Economics newsletter
Don’t blame Trump for food price hikes and cancelled flights
In the hierarchy of factors that will make consumers curse politicians and company bosses this summer, food price inflation probably ranks higher than holiday flight chaos. But both will contribute to an ugly mood that will manifest everywhere from Question Time audiences and airport voxpops to outbreaks of mass shoplifting. And only the last blip
Did European rule in Asia and Africa really make colonised people poorer?
Few questions in economic history generate more heat than the one that seems, on the surface, most straightforward: Did European rule in Asia and Africa make colonised peoples poorer? The intuitive answer – of course it did – has animated a long tradition of scholarship stretching from Eric Williams’s Capitalism and Slavery (1944) to Walter
Is Reform brave enough to be a pro-family party?
Nigel Farage told Radio 4 this week that he had ‘made a mistake’ in trying to pursue pro-family policies, concluding that this is simply ‘impossible in modern Britain’. The Reform leader might be forgiven for thinking so. The moment Reform moved into this territory with a pledge to end the two-child limit (among working British
The UAE’s Opec exit is about much more than oil
The decision by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to quit Opec, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a seismic blow to the oil cartel. Opec is already reeling from the energy shock of the Iran war and Tehran’s closure of the vital supply line through the Strait of Hormuz. There will be worries now
The state should keep its hands off your pension
The worst thing about the government’s plans to force pension providers to invest their money in particular assets is that ministers and MPs themselves don’t have to worry about it. They, of course, are members of a gold-plated pension scheme that is underwritten by the taxpayer. They will receive their index-linked pensions whatever the economic
Britain must learn from its energy crises
During my career in the energy industry, I have been through seven major supply disruptions. Each time nations vow to learn lessons, revisit strategy and reduce risk. Yet when the war in Iran sent wholesale gas prices surging by more than 65 per cent, the British government scrambled for responses. The harder question, the one
The Iran war hits inflation
The Iran war is being felt in Britain’s economy. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show inflation rose to 3.3 per cent in March – up from 3 per cent the month before. The rise was mainly driven by fuel prices, which jumped at their fastest rate in more than three
Unemployment has fallen – but not in a good way
On the face of it, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have just released great news on unemployment. The rate – against all expectations – has fallen from 5.2 per cent to 4.9 per cent. Radio 4’s Today programme welcomed the ‘surprising’ news. But this is no good news story. To be classed by statisticians
Britain’s economy is growing – but not for long
It must be bittersweet being Rachel Reeves. Figures just released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the economy grew by 0.5 per cent in February. That is significantly better than economists had expected and, coupled with the fact that January growth has been revised up, it marks probably the first piece of seriously
The US currency is under attack like never before
It was, on the surface, a fairly routine proposal. Officials from the BRICS nations, made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, have decided to discuss, at a summit in New Delhi later this year, how to deepen trade and collaboration. No one was paying very much attention when the decision was made.