Economics in Action

Here is a personal take on the situation in Iceland and the rest of Europe by our new contributor Harry Simmons:

Iceland has been the world’s whipping boy for the last few years.  The collapse of its banking system uncovered huge international systemic failures leading to the economic crisis.  The snowy nation has had a rough time of it.  But as we begin 2011, I ask the question, are they really still in that much trouble?  Figures released by the International Monetary Fund in December 2010 showed that Iceland’s GDP grew by 1.2% in the third quarter, ending the recession caused by the actions of those in its banking sector.  What about those European countries still in economic strife?
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Recently, the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP) celebrated its 21^st Birthday by holding a series of lectures at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, Olivier Blanchard, gave the first lecture on the state of the world economy. Last Tuesday, the second lecture of the series was given by Professor John Van Reenen on the topic of restoring economic growth.

The Economics Network received an invitation to attend both lectures, and as a new guy on the job, I was appointed to go. However, being a second year student with a very busy schedule means I could only attend one of the lectures. Since I was doing economic growth as part of my macro course, I decided to go to the latter lecture.

I arrived in London quite late, but managed to quickly find my way to the lecture theatre in the LSE’s Old Building where the talk was held. The CEP has reserved a front row seat for me, so not only did I have the best view; I also managed to take many photos. There was a brief introduction of John Van Reenen by Stuart Corbridge before the lecture started.

John divided the lecture into three sections: (more…)

As part of the ongoing development of Why Study Economics and Studying Economics, we are now looking for student contributors. Because the websites are aimed at Economics applicants and students respectively, we think it is very important for us to have students’ views reflected in our content.

The content provided can be in any format about anything related to Economics: current affairs and politics to day-to-day activities, such as analysis of economic concepts in movies and music. We also encourage entries about the social life of Economics students. Most entries will go to Economics in Action blog, but there is a possibility to write a material for other sections of the websites.

Being a contributor for us will be beneficial for you in many ways. Firstly, if you want to pursue journalism, this is a great way to start. The websites are very popular with lecturers and students, so you will have an audience. If you become a frequent contributor, we will make sure your name appears on the websites, and this will look great on your CVs. Finally, writing something contemporary and interesting will widen your views about Economics as well as distract you from all the maths you have to do for your course.

If you are interested, please email Anh with your details and a possible entry. We can also discuss what sort of material you would want to write or feel comfortable writing.

Jobs for graduates- from any discipline- are not as plentiful as they were 2 years ago. After 40 failed job interviews, economics graduate Daniel Seddiqui was fed up and decided to experience lots of different jobs in a short amount of time, 50 jobs in 50 states in 50 weeks.

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The following is quoted from Andy Ross’ keynote speech at the recent Developments in Economics Education conference in Cambridge. Ross is the Deputy Director of the UK’s Government Economic Service, the largest employer of economists in the country.

“Most of the things that economists do don’t even look like economics: adoption policy; money laundering (detecting!)… The range of topics is truly astonishing. From Becker’s early re-widening of mainstream economics, We now analyse

• Auctions
• Sex and race discrimination
• Sport
• What you can and can’t get on the NHS and why
• Competition and quality of education
• Value of time and even life
• Happiness itself (more…)

In the latest of a series of interviews from the Royal Economic Society Conference 2007, Romesh Vaitilingam talks to Victoria Prowse about the ‘Part-time Occupational Penalty’ for UK women.

No matter what qualifications they have or how big their family is, British women face a substantial occupational penalty if they work part-time. That is the central finding of new research by Victoria Prowse, presented to the Royal Economic Society’s 2007 annual conference at the University of Warwick. (more…)