Consumer confidence is rising amid gloomy economic news – here's what that means and why it matters

Jan 08, 2024 22:24 pm UTC| Economy

Peoples confidence in the UKs economic outlook improved towards the end of 2023, despite continuing to battle a cost-of-living crisis. Although it has strengthened over the year to December, consumer sentiment as this...

Taxes on e-cigarettes: South Africa must strike a balance between economic arguments and health concerns

Jan 08, 2024 22:21 pm UTC| Business Economy

The 21st century has seen a massive expansion in the ways that people can consume tobacco and nicotine. Innovative new products include electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS or e-cigarettes) and heat-not-burn (HnB)...

Global Geopolitics Series

China's capitalist reforms are said to have moved 800 million out of extreme poverty – new data suggests the opposite

Jan 08, 2024 22:19 pm UTC| Economy Politics

It has become an article of faith among many economists that Chinas pro-market reforms of the 1980s and 1990s ushered in a sustained reduction in poverty. This narrative relies on figures from the World Bank, showing...

Why the UK census should not be replaced with alternative sources of data

Jan 08, 2024 22:18 pm UTC| Economy

Every ten years since 1801 save for a wartime interruption in 1941 the UK government has conducted a national census of England and Wales. This is a big event. The data collated in the last survey, in 2021, is still...

Climate Change Series

Global Geopolitics Series

Global triggers: why these five big issues could cause significant problems in 2024

Jan 04, 2024 04:55 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The tensions between the US and China made the global economy shudder in 2023. The ramifications of the Ukrainian war echoed beyond the countrys border. In Africa, the coup détat in Niger and Gabon contributed to...

Economically, Australia has been lucky – what matters now is what we do next

Jan 04, 2024 04:40 am UTC| Economy

Australia has long thought of itself as the lucky country. Whenever its economy has started to falter, a commodity boom has usually come along to restore prosperity… until in the 1980s, when the rest of the world...

Why you may not be able to get on the housing ladder or buy a bigger home in 2024

Jan 04, 2024 04:37 am UTC| Investing Economy Real Estate

Five million more UK households could feel the effects of recent interest rate increases in coming years. Roughly the same number have already been forced to remortgage since the recent spate of rate rises began in 2021,...