Blocked in China

I haven't been able to access or update this blog for the past 3 months in China. Before that there was no problem. Now in Taiwan I have found that it still exists and I can access and add blogs again. Obviously China's Great Firewall has been at work. Is this a blanket ban on all Google Blogger accounts? I can't think of anything I've written that would cause any concerns.

Rising unemploymnt across Europe

Unemployment across Europe continues to rise but with some marked differences. In the Netherhlands it is just 2.7%, whereas in Spain it is now 15.5%.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7976286.stm

The return of the factory occuaption

Faed with rising unemployment and job losses some workers are responding with direct forms of action. Workers in Enfield, North London have occupied their factory to demand improved redundancy terms.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7976783.stm

G20 protests start

As world leaders prepare to meet in London for the G20 summit thousands took to the streets in protest. More in the links below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/g20-protests-london

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7969932.stm

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/

House rents and price elasticity

Read the following article about house rents in the UK. Based on the information in the article explain the changes taking place in the rented housing sector and illustrate your answer with a diagram. Assess the casues and the effects of the decrease in rents.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7963271.stm

Essay question for year 13 Economics

2. a) The value of world trade has been growing at a faster rate than world GDP. Assess the factors which might explain this trend. (40 marks)

b) Evaluate the disadvantages of further trade liberalisation to the UK or to a country of your choise. (60 marks)

Deadline: Monday 30th March

Consumer Price Index updated

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/CPI-Basket-of-Goods-2009.pdf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7958785.stm#TABLE

As it is every year the basket of goods and services used to compile the inflation indexes has been updated to reflect changes in spending patterns. The two links above give more details.

Alternative views to G8

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/7914883.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/08/g20-summit-demonstration-global-economy

As the G20 prepares to meet in London on 2nd April as well as disgreements between the governments meeting other voices are being raised in protest.

G20 London Summit

The G20 meets in London in on 2nd April amid the the worsening global recession. Will these leading nations reach agreement to prevent the world sinking into depression. The BBC has extensive background on the G20 as the the G20 web-site.

http://www.londonsummit.gov.uk/en/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/business/2009/g20/7897719.stm

Victor Chu at Davos

Victor Chu, CEO of First Eastern Investment Group, has said that deceleration in the Chinese economy will get worse before it gets better. This interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/davos/7862884.stm

Robert Peston interviews Chen Deming

The BBC's economic editor, Robert Peston, interviews China's Commerce Minister, Chen Deming.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7916580.stm

More bad news from the global economy

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7915040.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7915372.stm

More bad news for the global economy. US growth in the 4th quarter of 2008 was -6.2% and even China looks set for a serious slowdown with soaring unemployment, as these two stories make clear.

UK House Prices

House prices in the UK continue to decline. Just how far will they go? The data from the Nationwide and this comment from the Economist suggests a lot further! Have a look and see what you think.

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13185147&fsrc=nwl

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/review.htm

Wake Up To Money!

To encourage you all to listen to the Economics and Business News I will be giving a mini-quiz this week based upon Friday 20th February's edition of the BBC Radio programme 'Wake Up To Money'.

You can listen to this via the BBC radio web-site or downlaod via i-Tunes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/wakeup.shtml

Recession in China

The Telegraph newspaper has a comprehensive range of stories looking at the recession in China.
See this link:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/china-economic-slowdown/

UK car production suffers sharp fall

UK car production fell sharply from January last year by 58%.

This link to the BBC gives more details.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7901092.stm

The Economist provides some interesting data in their Daily Chart series. This one looks at China's income distribution and middle class from 1980 to 2008.

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=13130027

Two articles here from the Economist. The first looks at the state of Japan's electronics giants and how the recession is exposing underlying problems. The second looks at the rise of on-line video. You-Tube is the most viewed by a long way but for success a business needs not only to provide a popular product but to do so profitably. With content free to view and advertisers unwilling to put their names against some variable quality it isn't clear that You-Tube is such a success.

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13059765

http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13059735

Oil price falls to below $34 a barrel!

The BBC News web-site contains a wealth of resources and links about the prices of oil. Have a look at some of these below.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7887239.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7090664.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7431805.stm

China's economy - is the Dragon's fire out!

More reports appear daily about the slowdown of the Chinese economy. This report highlights the fall in both China's imports and exports.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/davos/7882816.stm

UK unemployment: 1.97 Million

UK unemployment rose to just under 2 million in January. This is still well below many other European countries but is predicted to rise to over 3 million during 2009 and is already the highest since the 1997.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7882745.stm

Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report

The Bank of England's latest quarterly inflation report shows inflation falling below the 2% target during 2009 and remaining below target for the foreseeable future. You can watch the press conference and see the full report at the Bank's web-site.
www.bankofengland.co.uk

BBC Recession Tracker

Here is a great resource from the BBC which provides graphic illustration of the course of the UK economy - including GDP, Inflation, unemployment, interest rates and house prices.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7789844.stm

The recession and eating out

See this Guardian article about the effect the recession is having on food and eating habits. What does this indicate about the various elasticities of demand. What strategies could be used to survive the recession and where may be a good place to invest?

http://www.gurdian.com.uk/commentfree/2009/feb/09/preston-food-takeaways-recession

Interest rates cut to 1%

The Bank of England has cut interest rates to an all time low of just 1% at its meeting last week.

The Bank of England website has more details.

http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/

House Prices: up or down?

The two housing indexes measuring UK house prices have produced different results for January. Halifax says they rose while Nationwide shows a fall. So who is right and what does this tell us about the reliability of such survey data?
These links take you to the two indexes.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/review.htm
http://www.hbosplc.com/economy/HousingResearch.asp

China's economy

Back in October I was asked by Anform Economics to answer some questions about the Chinese economy for their monthly e-zine. It was only published in January. See what you think. How accurate do you think this assessment of China's economy was?

http://www.anforme.co.uk/ezine/01_Jan1309.html

They publish this e-zine monthly and it's well worth subcribing to.

World's cheapest computer

After the world's cheapest car comes this story from the Guardian newspaper about the worlds cheapest computer.
Only 500 rupee (£7.25)!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/02/india-computer-cheapest

Rice prices

The BBC has this story about the price of rice. Can you spot the basic errors made in this story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7833846.stm

Economics & Business Studies - X-efficiency

Welcome to the first blog for Economics and Business Studies students at Harrow International School Beijing. Keep this as a favoutite and check for updates daily. Work, resouces, revision, exam help, links and news will all be published to help you gain a top grade. The rest is up to you.