A decade after the beginning of the great recession of 2008, how has the United Kingdom economy recovered?
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The Real Economics of Brexit
“Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies.” – John F. Kennedy
The Bank of England Balance sheet has been expanding rather quickly recently
Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England gave a speech on Guidance, Contingencies and Brexit at the Society of Professional Economists on the 24th May 2018. Essentially, the speech said the Bank was well prepared for any “potential path” of Brexit. What it didn’t mention was the rapidly expanding balance sheet.
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The story of UK trade with the European Union for the last two decades
We have been publishing a number of statistics for the United Kingdom and the European Union over the last few weeks in the run up to a major piece we will be publishing on the real economics of Brexit. This is the final piece before we publish our post on the real economics of Brexit.
How reliant is the United Kingdom on the European Union for trade? The answer to that is around 52% in 2017 (down from 59% in 1998 and 55% in 2008). 48% of UK exports go the European (EU) Union but 55% of UK imports are from the European Union. Exports to the EU have been decreasing but imports have been increasing. 69% of the trade deficit of the United Kingdom can be attributed to trade with the European Union.
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UK Trade Statistics for trade by each product (and split by EU and non-EU trade) plus interactive tool for trade by each country
We will be publishing a number of statistics for the United Kingdom (and the European Union) over the next few days in the run up to a major piece we will be publishing on the real economics of Brexit. In the meanwhile, here are trade statistics for trade by each product for the United Kingdom for 2017 (the latest full year of data available) sourced from the Office for National Statistics.
Are foreign companies really acquiring UK companies at a record pace due to a weak pound?
Have inward mergers and acquisitions (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) really soared in the United Kingdom due to a weak pound? The answer is no. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes numbers for inward, outward and domestic mergers and acquisitions and it doesn’t appear either have really changed pace despite a weaker pound.
Here’s why wages aren’t rising despite record employment and labour shortages
Both the United Kingdom and the United States currently have record multi-year high levels of employment, yet wages haven’t kept up with inflation for the vast majority of people causing a real income squeeze. Although the U.S. recently reported the highest wage growth since the last recession most people don’t feel their wages are keeping up with rising prices. What is going on?
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The UK’s net worth is now estimated at £10.2 trillion, an average of £155000 per person
The United Kingdom’s net worth was estimated at £10.2 trillion in 2017 or an average of £155,000 per person as per the Office for National Statistics. UK net worth more than trebled between 1995 and 2017, and much of this was from growth in the value of land. Land accounts for 51% of the UK’s net worth. The UK’s net worth rose by £492 billion from 2016 to £10.2 trillion in 2017.
U.S. Trade Statistics for January to June 2018 – exports up 9.67% as imports up 8.66%, EU largest trade partner, China replaces Canada as second largest trade partner
U.S. trade with the world has grown despite tariffs and tariffs rhetoric in the first half (January to June) of 2018. There is one point of view that trade grew to avoid tariffs before they were implemented which might be partially true. Here are the key takeaways and the dataset,
London house prices have fallen most since 2009 but it is not what it seems
The media has recently been writing about an apparent house price crash for UK house prices but it isn’t that bad. We wrote in May that UK house sales and house price growth are slowing, the on the ground situation hasn’t changed since and the newly available statistics support that.
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