I often think the wider world doesn’t pay enough attention to the signals provided by financial markets. Alas, this isn’t helped by the way in which market moves are often reported. Monday morning provided some good examples. One of the first headlines I read was ‘more than £33 billion has been wiped off the FTSE … Continue reading What are the financial markets really telling us?
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Jury still out on ‘Eat Out to Help Out’
Like many, I was sceptical about the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme when it was first announced. Indeed, we may never really know what the net impact on the economy has been. But the evidence so far at least is encouraging. To recap, ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ (EOTHO) was a UK government subsidy … Continue reading Jury still out on ‘Eat Out to Help Out’
Are 9.3 million people really still on furlough?
One of the biggest threats to the economic recovery is a second wave of job losses as the government’s job retention scheme (JRS) is wound down. The Resolution Foundation has some good analysis here. Nonetheless, the headline figure of 9.3 million for the number of jobs that have been supported by the JRS may overstate … Continue reading Are 9.3 million people really still on furlough?
The Bank of England should be thinking of raising rates, not cutting them
Almost all the commentary ahead of the Bank of England’s monetary policy meeting at the end of the month has focused on whether interest rates should be cut, or left on hold. In contrast, I would be itching to vote for a hike. There does at least appear to be an emerging consensus that the … Continue reading The Bank of England should be thinking of raising rates, not cutting them
Plain-speaking Economics 