No 162: Some Interesting Numbers from "Private Eye"

I DON'T have a particular newspaper that I read every day. However, I do make sure that every week I read "The Economist" (which hopefully you have heard of already), and "Private Eye".

You can probably tell from this week's cover the kind of magazine the Private Eye is....

In my opinion, satirical magazines like this, who watch very carefully what government and other powerful people do, are extremely important. This may be why usually one of the first acts of a dictator is to close down these kinds of publications. Plus, Private Eye is funny!

However, I am not the only person who believes in the importance of having a strong opposition to the government.

As reported in last weeks "Economist":

"In a video shown on state television, President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia’s political system was showing signs of “stagnation”, and that the lack of serious opposition meant that Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, was in danger of “bronzing over”."

Now I don't want to say too much about Russian politics, since it not something I know a lot about. However, it does seem to me a bit strange that one of the leaders of a political party which has been well known for trying to silence opposition, is now complaining because now there is no opposition.......

In any case, back to "Private Eye". One feature I like in it is called "Number Crunching", and here are a few examples:

 

No 157: Newspaper questions for Wednesday 10 November

 

Page 6 - "Train fare rises being used to ease peak-time congestion"
Do you think the rises in fares will ease peak-time congestion on trains?

Page 11 - "Move to Biofuels Will Add Carbon"
Biofuels have been praised as providing a solution to the use of petrol. Does it seem to be a good solution?

Page 41: "Forecasters predict oil will reach $200 a barrel"
Why?

Page 42: "Gold hits record high of $1,420 per ounce"
Why?

Page 42: "Trade deficit narrows slightly"
Why?

 

No 150: Help with New Economics Words

ONE difficulty with studying economics is that there are so many new words to learn.

It is sometimes useful then, to have access to dictionaries which give you the meaning of these words.

There are many available on the internet. Some start with basic economics terms, others are for advanced students.

My advice if you don't know a word is look in more than one site, because you might find the way a word is described in one place is easier for you to understand than in another.

Here is a guide to some economic glossaries I think are useful:

1) Bized economics glossary - this is good place to start since it is written for A-level students.

2) The Economist magazine's glossary - from, of course, the best magazine in the world, which, of course, you are all reading every week. It is written for eductaed people who may not have studied economics, so should be quite easy for you to understand.....

3) AMOS web glossary - size is the advantage of this one, with over 3000 economics terms discussed. It is from the USA, so beware of some words which are different from those we use in the UK.

4) Dr T's Economic Glossary - written by a university teacher, this uses advanced language to describe the economic ideas you may already know. Better for A2 students than AS.

5) John B. Taylor's Principles of Macroeconomics - very advanced;good for those of you who really want to challenge your understanding.

6) The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics - as the title suggests, not so much a dictionary as a series of short essays. Very interesting, but be aware that there is a bias to the writers of these essays - they are Austrian School economists (put very simply, very much in favour of the free market and against government).

If you want to buy an economics dictionary, this old one is still one of the most excellent available. I have a copy so if you'd like to have a look, just ask.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everymans-Dictionary-Economics-Collected-Arthur/dp/0865975523/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1286971170&sr=1-5

No 76: Adam Smith cartoon

WOW that last post took a lot out of me, let's take the time to relax with an enjoyable cartoon.

Although, of course, on  this blog there is no innocent fun - even our cartoons must have a good amount of economics in them.

This then, links you to a cartoon version of the most famous book in economics - Adam Smith's "An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations" (usually just called "The Wealth of Nations").

A wealth of economic knowledge awaits you there, and hopefully some better jokes than that very poor effort I just made.

See also Post 8 for a cartoon version of Hayek's "Road to Serfdom".