Tim Worstall

Hmm, global slump coming. Not that he’s ever been optimistic mind, but this does seem exceptionally gloomy. But you pick your pundit and believe who you wish at this point really. One point:

The Bush rescue package - $800 in rebate cheques per household - has been rendered null and void by the latest spike.

I really […]

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A fascinating paper about the rise in inequality in the US.
Much to chew over there.

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Attacking the West for allegedly restricting Russian foreign investment, he said that the country’s economy would overtake Britain’s this year.
"Russia is currently standing in seventh place in the world," he said.
"According to international experts, it can climb another step as early as this year and overtake […]

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As you know, I’m not an economist: as you may also have gathered from what I write, I’m much more interested in micro-economic factors than I am in macro-
.
Put those two things together and there’s rather large gaps in what I do know about macro. For example, about the business cycle, the observation that we […]

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Peak Oil all over again: you do have to wonder, has this bloke ever heard of the price elasticity of demand?

For three years the oil supply has been a zero sum game in which if one country consumes more, another has to consume less.

So? In the short term this has always been true: it takes […]

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Motorists in southern towns and cities pay up to £1.98 more to fill up their cars compared with those in northern England and Scotland.

Land is more expensive in the south of England! Film at 11!

The AA said the findings showed motorists were hostage to whatever prices retailers decided to charge.

Twits.

"The South East is the most […]

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Economic rationality from this government!

A stepping up by the Government, along with its international partners, of pressure on the Opec oil-exporting countries to increase production, forcing down fuel prices. A Whitehall source said: "Our hands are tied a bit here – if we cut petrol taxes there is no guarantee the savings would be passed […]

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So export growth is slowing, even as imports are rising again, despite the dollar only getting weaker over the course of the quarter.

To which I leave a comment: "J Curves". I’ve now been asked to explain myself. Ahem.
Here.
Essentially it’s a real world example of that folk wisdom, that things get worse before they get better.

The […]

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Jeff Randall discovers the principal/agent problem in banking.

But here’s the rub: Hoare & Co is no ordinary bank. It is wholly owned by Hoare family members and is financed entirely by them on an unlimited liability basis. They are on the hook for every penny, which helps to explain the bank’s statement: "We have a […]

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By this talk of falling house prices in general.
Perhaps that’s too strong: I can’t see that any of the various indexes give us an accurate picture.

UK house prices are now falling year-on-year for the first time in more than a decade, the Nationwide Building Society warned today.

We’ve all seen the stories that those purpose built […]

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British travellers already thinking twice about flying to Europe this summer as the falling value of the pound cuts into their travel budget received more bad news yesterday with indications that the era of cheap flights may be drawing to an end.
Soaring fuel costs have put airlines under financial pressure which, analysts say, will inevitably […]

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The interesting part of this is trying to work out why this has happened. Are, for example, lifespans for Glawegians actually declining?

"This was the government that said it stood for fairness. But the gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest in our country is now greater than at any time since Queen Victoria’s […]

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Rationing, shortages and profiteering hit garages yesterday ahead of the planned strike at the Grangemouth oil refinery as motoring organisations and government ministers pleaded with drivers not to panic-buy petrol.
Many stations in Scotland limited customers to £10 or £20-worth of fuel, a few ran out of diesel, and a small number raised prices by up […]

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So, strike at a refinery, shortages of fuel on the way.

Nicol Stephen, leader of the Lib Dems, claimed that ministers were "pretending" they had secured ample supplies of fuel. He also raised the issue of retailers increasing prices at the pumps because of the threat of shortages.

Erm, yes, that’s what retailers are supposed to do. […]

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Reform has a paper out today abouthow to increase social mobility:

The UK’s dismal record in educating and motivating the poorest in society (whilst having some of the best elite education in the world) has been a central cause of low social mobility. The UK will not make progress until this problem is resolved. Strikingly, the […]

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If Uncle Milt were still with us, what would have been his views on Northern Rock, Bear Sterns etc?
Brad Delong explains it very well indeed.

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There has never been a better time to pour investment into housing and rescue the construction workers that are being laid off as private sector housebuilding is reduced. Only government can kick start this sector and save us all from a recession and housing problem.

So as house prices fall Neil’s solution is to build more […]

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This sounds remarkably like something I said yesterday. Said rather better, of course:

For most people it is likely that wealth has to improve in order for their happiness level to remain constant; if their wealth were to decline, so would their happiness.

Not so much the level of wealth, but the direction it’s travelling in.
This has […]

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So, how come this is true?

British families are healthier and twice as well off as they were two decades ago but are no happier, according to an official survey.
Life expectancy has increased significantly over the past 35 years for both men and women, while the number of people dying from heart disease and strokes has […]

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The man was right you know?

"No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age."

From Today’s Times:

A survey last year by the Equality and Human Rights Commission makes clear why women are sometimes wary of asserting their rights.
It found 70% of recruitment agencies had been asked […]

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