Economics in Action

In 2005, HM Treasury appointed Sir Nicholas Stern, an economist, to report on climate change. Stern calls climate change ‘the worst market failure the world has ever seen’ and states three main goals to overcome it; (i) the pricing of carbon through tax, trading and regulation (ii) a policy which supports and encourages low carbon technology and (iii) the removal of barriers which lead to energy efficiency along with informing, persuading and educating individuals with regard to climate change.

A relationship between the environment and economics is inevitable as economics is the study of scarce resources, resources that we source from the environment around us. The Stern report, which was published in October 2006, was not the first study to discuss this relationship, however, Stern emphasised the cost of environmental degradation to us in terms of global gross domestic product (GDP, something economists could easily relate to) with shocking results. Read the rest of this entry »

With food prices very much in the news, and price rises causing unrest in vulnerable countries, FT.com provides a couple of interactive guides: “The Global Food Crisis” gives an overview in the form of clickable maps, and “Why are food prices rising?” explains some of the contributing factors with video clips.

Economist or rock star? Maybe it’s not either/or after all. This group of economics postgraduates at UCLA have made an amazing rap video paying tribute to Daft Punk and the drive for statistical significance. Come for the beats, stay for the academics-versus-robots battle at the end.

Stronger from ticoneva on Vimeo.

This was a follow-up to the same group’s earlier “(I Can’t Write No) Dissertation”.

In the last of our podcasts supporting the Royal Economic Society Conference 2008, Romesh Vaitilingam talks to Jacques Melitz about how increased spending on Social Security benefits may help to keep us out of recession.

Increased public spending on incapacity benefits, health and pensions can all help the economy recover in a slowdown or recession. That is one of the findings of new research by Professors Julia Darby and Jacques Melitz presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 2008 annual conference.

In a slowdown some policies help the economy recover automatically. A recession increases the total amount spent on unemployment benefit (as more people are claiming it) and reduces the total tax take (as people’s tax bills drop). This helps to stimulate the economy without any active government intervention.

The report finds that these automatic stabilisers play an even greater role smoothing the business cycle than previously thought. This is because programmes such as incapacity benefit, pensions and health spending all act as such stabilisers as well.

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In the latest of out podcasts supporting the Royal Economic Society Conference 2008, Romesh Vaitilingam talks to Karl Taylor about how socially active parents choose to be and the effect that can have on their kids.

Parents who are active in various kinds of clubs “from sports to charities, from political parties to religious groups“ may raise the test scores of their children. That is the central finding of new research by Professor Sarah Brown and Dr Karl Taylor presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 2008 annual conference.

The report uses data from the National Child Development Study, which has tracked the lives of a representative sample of the British public born in a single week in 1958. It finds that the test scores of children in reading, mathematics and vocabulary tests are positively related to their parents’ level of social participation.

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In the latest of our podcasts supporting the Royal Economic Society Conference 2008 Romesh Vaitilingam talks to Dan Anderberg about some socio-economic analysis of the effects of the MMR controversy.

Highly educated parents responded more strongly to the controversial study linking the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to the development of autism in children. That is the central finding of new research by Professor Dan Anderberg and colleagues presented at the Royal Economic Society’s 2008 annual conference.

Whats more, the study finds, these parents were less likely to have their children vaccinated against other diseases after the controversy, not just MMR. Since there was never any suspicion of doubt about other vaccines, this may have put the health of their children at risk.

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