In these worrying economic times the official authorities (made up of governments and the central banks) have done much to try to stimulate their anaemic economies. We have seen the governments act with several fiscal stimulus packages with a combination of higher official spending and lower taxes. At the same time the central banks have cut short-term interest rates to record lows. In the latest case the European Central Bank cut their main rate to just 2% last week. Sadly despite these measures the world economy looks to be on the verge of a deeply worrying meltdown. As a result the authorities are now considering yet more desperate measures. One of these is called quantitative easing. So what does this mean?
To put it simply the central bank injects extra money into the economy as a means of expanding the money supply. This is normally done through the process of the central bank acting to buy various types of government securities in the international bond market. The intention of this activity is to drive down the rate of longer-term interest rates to match the reductions already made in short-term rates. You should remember that the interest rate on the bond (or yield as it is normally called) goes down as the price increases in response to the extra government-induced demand for these securities. This would also tend to cause other long-term interest rates to fall including some mortgage rates and most importantly the corporate lending rates. In addition the banks will end up with extra cash resources to lend to either individuals or companies as they swap their bonds for cash which they receive from the central banks.
The downside of this policy is the risk that it can be seen to be increasing inflationary pressures especialy when the economic activity eventually picks up again. At the moment this looks like a risk that the authorities will be prepared to take.
If you go to see my latest blog for "Reading and Understanding the Financial Times" I will tell you more about this policy tool.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The fall and fall of UK House Prices
According to the latest survey by the Nationwide Building Society UK house prices fell by nearly 16% in 2008. As a result the average price has now hit a little over £153,000. This time last year most economists had expected some fall in house prices in the coming year. However, it should be said that the actual reduction has been far more dramatic than anticipated. The main reason for this development has been the change in the availability of mortgages. Gone are the days when banks and building societies lent money with almost no regard to the ability of the households to repay their debts. We have gone back to the pattern of the 1970s when lenders have to beg financial institutions for new mortgage funds. With the lack of available funds the demand for houses has collapsed. These tighter lending conditions look set to remain in place for much of 2009. In addition with more and more people being made redundant on a daily basis it is hard to see any confidence returning to the UK housing market in the foreseeable future.
You can access information on this house price data if you follow this link...
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/
You can access information on this house price data if you follow this link...
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/hpi/
Monday, December 22, 2008
OPEC responds...
In Article 2 in the book I discuss the role of OPEC in the spring of 2008 when oil prices were well over $110/barrel. In the last part of my analysis of the article from the Financial Times I conclude with the following:
"Against this background the economic power of OPEC looked as strong as ever and consumers would seemingly have to get used to permanently high petrol prices".
Sometimes it is just best to hold your hands up and admit you were wrong. And this is a perfect example. At the time of writing that part of the book it was widely expected that oil prices would remain high driven by limited supply and high demand. A few months later that view crumbled in the face of rising supply and in particular falling demand. The slowdown in World economic activity led to a collapse in the demand for crude oil. As a result prices have fallen back to less than $50/barrel.
Last week we saw the response of OPEC who are:
"the most important example of a cartel operating in practice. This is where a group of suppliers come together to create a formal agreement to control the volume delivered into the market. The members of OPEC have been meeting in Vienna since the mid 1960s to set the level of their output and to influence the level of world oil prices. Each OPEC member is allocated a specific quota that they are allowed to produce. Their members include Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela".
The 13-nation OPEC plan to cut oil output by some 2m barrels a day. The aim is to reduce the available supply to match the sharply reduced demand. As a result OPEC hopes that this move will see oil prices return to at least $75/barrel. It must be careful that this action does not undermine economic confidence and so force an even deeper slowdown. This will be a tough balancing act for an organisation that owes its primary responsibility to the oil-producing members. I would like to end with a clear forecast for the prospects for oil prices in 2009. However, after my last effort I will keep quiet for now!
"Against this background the economic power of OPEC looked as strong as ever and consumers would seemingly have to get used to permanently high petrol prices".
Sometimes it is just best to hold your hands up and admit you were wrong. And this is a perfect example. At the time of writing that part of the book it was widely expected that oil prices would remain high driven by limited supply and high demand. A few months later that view crumbled in the face of rising supply and in particular falling demand. The slowdown in World economic activity led to a collapse in the demand for crude oil. As a result prices have fallen back to less than $50/barrel.
Last week we saw the response of OPEC who are:
"the most important example of a cartel operating in practice. This is where a group of suppliers come together to create a formal agreement to control the volume delivered into the market. The members of OPEC have been meeting in Vienna since the mid 1960s to set the level of their output and to influence the level of world oil prices. Each OPEC member is allocated a specific quota that they are allowed to produce. Their members include Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela".
The 13-nation OPEC plan to cut oil output by some 2m barrels a day. The aim is to reduce the available supply to match the sharply reduced demand. As a result OPEC hopes that this move will see oil prices return to at least $75/barrel. It must be careful that this action does not undermine economic confidence and so force an even deeper slowdown. This will be a tough balancing act for an organisation that owes its primary responsibility to the oil-producing members. I would like to end with a clear forecast for the prospects for oil prices in 2009. However, after my last effort I will keep quiet for now!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Spend spend spend!
Reading the Guardian this morning it was hard to see why the newspapers are so concerned about the fall in advertising expenditure. Today's paper was full of large glossy adverts from various retailers offering special discounts to get consumers back into their stores.
Just look at these headlines:
Laura Ashley: 25% off everything Mega weekend
M&S: One day spectacular with 20% off everything for today
Debenhams: Festival with 20% off for three days.
If this is not enough to get us all spending, the Government's cut in VAT kicks in this week. And finally the Bank of England is expected to follow up last month's 150 basis point cut in the Repo Rate with a further sizeable reduction at lunchtime today. We might even see UK interest rates fall to an all time low. The question is will all these measures work?
If economics was an exact science we could examine some hard evidence of how consumers have reacted in previous recessions to find the precise inducement needed to produce a set increase in consumer spending. Sadly the reality is that even if you employed the top ten economists in the World and paid them a fortune (By the way I am cheap and available!) they could not say with any certainty just how consumers will react. We are all independent and relatively free decision-makers and we might just decide to ignore the inducements and just leave our money in the bank.
For what it is worth (probably not too much!) my own guess is that caution will prevail and consumers will not all rush out to spend what little cash they have. They have been scared by the onset of a severe economic downturn and they fear that theyl could lose their jobs. Against this background any hopes that the British consumer will once again lead the economy out of the wilderness might be dashed. The sensible ones will hold onto their cash because the prices of goods and services on the high street could soon be falling a good deal more.
Just look at these headlines:
Laura Ashley: 25% off everything Mega weekend
M&S: One day spectacular with 20% off everything for today
Debenhams: Festival with 20% off for three days.
If this is not enough to get us all spending, the Government's cut in VAT kicks in this week. And finally the Bank of England is expected to follow up last month's 150 basis point cut in the Repo Rate with a further sizeable reduction at lunchtime today. We might even see UK interest rates fall to an all time low. The question is will all these measures work?
If economics was an exact science we could examine some hard evidence of how consumers have reacted in previous recessions to find the precise inducement needed to produce a set increase in consumer spending. Sadly the reality is that even if you employed the top ten economists in the World and paid them a fortune (By the way I am cheap and available!) they could not say with any certainty just how consumers will react. We are all independent and relatively free decision-makers and we might just decide to ignore the inducements and just leave our money in the bank.
For what it is worth (probably not too much!) my own guess is that caution will prevail and consumers will not all rush out to spend what little cash they have. They have been scared by the onset of a severe economic downturn and they fear that theyl could lose their jobs. Against this background any hopes that the British consumer will once again lead the economy out of the wilderness might be dashed. The sensible ones will hold onto their cash because the prices of goods and services on the high street could soon be falling a good deal more.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Welcome to the blog
Hi to you all,
I would like to start by thanking you for buying my new book titled "Reading and Understanding Economics". I really hope you like it and that you find it useful or just fun to read. The publishers have once again done a great job with coming up with a superb design which I hope you like as much as I do.
To support the book they have also developed a very active web-based support which is available on this site.
The main resource is my blog where I will be able to discuss current issues in the economy as well as enabling me to update some of the analysis/cases. You can also download and listen to podcasts for each article and get hints to help them answer the questions that are in each section. For lecturers I have produced some sample exam-type questions that you are free to use for next summer’s paper.
In the near future we intend to add some video content. The team at Pearson's plan to come and record some of teaching sessions at Kingston. More news to follow on this soon!
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please e-mail me at:
k.boakes@kingston.ac.uk
Once again I hope you like the book and enjoy visiting the website.
Best regards,
Kevin
I would like to start by thanking you for buying my new book titled "Reading and Understanding Economics". I really hope you like it and that you find it useful or just fun to read. The publishers have once again done a great job with coming up with a superb design which I hope you like as much as I do.
To support the book they have also developed a very active web-based support which is available on this site.
The main resource is my blog where I will be able to discuss current issues in the economy as well as enabling me to update some of the analysis/cases. You can also download and listen to podcasts for each article and get hints to help them answer the questions that are in each section. For lecturers I have produced some sample exam-type questions that you are free to use for next summer’s paper.
In the near future we intend to add some video content. The team at Pearson's plan to come and record some of teaching sessions at Kingston. More news to follow on this soon!
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions please e-mail me at:
k.boakes@kingston.ac.uk
Once again I hope you like the book and enjoy visiting the website.
Best regards,
Kevin
Government's billion pound gamble!
In Topic 11 of "Reading and Understanding Economics" I look at Fiscal policy. The section is titled "saying goodbye to Prudence as the public debt spirals". If things looked bad when I wrote this article they have just got much worse....
I feel reluctant to admit to just how many Budget Statements I have listened to over the years. When I worked in the city in the 1980s it was always the April Budget that was the centrepiece of the government's economic strategy. I can still remember the infamous Lawson Budget of 1988 where the top rate of income tax was slashed from 60% to 40%. One of my lasting memories is the sound of the cheers that rang out right across the dealing room as the high earning bankers planned what they would be spending their extra thousands of pounds on.
These days the action centres much more on the November pre-Budget Statement. Last week's announcements from Alistair Darling were without doubt the most important since those Thatcher Budgets of the 1980s. As I listened to his various proposals I could not help but feel a growing sense of unease. In case you missed it the key points were:
1) VAT to be cut from 17.5% to 15% from the 1/12/08 to the 31/12/09.
2) A new higher income tax rate of 45% to be introduced from 1/4/11.
3) An economic forecast that showed economic growth slowing from an expected positive 2.75% in 2009 to a fall of between 0.75% and minus 1.25%. Inflation is also forecast to come down sharply to just 0.5% by the end of next year. The economy is expected to recover in 2010 with growth of between 1.5% and 2%.
4) The most disturbing aspect of the Statement was the borrowing numbers. Government borrowing will reach £78bn this year compared to a £43bn prediction made earlier in the year. And next year it hits £118bn which is 8% of GDP. This leaves the UK's net debt as a percentage of GDP at over 40% this year and rising to nearly 60% a few years out.
Make no mistake these are quite staggering figures.
This amounts to the biggest economic gamble that any Government has taken in my lifetime. If it fails to stimulate the economy we will all be left with a painful legacy. If you are a student due to graduate next summer with already massive personal loans you now face the prospect of many years ahead of having to pay higher taxes to service the Government's mounting debts. These are worrying times.
I feel reluctant to admit to just how many Budget Statements I have listened to over the years. When I worked in the city in the 1980s it was always the April Budget that was the centrepiece of the government's economic strategy. I can still remember the infamous Lawson Budget of 1988 where the top rate of income tax was slashed from 60% to 40%. One of my lasting memories is the sound of the cheers that rang out right across the dealing room as the high earning bankers planned what they would be spending their extra thousands of pounds on.
These days the action centres much more on the November pre-Budget Statement. Last week's announcements from Alistair Darling were without doubt the most important since those Thatcher Budgets of the 1980s. As I listened to his various proposals I could not help but feel a growing sense of unease. In case you missed it the key points were:
1) VAT to be cut from 17.5% to 15% from the 1/12/08 to the 31/12/09.
2) A new higher income tax rate of 45% to be introduced from 1/4/11.
3) An economic forecast that showed economic growth slowing from an expected positive 2.75% in 2009 to a fall of between 0.75% and minus 1.25%. Inflation is also forecast to come down sharply to just 0.5% by the end of next year. The economy is expected to recover in 2010 with growth of between 1.5% and 2%.
4) The most disturbing aspect of the Statement was the borrowing numbers. Government borrowing will reach £78bn this year compared to a £43bn prediction made earlier in the year. And next year it hits £118bn which is 8% of GDP. This leaves the UK's net debt as a percentage of GDP at over 40% this year and rising to nearly 60% a few years out.
Make no mistake these are quite staggering figures.
This amounts to the biggest economic gamble that any Government has taken in my lifetime. If it fails to stimulate the economy we will all be left with a painful legacy. If you are a student due to graduate next summer with already massive personal loans you now face the prospect of many years ahead of having to pay higher taxes to service the Government's mounting debts. These are worrying times.
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