Unit 2: Government action to reduce youth Unemployment

An initiative from the Government (and long overdue it could be argued) as youth unemployment tops a million

http://news.sky.com/home/politics/article/16117378 Sky
http://www.channel4.com/news/clegg-to-announce-1bn-youth-job-scheme Ch4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15885013 BBC video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-1587879 BBC article

a) What sort of policy is this by the government?
b) To what extent do you believe these actions will reduce youth unemployment?

Unit 1: The external costs of obesity

..could be huge (no pun intended) according to BBC Northern Ireland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15839264

a) Why are these health costs examples of external costs?
b) What actions could the Government take to reduce these external costs and so reduce the market failure?
c) To what extent do you think such policies would be successful in reducing the negative externalities?

Unit 1: Migration and the PPC

A ring number of people in the UK, the BBC reports

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15868793

a) Given this information, what would happen to the UK's PPC?
b) Given that there are 2.6m people unemployed, draw a PPC diagram and show the UK's position with an X

Unit 1: Negative externalities from global warming

Pitty the Austrian ski industry

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15868294

a) Why are the green ski slopes an example of a negative externality?
b) Why is the cost of operating snow machines an example of an external cost?

Unit 2: Sources of tax revenue for the government

Thanks to economicshelp for this data

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/4001/economics/tax-revenue-sources-in-uk/

Unit 1: Information failure: How much fibre should you eat?

Lots, according to the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15696791

a) How does the food market fail according to this video?
b) If everybody was made to watch this video, would it eliminate the market failure? Explain your answer

Unit 1: Information failure: How much fibre should you eat?

Unit 2: Policies for reducing unemployment

Lovely summary from economicshelp

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3881/economics/policies-for-reducing-unemployment/

Unit 1: What determines the price of oil?

A great summary, with data, from economicshelp

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/3809/oil/factors-affecting-oil-prices-in-short-term-and-long-term/

Unit 2: Youth and general unemployment in the UK and Europe

Another horrible set of unemployment stats, especially in terms of youth unemployment

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16111343 Sky
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15760472 BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-1575562BBC
http://blogs.channel4.com/faisal-islam-on-economics/bad-news-grim-jobs-data-worse-news-euro-effect-to-come/15570 Ch4

and the view from Wales

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15767242

and this summary from tutor2u

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/testing-times-for-the-uk

a) What are the costs of such high youth unemployment to the UK economy?
b) Using the Europe data halfway down the page, discuss how much of a problem youth unemployment is in the UK

Unit 2: GDP data

Thanks to tutor2u

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/gcse-economics/comments/delicious-data-uk-gdp-growth

Unit 2: Inflation falls slightly to 5%

....according to the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15733539

a) Why has the CPI fallen?
b) What has happened to average prices in the past 12 months?

Unit 1: Australia limits cigarette packaging

..a.ccording to Sky news

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16107369

and the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15673797

a) To what extent do you think this action will reduce the market failure associated with the cigarette market?

Unit 1: Cross elasticity of demand and the Kindle Fire

Can this be true? Planet money report each kindle fire is sold at a loss!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/16/142310104/why-amazon-loses-money-on-every-kindle-fire?ft=1&f=93559255

a) Using the concept of cross elasticity of demand, explain why Amazon would want to sell the Kindle Fire at a loss

Unit 1: Market failure from smoking in a car

A nice video and article from the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15730304 video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15751690 video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-15744352 article and different video

a) What sort of market failure is occuring?
b) To what extent do you think providing information on the dangers of in car smoking would reduce people doing it and reduce the market failure?
c) To what extent do you think banning in car smoking would reduce people doing it and reduce the market failure

Unit 1: Information failure in the used car industry

A nice post from tutor2u with a Tim Harford video clip on asymetric information failure

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/unit-1-micro-asymmetric-information-buying-a-used-car?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economics_news+%28tutor2u+Economics+Blog%29#When:10:17:29Z

Unit 1: Australia passes a carbon tax

..reports tutor2u

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/australia-pass-carbon-tax

a) Discuss how successful this tax is likely to be in reducing carbon emissions

Unit 1: Fireworks displays: A public good?

A mistake in Oban provides 50 seconds of fun

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15611160

a) To what extent is a firework display a public good?

Unit 2: Costs of unemployment

A nice clip explaining the problem of hysteresis

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-15288210

Unit 2: Australia lowers interest rates

...according to the BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15532567

1. Explain what is meant by the term ‘interest rate’. (2)
2. Using an AD/AS diagram, explain how a cut in interest rates is expected to affect the macro-economy. (6)
3. Discuss how effective this cutting of interest rates is likely to be in ‘boosting economic growth’. (18)

Unit 2: What is GDP?

American, but a good explanation of what GDP is

http://www.slatev.com/video/what-exactly-gdp/

Unit 2: Unemployment tutor2u presentation/data

Many thanks to tutor2u

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4368634/Economics/Unemployment%20_Charts_Nov2011.pdf

Unit 2: Videos on Investment

Thanks to tutor2u

http://www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/comments/unit-2-macro-economic-importance-of-investment?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+economics_news+%28tutor2u+Economics+Blog%29#When:14:41:47Z

Unit 2: Worsening unemployment

All the bad news from Ch4, especially the effect on the young via the top video, and further down some EU comparisons

http://www.channel4.com/news/unemployment-hits-17-year-high

Unit 2: Cost push inflation; causes and cures

A great summary from economicshelp

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/2006/economics/cost-push-inflation-2/

Unit 2: What problems are there with a recession?

A nice summary from economicshelp

http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/416/economics/problems-of-recession/

Unit 2: Costs of inflation verses costs of unemployment

......a nice summary from economics help

http://econ.economicshelp.org/2011/10/inflation-v-unemployment.html

Unit 2: Monetary policy; quantitative easing

A nice clipfrom the BBC explaining what quantitative easing is

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15492115

Unit 2: Inflation data

Nice interactive chart fron the Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/interactive/2009/mar/24/rpi-inflation