The Budget 2008 was quite an under-stated affair, but was the first delivered by Alistair Darling as Chancellor. As ever, many of the changes had been announced well in advance, reducing the element of surprise. But the Budget remains an important event. Note that the Budget websites can also be useful reference sources for economic policy changes.
Budget 2008 Guardian Budget Special
Interactive: Budget 2008 Guardian (11/03/08)
What to tell us on Budget day: where our money is going and how it can be stopped Guardian (10/03/08)
Budget 2008 BBC News Online Budget Special
Videos and podcasts
Old Mother Hubbard Guardian (13/03/08)
Budget speech in full (Video) BBC News Online (12/03/08)
For details of the Budget measures, you may want to look at:
Budget 2008 HM Treasury Budget pages HM Treasury Budget microsite HM Treasury (March 08)
Questions
| 1. |
What are the key changes in the Budget? What effects are they likely to have on the economy? |
| 2. |
Assess the extent to which this Budget can be considered a ‘Green Budget’. |
| 3. |
How has the Budget changed the overall fiscal position of the government? |
| 4. |
Discuss the likely impact of the Budget on small and large businesses. |
Large areas of land in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are lying uncultivated due to export barriers and tariffs. Given the recent rapid rise in food prices, this fallow land (estimated to be around 23 million hectares) could help to reduce upward pressure on food prices.
Bread basket that is left to grow weeds Times Online (12/3/08)
Questions
| 1. |
Identify three different forms of protectionism. |
| 2. |
Explain why the land identified in the article has remained uncultivated. |
| 3. |
Discuss the arguments for and against these countries reducing tariffs on food.
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The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – the regulatory body for Britain’s airports – has allowed the main airport operator BAA to increase substantially the landing charges it levies on airlines. The airlines have reacted angrily and argued that the higher charges will simply be passed on to passengers in the form of higher fares.
Q&A: Airport landing fees BBC News Online (11/3/08)
BAA to raise airport landing fees BBC News Online (11/3/08)
Fares will rise as fees cap is lifted Guardian (cartoon) (12/3/08)
Fares will rise as fees cap is lifted, airlines warn Guardian (12/3/08)
Video
BAA to raise landing fees BBC News Online
Questions
| 1. |
Explain the regulatory system in operation for the control of landing fees at UK airports . |
| 2. |
Explain why the CAA has increased the landing fees that BAA can charge for planes landing at UK airports. |
| 3. |
Is raising landing fees an efficient method of internalising the externalities associated with air travel? |
| 4. |
Evaluate the extent to which the higher landing fees will be passed on to airline passengers. Use diagrams as appropriate. You may also like to consider the relevance of the price elasticity of demand for air travel in determining the extent to which the higher landing fees can be passed on by the airlines. |
2008 may yet come to be seen as the year that marks the death of the single-use plastic bag. Many countries around the world, including China, have banned their use and February 2008 has seen Marks and Spencer announcing a 5p charge per plastic bag in an attempt to reduce their usage. Even government departments have faced criticism over their use as promotional tools. For more details on plastic bag bans and policies relating to limiting their usage, see our 2007/8 podcast on The economics of plastic bags elsewhere on the site.
M&S hopes to cut plastic bag use with 5p levy Guardian (28/2/08)
Brown may legislate against free plastic bags Guardian (29/2/08)
Q&A: Plastic bags Guardian (28/2/08)
M&S to charge 5p for carrier bags BBC News Online (28/2/08)
Brown threatens supermarkets over plastic bag reduction Times Online (29/2/08)
Government accused over plastic bag waste Guardian (29/2/08)
Agency scraps use of plastic bags for Whitehall promotions Guardian (1/3/08)
Plastic bag bans around the world BBC News Online (28/2/08)
Videos
M&S to charge for carrier bags BBC News Online (February 2008)
M&S boss on plastic bags BBC News Online (February 2008)
M&S to start charging for plastic bags BBC News Online (February 2008)
Questions
| 1. |
What are the social costs and benefits resulting from the use of single-use plastic
bags? |
| 2. |
Using diagrams as appropriate, show how the equilibrium price and quantity of plastic bags differs from the social optimum. |
| 3. |
Evaluate two possible policies that the government could use to reduce the use of plastic bags. |
Global food prices have been rising significantly in recent months and this has led to food riots in a number of countries, rationing being reintroduced in Pakistan and price controls being introduced in Russia. What has caused these rapidly rising prices and to what extent will they slow the rate of economic development in the Third World?
UK farmers forced to ride income rollercoaster Guardian (26/2/08)
They’re going to need a lot more money to meet the same needs Guardian podcast (26/2/08)
Feed the world? We are fighting a losing battle, UN admits Guardian (26/2/08)
Record rise in fuel prices fuels inflation Guardian (12/2/08)
India’s farmers struggling to keep food on the table Times Online (29/2/08)
Questions
| 1. |
Using supply and demand diagrams as appropriate, illustrate the changes taking place recently in world food markets. |
| 2. |
Assess the main factors affecting the level of farmers’ incomes in the UK . |
| 3. |
Analyse the likely impact of rising world food prices on the rate of economic development in Third World countries. |