Category: Global Economy

1.17 Climate Economics — Repricing the Entire Planet ★ In BriefSummary: Emissions are a market failure because their costs fall on people outside the transaction; carbon taxes and cap-and-trade put a price on them. Stranded assets and green finance are the two main finance consequences.Since January 1, 2026 the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism has […]

1.12 Unemployment and the Labor Market ★ In BriefSummary: The unemployment rate is the share of the labor force that is jobless and actively seeking work; people who have stopped looking leave the labor force and are tracked through the participation rate. The gap between the headline U-3 and the broader U-6 is a quick […]

1.9 Interest Rates — The Price of Borrowing Money ★ In BriefSummary: An interest rate is the price of borrowing, and a policy decision reaches the economy in steps: the federal funds rate, then short-term rates within days, then long-term rates, asset prices and finally spending and inflation. Long-term rates follow expectations, so a mortgage […]

1.6 Petroleum and the Petrodollar System ★ In BriefSummary: Oil has been priced in dollars for decades, and the US–Saudi arrangements of 1974 entrenched the habit by giving oil revenue a deep, safe place to return in US assets. No treaty ever required dollar-only oil sales.After the Nixon Shock of 1971 and the 1973–74 Arab […]

1.2 Supply and Demand — The Engine Behind Every Price ★ In BriefSummary: Prices settle at the equilibrium where the quantity buyers want equals the quantity sellers offer, and they move whenever either side shifts. How far they move depends on price elasticity, which is why energy and food produce the sharpest swings.Above the equilibrium […]

★ In BriefSummary: An economy is all the buying, selling, making and trading in a place, done by four groups: households, firms, government and the rest of the world. Economists also separate flows, measured per period, from stocks, measured at a moment.A good is a physical thing and a service is something done for you; […]