European Union – what membership entails
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 28 EUROPEAN UNION – WHAT MEMBERSHIP ENTAILS The responses to my last essay in this series prompts me to develop and clarify some of the questions it raised. It addressed the way...
View ArticleECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 27: “The EU unvarnished”
EUROPEAN UNION – UNVARNISHED Prelude on terminology Uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Brexit has caused the British pound to be devalued against the main international currencies. British...
View Article“Understanding Economics in an hour”
UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS IN ONE HOUR 1 – Overview Looking about us, what we see is the passing show. Despite every appearance of reality, it is ephemeral, ever-changing. It is Prospero’s “insubstantial...
View ArticleCorrespondence with son-in-law Steven Maddocks
Dear Steven I have now added your details to my blog circulation list. Delighted you managed to read EP-29 anyway. How did it reach you? As it happens, arrangements for a monograph publication are...
View Article‘Understanding Economics in One Hour’– chapter 1 – EP.29
UNDERSTANDING ECONOMICS IN ONE HOUR 1 – Overview Looking about us, what we see is the passing show. Despite every appearance of reality, it is ephemeral, ever-changing. It is Prospero’s “insubstantial...
View ArticleIntroduction to “Understanding Economics in One Hour”
INTRODUCTION Although I trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant rather than an economist, as far back as I can remember I have been drawn far more powerfully to economics as a subject worthy of...
View ArticleChapter 2 – Understanding Economics in One Hour
Now, before we get going, I must warn you not to get sidetracked by this thing called “demand”. What is demand, anyway? It is an inexhaustible feature of the human condition: there is always something...
View ArticleEconomic Perspectives 32 – analysing old lessons
Published in Emile’s Economics blog and on “Go Postal” I find it instructive periodically to look back on what I have written before – even several years before. It is instructive because it highlights...
View ArticleUnderstanding Economics 4 – Interest rates
Let’s look more closely at the role of interest rates Money is one of many forms in which wealth may be held, but money and wealth are not synonymous. Wealth is the accumulation of savings. Savings, in...
View ArticleSound money…..and gold!
Having seen the nature and causes of unsound money, what can we say about sound money? It is money that can be trusted, by anyone and everyone who uses it. Trusted to do what? Trusted to retain its...
View ArticleEconomic Perspectives: EU Membership – understanding the rules
EU MEMBERSHIP – UNDERSTANDING THE RULES While combatants wrestle over potential outcomes of the Brexit debate, we should recognise the part played in all these shenanigans by fear, borne of...
View ArticleReading the signs of the coming crash
1 – THIS TIME IT WILL BE DIFFERENT – Yes, far worse! [ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 35] The last crash 2007/2008 Before the last financial crisis in 2007/2008 sub-prime mortgages were all the rage. The idea...
View ArticleEconomic Perspectives 35 (Part two) – the Scourge of Credit Expansion
GOING POSTAL 20/8/18 [Part 1 of “This time it will be different” appeared as Going Postal last week.] PART 2 THE SCOURGE OF CREDIT EXPANSION – THE SYSTEM’S DEMISE COULD BE SOONER THAN YOU THINK The...
View ArticleDEBUNKING ECONOMIC MYTHOLOGY – PART 2
GOING POSTAL – 15 OCTOBER 2018 DEBUNKING ECONOMIC MYTHOLOGY – PART 2 <EP4> THE INFLATION CONUNDRUM Typically, the general public confuses any economic phenomenon with its manifestation. Both...
View ArticleReaping the Whirlwind – lessons of 2008 and the rich/poor divide
ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 39 REAPING THE WHIRLWIND My wife and I have just returned from a couple of weeks in the USA. Among many sources of stimulation, debate between friends and family threw up a...
View ArticleIf I were Prime Minister
FRESH START AFTER BREXIT – GOING POSTAL 29-10-18 [EP41] One of last Monday’s blog-readers, “WinstonSmith”, challenged me to describe what I would do if, after Britain has finally left the EU, I were...
View ArticleThe fallacy of job creation
DEBUNKING ECONOMIC MYTHOLOGY – PART 4 THE FALLACY OF JOB “CREATION” My colleague Steven Spencer has reminded me of an anecdote relayed by the owner of a brand new Corvette sports car. A...
View Article“WHAT GOVERNMENT CAN – AND CANNOT – DO” [EP 43]
EMILE WOOLF – GOING POSTAL [19-11-2018 – EP43] “DEBUNKING ECONOMIC MYTHOLOGY – PART 6” “WHAT GOVERNMENT CAN – AND CANNOT – DO” Whenever confronting a puzzling situation, it’s worth asking how it came...
View ArticleThe fallacy of job creation [EP45]
My colleague Steven Spencer has reminded me of an anecdote relayed by the owner of a brand new Corvette sports car. A bystander speculated: “I wonder how many people could have been fed with the...
View ArticleHuman rights and government action [GP 17-12-18 & EP 46]
HUMAN RIGHTS & GOVERNMENT ACTION In many of these essays on economics I have been at pains to point out that the prosperity of any community, anywhere, anytime, if it is to last, must be based on...
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