How Eurovision’s jury panels are robbing eastern countries May 11, 2014 Many of the people frantically dialling in their support for Eurovision entries from eastern Europe (and even further east than that) might have been disappointed last night – Polish viewers have been particularly annoyed that their entry did so well on with the public vote and yet ranked so poorly. That’s because the contest [...]
Emerging markets now make up more than half the world economy (and no one noticed) May 8, 2014 Emerging markets now make up more than 50 per cent of the world’s GDP – a fact many missed this week, and Ashmore’s head of research Jan Dehn flags up today. A lot of people paid attention to the fact that China is about to surpass the US as the world’s biggest economy (by [...]
Strange things are happening to the UK’s construction sector May 6, 2014 Construction is still hollowed out from the financial crisis, and has suffered two major recessions – so why are builders finding hiring so difficult? Despite solid growth in the last 12 months, the sector is still more than 10 per cent shy of its previous output peak. The recession was deeper than for [...]
Support migration on International Workers’ Day May 1, 2014 A German organisation, IZA, has just launched its new “World of Labor” website, which looks like it will be a fantastic resource for information on migration and labour policies in general. Academic articles on migration (and basically everything else) are often locked in ridiculously expensive subscription services – available to universities and research organisations, [...]
Is this the laziest place in England? April 29, 2014 The Department for Transport today released figures on how many people in England are walking or cycling, raising an important question – what's the laziest place in England? The answer on this metric is East Lindsey, Lincolnshire, where only 76.7 per cent of people surveyed answered positively. This means, astonishingly, that nearly a [...]
A revue of reviews – everything you could ever want to read about Piketty’s Capital April 28, 2014 You may not have read French Economist Thomas Piketty's near-700 page long Capital in the Twenty-First Century, but there's no need to worry – neither have some of the people who've reviewed it. Below are some of the biggest reviews of the work so far, ranging from praise to scorn, and with a wide range [...]
How drugged up is the City of London? April 24, 2014 Not very, according to the latest Crime Survey for England And Wales. It appears the City is on a bit of a comedown. Official statistics published today show just how far recorded drug offences have fallen in the City. There were 440 recorded offences during 2013, down from over 1,000 in the 12 [...]
The deficit is falling, but Plan A is long dead April 23, 2014 Public finance figures have just been released by the Office for National Statistics, showing the progress made on the Treasury’s deficit reduction programme. It’s good news, with borrowing hitting pretty much the level expected during this year’s budget, and coming in below last year’s forecast. But how does it look when compared to [...]
Deflation is already a reality for a quarter of prices in the Eurozone April 22, 2014 The European Central Bank (ECB) has repeatedly insisted that it does not see deflation as likely for the Eurozone – but new research indicates that falling consumer prices are already a reality for almost a quarter of items in the basket used by the ECB to measure inflation. Jefferies International tracks the items included in [...]
