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2. UK Supermarket Supply Chains: Ending the Human Suffering Behind our Food
- Author:
- Rachel Wilshaw
- Publication Date:
- 06-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Inequality is rampant across the global economy, and the agro-food sector is no exception. At the top, big supermarkets and other corporate food giants dominate global food markets, allowing them to squeeze value from vast supply chains that span the globe, while at the bottom the bargaining power of small-scale farmers and workers has been steadily eroded in many of the countries from which UK supermarkets and others from around the world source. The result is widespread human suffering among the women and men producing our food.
- Topic:
- Markets, Food, Farming, and Supply Chains
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
3. Stabilizing Properties of Flexible Exchange Rates: Evidence from the Global Financial Crisis
- Author:
- Joseph E. Gagnon
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- There is a long-standing debate among economists and policymakers on the benefits of flexible versus fixed exchange rates (Klein and Shambaugh 2010). In principle, flexible exchange rates allow a country's central bank to focus on stabilizing economic growth and inflation, which are the ultimate goals of monetary policy. However, some argue that in practice central banks often do not use their powers wisely and it may be better to restrict their freedom by requiring them to peg their currency to that of an important trading partner. Others note that flexible exchange rates are far more volatile than fundamental factors can explain (Flood and Rose 1995), raising the possibility that they may introduce wasteful cross-sectoral fluctuations in economic activity. One common viewpoint is that flexible exchange rates may be fine for large countries but that the smallest countries are better off with fixed exchange rates (Åslund 2010).
- Topic:
- Economics, Foreign Exchange, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, and United Kingdom
4. Fighting the Fed
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxford Economics
- Abstract:
- Since the US Federal Reserve signalled that a turn in the interest rate cycle may be on the horizon, UK and to a lesser extent Eurozone interest rates have tracked US rates higher. But the UK and Eurozone economies are less well placed than the US to cope with higher interest rates. Simulations carried out on our Global Economic Model show that higher rates would be particularly harmful to the UK economy's embryonic recovery. In an attempt to stem the rise in interest rates, the Bank of England and the ECB have introduce forward guidance but with little, if any, success. Markets do not seem convinced by the Bank of England's commitment to forward guidance and are testing its resolve. It seems likely that over time both central banks may have to strengthen their forward guidance, in the case of the Bank of England by augmenting it with further quantitative easing.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, and Europe
5. UK housing market: bellows to a bubble?
- Publication Date:
- 06-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxford Economics
- Abstract:
- The housing market is recovering, according to recent price and activity data. Post-crisis price corrections were smaller in the UK than in the US and much of Europe, and demand is now being bolstered by the government's Funding for Lending and Help to Buy schemes. This has given rise to some worries that the UK is in danger of inflating another house price bubble. While housing supply is very tight, we are not convinced that these schemes will have enough impact on demand to cause prices to take off.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, and Europe
6. Britain, Ireland and Schengen: Time for a smarter bargain on visas
- Author:
- Michael Emerson
- Publication Date:
- 08-2011
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS)
- Abstract:
- For the present UK government, full accession to the Schengen area, a passport- free travel area covering most of Europe, is a red line that it will not cross. Ireland shares a common travel area and land border with the UK and is also bound by this decision. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that the UK, along with Ireland, is suffering serious economic and reputational costs as a result of its separate visa and border management policies.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Britain, United Kingdom, Europe, and Ireland
7. The global financial crisis: will state emergency measures trigger international investment disputes?
- Author:
- Anne Van Aaken and Jürgen Kurtz
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
- Abstract:
- Several developed countries have introduced emergency measures to mitigate the effects of the Global Financial Crisis, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although the measures taken are still undergoing changes by the executive branch and are thus a “moving target”, our survey reveals early evidence of differentiation between foreign and domestic actors in the emergency plans adopted by this sample grouping. It is this differentiation that may give rise to liability as breaching guarantees against discrimination of foreign investors under international investment law.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, International Affairs, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, and Ireland
8. A Solution for Europe's Banking Problem
- Author:
- Adam S. Posen and Nicolas Véron
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Peterson Institute for International Economics
- Abstract:
- Since mid-2007, public authorities in the European Union have broadly met the challenge of ensuring a functional degree of liquidity and preventing financial meltdown. The Eurosystem has even been ahead of the curve compared with the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England in discounting early on a wide variety of assets to a range of counterparties. However, despite unprecedented central bank intervention, extensive government guarantees since October 2008, and macroeconomic assistance (with the International Monetary Fund) to the European Union's weakest member states, the underlying state of continental Europe's banking industry remains very fragile.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, and Monetary Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, and Europe
9. Making Anti-Corruption Regulation Effective for the Private Sector
- Publication Date:
- 09-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Transparency International
- Abstract:
- A comprehensive regulatory framework for the private sector is a prerequisite for a transparent, honest and just society: where regulation is weak, corruption risks grow strong. As the primary rule makers and enforcers, governments have a responsibility to ensure the effective regulation of markets, protection of citizens and enforcement of laws. Ultimately, an inadequate or unstable regulatory framework for the private sector — without the will, power or resources to enforce legislation — facilitates the marginalisation of stakeholder rights, distortion of markets and negligent or corrupt practices.
- Topic:
- Security, Corruption, Genocide, Markets, and Law
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United Kingdom, and Brazil
10. Thinking About the Future of Food: The Chatham House Food Supply Scenarios
- Publication Date:
- 05-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Chatham House
- Abstract:
- Demand for food is increasing because the global population is rising and major developing economies are expanding. Global supply capacity, meanwhile, is struggling to keep up with changing requirements. Four global food supply scenarios have been developed by the Chatham House Food Supply Project to consider the challenges created and their impact on the EU/UK: 'Just a Blip': what if the present high price of food proves to be a brief spike with a return to cheap food at some point soon? 'Food Inflation': what if food prices remain high for a decade or more? 'Into a New Era': what if today's food system has reached its limits and must change? 'Food in Crisis': what if a major world food crisis develops? Across the world the responses to change will be conditioned by uncertainties surrounding the availability of sufficient energy, water, land and skills. EU/UK stakeholders need to start planning now to develop new food supply systems that are up to the task.
- Topic:
- Agriculture, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Population
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe
11. Economic Survey of United Kingdom, 2005
- Publication Date:
- 10-2005
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
- Abstract:
- The stability and resilience of the economy has been impressive and labour and product markets are among the most flexible in the OECD, but structural economic performance judged against a range of indicators can be further improved.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United Kingdom and Europe