Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, International Economics
Free trade is an issue of great importance for those in business and consumers around the world. It refers to the right to sell goods and services around the world without any hindrance. With free trade the only thing determining the price of things will be supply and demand factors. As well as goods and services, free trade can also refer to the ability of labor to move freely around the world. The issue of free trade is a highly contentious one, and both sides of the debate can provide persuasive arguments for their position.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts
Most of us probably think that we have a good idea of what the word ‘poverty’ means. If we really think about it though we may find that our understanding isn’t as clear as we might have first thought. What actually defines people as living in poverty? Is it not having enough to eat? Do we mean people that can’t afford health insurance? Is somebody who doesn’t have their own motorized transport to be considered poor? What about people who have plenty to eat but don’t own their own home? Is lack of opportunity a form of poverty? The more we try to define poverty the harder it can be to decide what it actually refers to.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, International Economics
The word ‘Tariff’ is Arabic in origin and it basically means ‘that fees need to be paid’. When we use the word ‘tariff’ in economics we are referring to a tax that is placed on imported goods, but it can apply to exported goods as well. There are a number of good reasons why a tariff might be placed on goods, but there are economists who argue against the use of this type of tax – they see it as interfering in the free market.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, Business & Small Business
Many of us will have heard the words “glass ceiling” used as a metaphor to describe how people are unable to pass beyond a certain point. In economic terms this glass ceiling refers to the situation where a person is unable to climb any higher in their profession because of their race, gender, sexual preference, religion, or other factor. It is a contentious issue, but there is little doubt that such blocks to advancement do exist in at least some organizations. During the last few decades there has been a lot of effort to make the playing field a bit fairer, but people will disagree about how much this happened – all though few would doubt that there have been improvements.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, Economics, Economists, Macroeconomics
John Maynard Keynes was a British economist who wrote extensively during the 1920s and 1930s. His work is still considered important today and has since become referred to as Keynesian economics. Up until the 1970s his ideas had a huge impact on government economic intervention in Europe. The economic collapse of 2008 saw Keynes’ ideas once again enter the spotlight, but there has also been a public backlash against the interventionist policies he favored.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, Economics
Market efficiency is a term that you may have heard economists use. Some explanations of what this means can sound quite convoluted, but it really isn’t too hard an idea to grasp. Market efficiency is not only something that is important to economists but if you invest money then it is also something that might concern you too.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, Best Selling Books / Textbooks & Reviews
It is usually in high school that we first start to seriously consider economics and how it impacts our life. This is a topic that may be discussed in class in general terms but sometimes we will want to go deeper into the subject. Luckily there are some great economics books for high school available and we will be looking at five of the best of these here.
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Written by Anthony Carter ·
Filed under Basic Economic Concepts, Macroeconomics
Inflation is an economics term that most of us hear a lot. There will often be news stories about how the government is working to keep inflation low. While this word is commonly used in the media there still be a bit confused as to what it actually means for us. We might also wonder why economists and governments are so eager to avoid inflation. This is an important idea in economics, but one that can cause confusion for the rest of us.
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