Thank Fathom it's Friday Archives - Page 43 of 50

Can Taylor Swift solve the productivity crisis?

Brian Davidson8 December 2017|

Productivity growth has been dire in many advanced economies over the last decade. And there's plenty of disagreement among economists about why this has happened. To us, ultra-loose monetary policy is the problem. To others, measurement issues brought about by technological change, are to blame. In this Thank Fathom it's Friday we look at some of these measurement issues and discuss how Taylor Swift is doing her best to solve them. Proponents of the 'it's a measurement issue' theory point out how

Less is more?

Andrew Brigden1 December 2017|

A chart has been doing the rounds among Fathom staff. It shows a strikingly close relationship between the average hours worked per worker across the major economies, and the output per hour of those workers. The longer people work, it seems, the less productive they are. A number of our employees have even argued that this should cause Fathom management to reduce the length of the working week. Admittedly, the correlation is remarkably high. Have we stumbled across a solution

Out with the old and in with the new this Christmas

Joanna Davies24 November 2017|

The saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" may carry more weight than usual this Christmas. For the first time in several years, the prices of goods and services have risen by more than wages, meaning that the average UK worker is worse-off in inflation-adjusted terms this year, than last. While some households will dip into their savings as a means of preserving real consumption and saving Christmas, others will opt to borrow more. But those constrained by a

Fancy a flutter?

William Hynes17 November 2017|

Brexit: 7/1 for the UK to leave the EU. Trump: 5/1 to win the next presidential election. Do bookmakers know anything about politics? Today we aim to answer that question. First impressions are important, or so they say. In my first week at Fathom, a colleague was looking slightly bemused when assessing the odds on the timing of the next UK general election. I quickly volunteered my services, confessing to a certain level of expertise regarding betting markets. Maybe not

Money Money Money

Andrew Harris10 November 2017|

“I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay Ain't it sad And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me That's too bad” ‘Money, Money, Money’ — arguably one of Swedish pop group ABBA’s most popular hits — celebrated its forty-first birthday last week. The song tells a familiar tale of a young woman struggling for money. It’s a story we can all relate to. Cash — we

Bitcoin bubble, toil and trouble?

Oliver White3 November 2017|

Ever get tired of waiting for Donald Trump to cut taxes, Emmanuel Macron to reform the entire euro area, or to see David Davis take some notes to a Brexit meeting? With volatility in financial markets at record lows and asset prices at, or close to, record highs, traders seem to be twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the good news to finally arrive. The Bank of England raised rates for the first time in ten years this week, but

Are we living in a material world?

Erik Britton27 October 2017|

"The things you own end up owning you." Tyler Durden, in the film 'Fight Club' Much has been written, and continues to be written, about the decline of bricks-and-mortar retail spaces - shopping malls etc. - in favour of online retail outlets such as Amazon (see for example an article in the Wall Street Journal). But underneath that shift, which is undoubtedly real, perhaps there's another shift, away from the consumption of material things in general, and towards the consumption

Economic lessons from the drink-making habits of Fathom employees

Brian Davidson13 October 2017|

Ever feel like you're doing all the work? At Fathom we have an unwritten code of offering our colleagues a drink whenever we make one for ourselves. A legacy, possibly, of the early years of the company, when the team was a lot smaller. Or testament to what a nice, friendly bunch we are, perhaps. But for all of this niceness, there have been, and may still be, a few issues with this system. When I joined Fathom, making a

We need to talk about Kevin

Kevin Loane6 October 2017|

"A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” Dale Carnegie The name Kevin was made famous by a fifth-century Irishman, later canonised in 1903. It gained popularity through the twentieth century, peaking in the UK and US during the 1950s and 1960s, but has been in secular decline ever since. In an increasingly globalised world, that may have something to do with its poor reputation elsewhere. In France, the name is associated

Uber, the gig economy and a precarious house of cards

Oliver White29 September 2017|

At last, something for black-cab drivers to be happy about! Keen users of controversial ride-hailing app Uber were dealt a substantial blow as Transport for London rejected Uber's application to renew its licence to operate in London. The precariousness of the gig economy has come into focus yet again. But what exactly is the 'gig' economy? The term gig is borrowed from the world of music, where (typically) a band or musician is paid in weak beer to play a