Head of Economics, Professor Sarah Smith explores racial inequality in the UK, reflecting on recent events.
The past few weeks have seen protests around the world, triggered by the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police.…
Category: COVID-19
Premier League salaries during the pandemic
Third-year BSc Economics and Politics student, Pravin discusses Premier League salaries during the COVID-19 pandemic in his Economics of Coronavirus blog.
Pravin wrote his blog in response to our call-out for Economics of Coronavirus competition entries earlier this year, and was announced as the competition winner – his prize to have his blog featured on the Discover Economics website, promoted to Financial Times subscribers.…
Cummings and Goings
This week, the press has been dominated by the Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham in search of childcare, in breach of the spirit if not the strict letter, of the social distancing law that he himself had been partly responsible for.…
COVID-19: The Expert Economist View
Dr Hans Sievertsen and Professor Sarah Smith explore economists’ views on different issues, including the current COVID crisis, and ask whether there is such a thing as a one-handed economist.
“Give me a one-handed economist”, demanded Harry Truman, the former US President.…
Government versus the Markets
The coronavirus pandemic has seen a rapid and marked shift in the balance between markets and government.
Professor Sarah Smith explores governments responses to the current COVID-19 crisis.
Governments around the world have responded to the crisis with massive spending commitments.…
Nerding out Economics
Lecturers within the department have been exploring how economics has a vital part to play in everyday life.
From shortages of supplies in supermarkets to social distancing behaviour, economics can help us understand and make sense of some of the real-life effects of the coronavirus pandemic.…
The COVID-19 league table: should the U.K. be at the top?
On 5 May it was announced that the U.K.’s death toll from COVID-19 was 29,427, narrowly overtaking Italy on the same day (with 29,315 deaths): this meant that the U.K. had the highest number of recorded COVID-19 deaths in Europe.…
What do the daily death rates tell us?
The grim statistics, released daily, on the number of new coronavirus deaths in each country are pored over by the media and policy-makers as an indicator of when the pandemic might peak, whether lockdown is working, and whether more stringent restrictions might be needed.…
Panic in the shops of London…. and the rest of the UK
Economics provides a useful toolbox to make sense of the current crisis. Department of Economics staff are writing about coronavirus for different audiences, including launching a blog for 6th formers who are stuck at home.…