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 we require, want, need, desire. Demand is therefore a transitory abstraction – more of a feeling than a commanding “economic actor”. […]

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 in-depth study and exposition. Indeed, for many years I managed to sneak articles on economics into my monthly contributions to […]

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 pageant”. What we see is a “result” of something else, always a manifestation rather than a “cause”. It is difficult to discern the real […]

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 already under way – many people suggested that I should do this. As a non-academic I have no problem with displaying […]

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 pageant”. What we see is a “result” of something else, always a manifestation rather than a “cause”. It is difficult to discern the real […]

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 in which important Brexit issues have been clouded by uncertainty, exacerbated by predictably negative forecasting by supposedly neutral authorities, generating […]

Dear Ronald Many thanks for spending the time it must have taken you to formulate and write all that! (My own priority when writing at such length is to focus on the subject matter of my Economics essays or Accountancy articles, which I am still contractually obliged to submit bi-monthly.) Indeed, pace i tuoi amici […]

  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 importers must therefore pay more pounds to buy the foreign currency required to pay for their imports of finished goods and components. Higher prices, in effect. But […]

ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – 26:   “CREATING JOBS’ – WHAT A FALLACY! 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 money that sports car cost?” The owner replied: “ I […]

Economic Perspectives – 25 REFLECTIONS ON RECENT TAX HYSTERIA [Early December 2017] Where we are now on the subject of taxation – clueless and lost! Widespread “tax-dodging” is the surest sign that our “tax-raising” process is seriously defective! Why doesn’t our existing tax system raise enough money to meet all government commitments? The reason is […]