The German economy is stagnating. Last year was bad enough. The first official estimates suggest that output (measured by GDP) shrank by 0.3 per cent over 2023 as a whole – a full year recession – with output also down by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter alone. Unfortunately, the omens for 2024 are … Continue reading What’s gone wrong in Germany?
Tag: GDP
A manifesto for growth
One positive legacy from the brief premiership of Liz Truss is that politicians are finally talking about the importance of economic growth. Unfortunately, there is little agreement on how to turn this talk into action. My manifesto would be based on four priorities: rebooting productivity; removing blockages that add to the cost of living; improving … Continue reading A manifesto for growth
Give Rishi Sunak a little credit for hitting his inflation target – but not a lot
In January the Prime Minister outlined his five priorities for 2023. The first pledge was to “halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security.” The other targets are more challenging, but this one at least has now been met. This is because the CPI measure of inflation fell … Continue reading Give Rishi Sunak a little credit for hitting his inflation target – but not a lot
The IMF is right to be more worried about ‘Bidenomics’ than Brexit
This week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published its latest World Economic Outlook, October 2023: Navigating Global Divergences (imf.org). The headlines have focused on the IMF’s gloomy forecasts for the UK, which are even more nonsensical than usual. Unfortunately, this has drawn attention away from a far bigger concern – the fiscal madness in … Continue reading The IMF is right to be more worried about ‘Bidenomics’ than Brexit
Plain-speaking Economics 