It’s not every day you see a children’s book taken apart for its assumptions about consumer behaviour and the private sector, but that’s just what reviewer Glenn Fleishman does, with tongue somewhat in cheek. Fleishman seems exasperated that plenty of adults’ understanding of money and markets is no more sophisticated than Isabel’s Car Wash, and that some of those adults have responsible jobs.

A degree in economics will have given you the ability to explain complex data in easily understandable terms to different audiences.

“Public and private sectors alike recruit economics graduates, so the opportunities are wide-ranging.”

Postgraduate study can also offer an advantage to those wanting careers in competitive areas such as investment banking.

After all, it’s just paper…right?

If there is anyone who should know, it’s Andrew Bailey, because if you look at the bank notes in your pockets and wallets, his signature will be on all of them. Robert Peston, the BBC ‘s business editor, went to the Bank of England to chat to the man who makes the money we use. He examines how we got into the recent financial crisis and what you can do to protect yourself.

You can find it Here

Stephine Flanders writes that

“Like other governments that are borrowing a lot, ours would be vulnerable if international investors decide, overnight, that sovereign debt isn’t a safe bet after all. We recently won the chance to host the Olympics. But there the similarity ends…

That may change. We may, after all, have some serious political uncertainty coming down the track. But market movements today are a good reflection of the distance between London and Athens.

Investors may worry a lot more about Britain’s public finances than they did a few years ago. But they worry half as much about it as they worry about Greece.”

Its worth a read you can find it here.

Why does this matter? Well think back to the banking crisis two years ago and the knock on effect that one shake can have on a nation. Imagine rather than banks whole nations collapsing.  Economist Jonathan Loynes, of Capital Economics, said that Greece could be a “sovereign equivalent” of Lehman Brothers; the bank which started the collapse.

Will we have to bail out a whole country? Several countries? Time will tell.

We’re not out of the woods yet.

Without huge tax rises, government departments will have to cut around £37bn from their budgets by 2013-14. Yet all three main parties refuse to explain how at least £30bn of these savings will be found.

To illustrate the scale of the challenge, the Financial Times has simulated the next three year spending review, highlighting the type of decisions the next chancellor will face if taxation stays on the same path.

You need to register to play (but it’s free).

It’s a good introduction to the tough decisions that the next chancellor will have to make.

You can play the game here.

Ward even generated some statistics from his data, although he admits his correlation of shop name and Twirl availability is “worthless”. No one can accuse him of taking himself too seriously.

Who would you give the iPod to?

Hat tip @gregmankiw

“It’s not by chance that Chileans were living in houses of brick—and Haitians in houses of straw—when the wolf arrived to try to blow them down. In 1973, the year the proto-Chavista government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Chile was an economic shambles. Inflation topped out at an annual rate of 1000%, foreign-currency reserves were totally depleted, and per capita GDP was roughly that of Peru and well below Argentina’s…

Milton Friedman has been dead for more than three years. But his spirit was surely hovering protectively over Chile in the early morning hours of Saturday. Thanks largely to him, the country has endured a tragedy that elsewhere would have been an apocalypse.”

Read the article here.

Econstories.tv is a place to learn about the economic way of thinking through the eyes of creative director John Papola and creative economist Russ Roberts.

In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis.

Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies (as you do) and good reason to fear it.

Get the full lyrics, story and free download of the song in high quality MP3 and AAC files at www.econstories.tv

Discuss and enjoy guys!