Britains expensive housing market with Help to Buy, could trigger another recession on October 9, 2017A billion here, a billion there – and 10 billion more for Help to Buy. There is no doubt that this Tory policy, brought in by George Osborne, has been politically popular. There is not much doubt that it is economically damaging. True, it is only for new homes, but by increasing demand rather than […]
Britains expensive housing market with Help to Buy, could trigger another recession on October 9, 2017A billion here, a billion there – and 10 billion more for Help to Buy. There is no doubt that this Tory policy, brought in by George Osborne, has been politically popular. There is not much doubt that it is economically damaging. True, it is only for new homes, but by increasing demand rather than […]
Don’t underestimate the power of the UK economy on July 3, 2017Janet Yellen was in London this week, talking with Lord Stern at the British Academy. My main thought watching her was how lucky the Americans were to have her as chair of the Federal Reserve Board: calm, sensible, measured and wise. But of course the rest of us are lucky too, because the dollar remains […]
The tech bubble burst and other things to look out for in economics this week on June 19, 2017If you are British, this week will be dominated by politics. But anywhere else in the world there are other things happening that are vastly more important. Here are my top five. First, what will happen to the share prices of high-tech America? Last Friday saw tech stocks take a huge hit: Facebook, Apple, Amazon, […]
Populism is putting the benefits of economic globalisation at risk on May 22, 2017Does the populist revolt now sweeping across the developed world mean that globalisation will be reversed? Donald Trump was elected on the back of nationalist populism. Theresa May will get her big majority in part because of her rejection of the globalist agenda of Tony Blair and David Cameron. Beyond the developed world populism has […]
Employment rates may be high, but wages are falling on May 22, 2017Is our economy a great job machine, or one that that forces people to work in insecure jobs for little pay? The answer is, of course, both. But stand back a moment at look at what the latest labour market stats tell us about the British job market more generally. I find it astounding in […]
Five things to look out for in American economics this week on April 24, 2017You always learn by going to a place, so after a week in the US, I’m looking at five of the things that will tell us about the health and direction of the world’s largest economy in the near future. It is a particularly interesting time because the initial welcome the financial markets gave to […]
Philip Hammonds budget is a sideshow on March 13, 2017For Britons the big news this week will be the Budget, the last spring Budget before the main Budget moves to November. As such it will be a bit of a holding operation, coming a week before the probable date, 15 May, when the Government is expected to trigger Article 50 to take the UK […]
Five things to look out for in the economy this week on February 27, 2017 The big news this week will be corporate, not economic. There are two running company takeover stories that affect us all, and will also tell us more about the direction of the US/European economic relations in the years ahead. One is the attempt by Kraft Heinz to take over Unilever, which will probably turn […]