The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems – the problems of…
Since 1990, GDP per person in China has doubled and then redoubled. With average incomes multiplying fourfold in little more than two decades, one might expect many of the Chinese people to be dancing…
China needs to adopt a productivity reform agenda to avoid falling living standards.
AAP
China’s economy grew by 7.3% during the third quarter of 2014, meeting market expectations. Polling by Reuters and the Wall Street Journal put the consensus forecast at 7.2-7.3%, the slowest pace in more…
Despite enormous economic growth over the past 200 years, developed and developing countries alike are failing to tackle crime and environmental problems, a major report from the OECD has concluded. The…
With France remaining economically stagnant, Italy falling back into recession, and Greece and Portugal still struggling to stand on their feet, the international community often looks to Germany, not…
Data, like fruit, can be selectively picked.
Joe Giddens/PA Wire
Two studies about the impact of migration on the UK economy have been published which – if media reports are to believed – appear to contradict one another. A closer reading of these reports, however…