Many of you probably like the idea of the Robin Hood Tax, despite its multiple problems (not least: Would everyone just keep on behaving as they had done if the tax was introduced? No). Then there was the NUS president last week backing rent controls, basically arguing for lower standards in student accommodation for you all.
Here's another example of bad economics getting its voice heard and attempting to influence people: Some bizarre idea to boycott BP and ESSO (see here for the lowdown on it). I got the email in a forward.
I've already mentioned this on here. It's not sexy, it's not evil, it's simply the exchange rate, something we've covered in lectures.
The pound has lost over 25% of its value since 2008, and that's why petrol costs loads more despite the price of oil being lower. Recall: Worse exchange rate means imports (oil) more expensive, exports cheaper for the UK.
As students of econ101, you now have a much greater economics education than most of the population, the kind of people that come up with illogical ideas like boycott some oil companies because the pound has lost 25% of its value. Educate these people!
This blog accompanies the econ101ab Principles of Economics course given at the University of Birmingham. The lecturers for both parts of the course (101a, microeconomics and 101b, macroeconomics) will occasionally post here on matters related to lecture material. We hope to show the relevance of the concepts we are teaching at each stage of the course for helping understand how the world works...
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