economic assignment 1st week

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• Prof. Francesco Giavazzi

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• Macroeconomics
• Political Economy
• Public Economics

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Principles of macroeconomics, assignments.

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Lesson Note on Economics SS1 First Term

Economics lesson note – edudelight.com.

SUBJECT: ECONOMICS

SCHEME FIRST TERM

WEEK  TOPIC

• Meaning of Economics.
• Economics as a Science, Arts or Social subject.
• Basic Concept of Economics.
• Importance of Opportunity Cost to an Individual, Firms and the Government.
• Basic Economic Problems of the Society.
• Basic Tools for Economics Analysis.

7.   Data Collection and Presentation.

8    Theory of Production

9.   Land as a Factor of Production.

10. Labour as a Factor of Production

11. Revision.

12 & 13. Examination.

REFERENCE BOOKS

• Amplified and Simplified Economics for Senior Secondary School by Femi Longe 
• Comprehensive Economics for Senior Secondary School by J.V. Anyaele
• Fundamentals of Economics for SSS By. R.A.I. Anyanwuocha

DEFINITION AND THE SCOPE OF ECONOMICS

• Definition and meaning of Economics
• The scope of Economics
• Why do we study economics?

DEFINITION AND MEANING OF ECONOMICS

Economics as a dynamic subject has very many definitions.  It is often said that there are so many definitions of economics as there are economists because they see the subject from different point of view.

Some definition given by some economists includes:

Adam Smith (18 th Century British Economist and Called “Father of Economics”) in 1776 defined economics as “an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations”.

John Stuart Mill in 1843 defined economics as “the practical science of production and distribution of wealth”

Alfred Marshal in 1890 defines it as “a study of mankind in the ordinary business of life, earning and enjoying a living”.

H. J. Daven Port defines economics as “a science that treats phenomena from the stand point of price”.

Edvins Canon defines economics as “the study of things having to do with man’s material welfares”.

A.I. Pigou defines economics as “the study of how total production could be increased so that the standard of living of people might be improved’’.

However, the most acceptable and widely used definition was by Professor Lionel C . Robins in 1932, which defines economics as “the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses”. The reasons for the popularity of this definition is twofold, namely, it is the only definition which mentions:

• The basic economic problem of scarcity and choice.
• The fact that economics is a social science.

THE SCOPE OF ECONOMICS

• Economics relies on the findings of other social sciences which include ethics, political science, sociology, geography, psychology, philosophy, anthropology,  etc, in order to reach sound conclusion concerning human behaviour. This inter-relationship with other social sciences promotes a wider general understanding of social behaviour.
• Economics is a social science which studies human behaviour or mankind’s economic activities in relation to production, exchange, distribution and consumption of goods and services.
• It deals with how people react to economic situations and how they behave while engaged in their daily economic activities.
• Economics deals with the administration of scarce resources in the society.
• Economics is positive in its study of human behaviour by concerning itself with “What is’, and not normative with “What should be’, and thus point out the full cost – the real or opportunity cost – of achieving our ends.
• Write a short note on the scope of economics.

THE BRANCHES OF ECONOMICS

Economics is broken down into two main broad areas: Micro economics and Macro economics.

Micro economics is the branch of economics that deals with economic action or behaviour of individuals, household and firms. It centers on the analysis of individual prices, market and allocation of specific resources to particular uses e.g. demand and supply etc.

Macro economics in the other hand is the study of the economy as a whole includes among other economic aspects such as inflation, National income, investment, unemployment, international trade etc.

• How would you define Economics?
• What are the two branches of Economics? Explain

WHY DO WE STUDY ECONOMICS

Economics as a social science, studies human behaviour of the individual, firm and government in the ordinary business of life due to the following reasons:

• The study of economics provides the students with the basic skills for analyzing economic problem thereby preparing them better for positions where economic decisions are needed.
• It enables a student to understand the nature of the complexity of the economic activities.
• It is useful in analyzing patterns of socio-economic behaviour.
• It helps government to promote growth and development thereby improving their standard of living.
• It enables students to understand and appreciate various government policies where choices have to be made.
• The knowledge of economics is useful to understand effects of the inequalities in the distribution of income and opportunity.
• It is useful in effective allocation of scarce resources to various sectors of the economy.
• Who is the father of economics and how did he define economics?

READING ASSIGNMENT

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 1-3

GENERAL EVALUATION QUESTIONS

• Write six producer goods.
• List three classical Economist school of thought
• State two theories put forward by classical school of thought.
• Highlight two Neo-classical schools of Economic thought.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

• Economics in its field of study is majorly concerned with……………. (a) what should be (b) what is not (c) what should not be (d) what is
•  Economics is best described as the study of  (a) the wealth of nations  (b) how man consumes his        products   (c) how man provides for his every day need     (d) the distribution of wealth
• The study of Economics enables individuals to………… (a) exchange jobs   (b) evade taxes  (c) accumulate wealth  (d) make rational decision
• When the economic situation is viewed from the point of value judgment, economics is said to be………. (a) positive (b) negative (c) normative (d) predictive.
• In economics, the three major mankind’s economic activities are………….. (a) occupation, production and distribution (b) production, distribution and consumption (c) utilization, production and consumption (d) distribution, exchange and consumption.
• Give the generally accepted definition of Economics
• Give three definitions of economics.

ECONOMICS AS A SCIENCE, ARTS OR SOCIAL SCIENCE

• Is Economics a science, Art or social subject?
• Career prospect for studying economic.

ECONOMICS AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

Like other pure sciences, economics acquires knowledge (data) through a systematic observation of facts, classifying the mass of data collected into their different relevant areas, using the facts collected for generalization of law, applying the formulated law to analyze new situations with a strong reliance on a certain assumption to enable the law to hold true at all time. The assumption is, “Ceteris Paribus’’ meaning “All things being equal’’.

Economics is basically a social science subject and not an art or pure science due to the following reasons.

• In pure sciences, such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology, there are observations, selection and classification of relevant materials in making generalization to formulate laws, but in economics its fundamental facts are the daily observation.
• In pure sciences, observation from laboratory experiments are more precise and can be reproduced exactly, but in economics they are attained from human and cannot be exactly produced.
• In physical sciences, theories are made from logical deductions but in economics, assumptions are made such as “ceteris paribus” meaning “all other things being equal” though they both use scientific method.
• Economic laws are based on probabilities while pure sciences have exact relationship.
• Economics is a social science subject dealing with the behaviour of human, which cannot be predicted.

Economics, therefore, deserves to be called a science subject because it makes use of scientific methods in its area of studies. That is, it makes use of both deductive and inductive methods.

• Economics is a science, explain.
• Give two reasons why economics is regarded as a social science

CAREER PROSPECT FOR STUDYING ECONOMICS

The study of economics leads to professionalism as it provides an individual with employment opportunities in any field or organization. An economist can fit in very well into any organization as long as resources are involved. The acquisition of knowledge of economics helps an individual to function effectively and efficiently in the following fields.

• Lecturing in higher institution
• Managing an organization
• Consultancy, etc
• How is the study of economics relevant to individual’s career prospect?
• Itemize the career opportunities that are opened to an economist .

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 11

• What is behavioral Science?
• Define Economics according to Adams Smith.
• List other subjects related to Economics.
• Define the term Economic rent.
• Who are the principle economic unit in any  system?

1.  In order to reach a sound conclusion about human behaviour, economics relies on the findings of other……….. (a) commercial subjects (b) arts subjects (c) pure science subjects (d) social science subjects

2.  Unlike pure science, the generalized law in economics is majorly based on ……….

(a) certainty (b) probability (c) precision (d) accuracy

3.  Career prospect in the study of economics means………….. (a) employment avenue (b) fraudulent avenue (c) job scarcity (d) wealth distribution

4.  Economics is often described as a science because it   (a) adopts the use of laboratory experiments   (b) uses scientific method to explain observed phenomena (c) deals with observation and field work   (d) involves accurate prediction of human beings

5.  Economics as a field of study is a …….. (a) pure science (b) political science (c) social science (d) physical science

• Write short note on the career prospect for studying economics
• Economics is a science, discuss in two paragraphs.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF ECONOMICS

• Concepts of wants and scarcity
• Choice and scale of preference
• Opportunity cost.

CONCEPT OF HUMAN WANTS

Wants refer to numerous goods and services which are desired for consumption.

In economics, wants are what we are interested in having but without money or willingness to part with money to have it at that point in time.

They could be in the form of tangible goods or services. Tangible goods include, goods, houses, television etc; or services such as a driver, cobbler, actor, legal or medical services.

Human wants are insatiable, because the means of satisfying them are limited. i.e. scarce

Wants are also called ends, desires, aims or objectives.

In economics, Scarcity is defined as “Limited in Supply” that is to say, all things being scarce or limited in supply is in relation to the demand for them.

This means that before we say something is scarce, we must have compared the available quantity with the present level of demand for it based on the available resources.

Goods and services for sale may be plenty but these in economic sense are still scarce as long as people do not have enough money to satisfy all their wants.

So, Scarcity does not mean shortage of resources. Therefore, things can still be regarded as scarce even when it is readily available.

The issue of scarcity is central and fundamental to the study of economics that it may be said that without scarcity there will be no need for the study of economics.

1.    Write a short note on human wants.

2.    Explain scarcity in economics.

Since human wants are unlimited and resources available to satisfy them are limited, hence choice has to be made.

Choice is therefore the selection among different alternatives.

The decision to have one thing instead of the other implies choice. Such economic decisions are made by individuals, firms and the government. So every economic decision is a choice. The three aspects of choice are:

• Deciding how to get the resources;
• Deciding when to use the resources.

SCALE OF PREFERENCE

This is the list of consumer’s want in order of their importance. It has to do with the ranking  of a person’s want in order of their importance. The want at the top are supposed to be satisfied before other wants.

IMPORTANCE OF SCALE OF PREFERENCE

• It is a tool for arranging human want.
• It helps in choice makings
• It ensures optimum allocation of resources.
• It shows human want at a glance.
• It helps consumers to utilize their resources.

OPPORTUNITY COST

This can be defined as an alternative forgone. This concept is also called the real cost or true cost.

For example if Mr. Audu decides to buy a television set instead of a radio set then the opportunity cost of the television set bought is the radio set forgone.

The concept of opportunity cost helps in our daily decision and applies to individual firms and government. It helps an individual to make the right choice among their many needs by allocating his services resources in the best known way.

It helps firms to allocate more of the resources in the production of goods and services, that will give them highest contribution margin (profit). To the government, it helps them to make the right choice as regards what project it slowly spends its resources on. For example, Lagos State government with her limited revenue may decide to provide free education and medical care.

• Define Opportunity cost.
• What is Scarcity of resources?

Amplified and Simplified Economics for sss by Femi Longe page 5-7.

• Define Economic goods.
• Give two examples of Economic goods.
• Differentiate between Economic goods and non-economic goods.
• Has the concept of opportunity cost any relevance to the West Africa countries?
• Distinguish between opportunity cost and money cost.

1.   Opportunity cost is defined as (a) Money cost (b) Cost of production (c) Real cost

(d) Variable cost

2.   The most basic concern of the economist is to (a) create human wants (b) satisfy all human wants (c) redistribute income so that it is used correctly (d) the alternative scarce resources to satisfy human wants

3.   Scarcity in Economics means that resources are _________ (a) needed to satisfy human wants (b)never enough to share among the producers of goods and services (c) resources to meet essential wants are unlimited (d) are not enough to share among the producers of goods and services.

4.   Choice is necessary because resources _______ (a) are limited (b) are scarce (c) can be seen everywhere (d) are available

5.   Scarcity in economics refers to ________ (a) a period of production (b) hoarding of goods (c) monopolization of existing supply of resources (d) resources being limited

1.   What is scarcity in economics?

2.   a.         Define opportunity cost.

b.         State the opportunity cost in each of the following actions;

      i.    A shirt purchased for 1000 instead of a pair of shoes;

ii.    Oranges planted on a farm realizing N50, 000 instead of mango that could have realized N60, 000.

Importance of opportunity cost to individual

Importance of opportunity cost as related to:

• Individuals,
• Firms or organisations
• Governments

IMPORTANCE OF OPPORTUNITY COST TO INDIVIDUAL

• It helps individual to make decision.
• It helps individual to allocate scarce resources.
• Judicious use of resources.
• Prioritizing our wants.
•  It helps an individual to make wise choice.

IMPORTANCE OF OPPORTUNITY COST TO FIRMS

• Decision making.
• Helps to decide the method of production.
• Helps in project execution.
• Guides policy formulation and implementation.

Importance of Opportunity Cost to the Government

• Resources allocation.
• Preparation of budget.
• List 3 importance of opportunity cost to individual.
• State 2 importance of opportunity cost to a firm

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 6-7

REVISION/ GENERAL EVALUATION

• List ten renowned Economics in the world.
• Why is the scale of preference important?
• Mention  five importance of studying economics.
• Give five definitions of Economics by various prominent Economists.
• Differentiate between Want and Needs.

1.   Opportunity cost is the item…………. (a) left unbought (b) nominal cost (c) bought (d) money cost

2.   Opportunity cost helps to ensure……..  allocation of resources (a) wrong (b) optimum (c) minimum (d)   unhealthy

3.   Nominal cost is the same thing as………… (a) real cost (b) fixed cost (c) money cost (d) variable cost

4.   ……………….. is a situation where a particular goods is traded off in favour of another goods (a) Explicit cost (b) opportunity cost (c) implicit cost (d) marginal cost

5. The problem of making the right choice is resolved with the use of……….. (a) consumer price index (b) preferential treatment (c) scale of preference (d) allocation of resources

• Differentiate between nominal cost and real cost        
• State three importance of opportunity cost to each of the economic agents.

BASIC ECONOMIC PROBLEMS OF THE SOCIETY

• What to produce?
• How to produce?
• For whom to produce
• How to achieve effective use of resources?

Every economy, whether capitalist, socialist,  mixed economy, developed or developing countries is faced with the basic problems of scarcity of resources which serve as the bane of the following problems confronting the nations of the world.

• For whom to produce?

WHAT TO PRODUCE

This is the foremost basic economic problem which is concerned with goods and services to be produced and in commercial quantity is the production to be made.

As a problem of resources allocation, what should be produced should depend on the needs and wants of the people which are determined by different factors in different societies.

In a capitalist system, what to produce rests in the hands of private individuals and firms who produce goods and services using the price system to determine the price.

The government determines what to produce in a socialist system based the calculation of social welfare. That is, it is based on the maximization of the welfare of the society as against profit making. In a mixed economy as practised here in Nigeria what to produce is a joint responsibility of the government and private sector individuals.

• Explain the problem of what to produce in a mixed economy.

HOW TO PRODUCE

The problem of how to produce is concerned with what economic method of production is to be carried out. This include the determination of materials to be used as well as techniques of production and those to organize the production.

Two main methods of production exist in every economy.

• Labour intensive method
• Capital intensive method

The labour intensive method employs more people with less capital, while a capital Intensive method employs more capital equipment with less people. In a capitalist economy, private individuals and private resources are mainly used while in a socialist economy the government uses public resources.

FOR WHOM TO PRODUCE

This is the problem of distribution of goods and services among the people. The economic system of the country determines to a large extent the goods and services to be enjoyed. In the capitalist system, price mechanism determines who gets what goods and services, but in a socialist system the government, through centrally planned committee, distributes goods and services according to the needs and individual contributions as determined by the government. Both price mechanism and government decide the distribution of goods and services in a mixed economy system.

EFFECTIVE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES

Resource has to be efficiently utilized since they are limited relative to the demand for them. It becomes a problem of how this resource can be effectively used in order to maximize output (Increase in production).  When we have maximized outputs with minimum inputs then we can say that available resources have been effectively and efficiently utilized.

Explain the following:

• Whom to produce?
• How do you enhance efficiency in resources utilization?

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 15-17

• List and explain the goals of the society.
• What are the factors that determine what to produce, how to produce?
• Every economic system is faced with some fundamental economic problems, explain this statement.
• List and explain five types of wealth.    

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT                            

1.   Which of the following is not a fundamental economic problem? (a) What to produce? (b) Method of production? (c) For whom to produce? (d) How to enjoy production?

2.   Scarcity refers to (a) The absence of goods in the market (b) Period of production (c) Limited resources (d) The control of resources

3.   The consumer has to make a choice because wants are (a) Limited while means are unlimited (b) Limited and means are also limited (c) Unlimited while means are limited (d) Unlimited and means are also Unlimited

4.   The concept of Economic efficiency primarily implies (a) Producing without waste (b) Obtaining the lowest possible cost (c) Conserving our petroleum resources (d) Equity in the distribution of the nation’s wealth.

5.   Economic problem arises because (a) Man is insatiable (b) Money is scarce (c) Resources are scarce relative to wants (d) Man engages in so many economic activities

• Isolate the basic economic problem of the society and briefly explain each.
• How can resources be efficiently utilized within an economic system

TOOLS OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

• Tables or schedules
• Bar  chart (simple, component and multiple)
• Merits and demerits

TABLES OR SCHEDULES

A table is a systematic and orderly arrangement of information, facts or data, using rows and columns for presentation which make it easier for better understanding of  the relationship between variables. It serves as the most commonly used tool in Economics for economic analysis.

FEATURES OF A TABLE

• It must give an orderly arrangement of data.
• It must have a title or heading.
• It must be numbered if many.
• It must be very simple and easy to understand.
• The units of measurement used in the table must be stated.

USES OR IMPORTANCE OF A TABLE

• It reveals information at a glance.
• It avoids repetition.
• It makes data easy to understand.
• It allows for easy interpretation of data.
• It eases comparison between classes of data.

EXAMPLES OF A TABLE

The table below gives the performance of four students in an entrance examination.

• Define Table.
• State 3 importance of a table.

USE OF A GRAPH

A graph is a diagram showing a functional relationship between two variables. Information presented on table can be translated into a graph for better understanding.  Many types of graphs are used for economic analysis depending on the nature of the data and purpose for which they are intended

EXAMPLE OF A GRAPH

FEATURES OF A GRAPH

• It must be titled.
• It must possess appropriate scales.
• The y and x axis must carry different variables.
• It must show the source of data presented.
• The y-axis must be on the vertical side and x-axis on the horizontal side.
• It must be well labeled for better understanding.

IMPORTANCE OF A GRAPH

• It shows relationship between two variables.
• It makes quantitative information illustrated in tabular form clearer and quicker impression.
• It helps to interpret values of variables.
• The values or quantities in the table are better understood and appreciated in graph.
• It provides basis for comparing variables provided in the table.
• What is a graph?
• State five features of a graph

USE OF A CHART

A Chart is a device being used to provide us with the interpretation or presentation of data in the form of diagram or picture. In economics, many types of chart are used for economic analysis among which are bar charts and pie chart.

A bar chart is a way of representing tabulated data with evenly spaced bars with equal gap. Bar charts can be of three types:-

• SIMPLE BAR CHARTS: Used for data with one variable.
• COMPONENT BAR CHARTS: Used for data with two variables.
• MULTIPLE BAR CHARTS: Used for data with more than two.

Example of simple Bar Charts

Example of Component Bar Charts

Examples of Multiple Bar Charts

• Define the meaning of a chart

2.    Highlight three types of chart

This is a circle divided into sections expressed in degrees with each section proportionate to the frequency or attribute. The circle represents the total data and with the use of a compass and protractor it is drawn

Example: In a school the numbers of periods for the subjects are given in a table. Represent the information in a pie chart.

LINEAR GRAPH

A linear graph is used in comparing between two variables priving a straight-line graph.

Given that Q = 42 – 2p find the value of Q when p = N1, N3, N5, N7 and N9, where P = Price and Q = Quantities. Represent the information on a line graph

Q = 42 – 21

P = N1, Q = 42 – 2 x N1 – 42 – N2 = N40

P = N3, Q = 42 – 2 x N3 = 42 – N6 = N36

P = N5, Q = 42 – 2 x N5 = 42 – N10 = N32

P = N7, Q = 42 x 2 x N7 = 42 – N14 = N28 

P = N9, Q = 42 – 2x N9 = 42 – N18 = N24

     1                                                                 40

     3                                                                 56

     5                                                                 32

     7                                                                 28

     9                                                                 24

• Write short note on pie chart.
• Explain linear graph in 2 paragraph.                               

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 19-23

• Define frequency distribution. 
• Giving the budget estimate of a state for 2010. Use the information to present a bar chart.

Item                                         Amount

Agric                                              70

Sports                                            80

Education                                     110

Health                                            60

Development                                 30

Finance                                             50

• Define a pie chart.
• Different between a bar chart and a linear graph.
• The production of carrot and onion by a farmer in Jos for the years 2002-2005.You are required to represent this data using component bar chart:

Year          Carrot.         Onion             Total

2001            40                30                  70

2002             30               20                  50

2003             30               40                  70

2004             20               40                  60

• Data presented in tables are usually arranged as (a) Charts and tables (b) Rows and columns (c) Graphs and rows (d) Pie chart

• The quantity of bananas consumed by the family (a) 60 (b) 120 (c) 200 (d) 240
• 4. The sum total of mangoes and oranges consumed by the family was (a) 200 (b)         360 (c) 400 (d)  520
• The quantity of carrots consumed by the family was (a) 200 (b) 360 (c) 400 (d) 520
• Which of the following tools of economics analysis is used when data contains more than one variable. (a) Graph (b) Symbolical statement (c) Bar chart (d) component bar chart

1.         (a).       Define i. graph ii. Chart  iii. table

            (b).       List four importance of a table?

2.         (a).       The daily sales of a department store for one week are as follows:

Present the above data in a bar charts (use a graph)

(b).       Mrs. Lumi purchased food stuffs as follows:

Meat                             N60

Green rice                     N40

Beans                     N50

Yam                          N70

Plantain.    N70

Present the above information on pie chart

DATA COLLECTION AND PRESENTATION

• Formulation of frequency table for ungrouped data
• Measures of central tendency:

FORMULATION OF FREQUENCY TABLE FOR UNGROUPED DATA

UNGROUPED DATA: Ungrouped data is one in which the raw data has occurrences or frequencies more than and are without class intervals. In the formulation of frequency table for ungrouped data, two basic steps are taken.

• Prepare a tally sheet.
• Prepare a frequency table.
• PREPARATION OF A TALLY SHEET: This is when the variables are taken one after the other with a stroke called tally. The tally of five makes a bundle i.e. lllll.

ii.         PREPARATION OF A FREQUENCY TABLE: The frequency table is simply obtained by adding the tallies together in a separate column referred to as frequency.

Example: The following are scores of thirty (30) students of SS 1 in an economics test.

2,         4,         8,         8,         2,         6,         6,         8,         2,         4

8,         0,         8,         6,         0,         10,       2,         2,         0,         10

4,         6,         0,         10,       2,         2,         6,         6,         4,         2

MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY

Measures of central tendency means are values which show the degree to which a given data or any given set of values will converge toward the central point of the data. It is also called measure of location and is the statistical information that gives the middle or centre or average of a set of data. It includes mean, median and mode.

Mean or arithmetic mean is defined as the sum of series of figures divided by the number of observations. It is the commonest and the most widely used among the other types of averages or measures of central tendency.

TYPES OF MEAN

1. The Arithmetic Mean

2. The Geometric Mean

3. The Quadratic Mean

Calculate the arithmetic mean of the following scores of eight students in an economics test. The scores are: 14, 18, 24, 16, 30, 12, 20, and 10.

Add up the scores

14+18+24+16+30+12+20+10 = 144

Number of observation (students) = 8

Arithmetic Mean =Sum of observations divided by Number of observations

                           =   144      = 18

                                   8

ADVANTAGES OF THE MEAN

1.         It is easy to derive or calculate.

2.         It is easy to interpret.

3.         It is the best known average.

4.         It has determinate exact value.

5.         It provides a good measure of comparison.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE MEAN

1.         It is difficult to determine without calculation.

2.         Some facts may be concealed.

3.         It cannot be obtained graphically.

4.         If one or more value is incorrect or missing, calculation becomes difficult.

5.         It may lead to distorted results.

• Define mean.
• What are the disadvantages of mean?

The median is an average which is the middle value when figures are arranged in their order of magnitude either in ascending or descending order, especially from ungrouped data.

Calculate the median of the following scores: 12, 8 15, 9, 3, 7, and 1

Step 1 :                 First arrange in order

                           1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 15

Step 2 :                Total frequency is 7, thus the middle number in the set is in the 4th position

Step 3:                 Median = 4th Position = 8

Find the median of this set of numbers; 36, 42, 10, 15, 9, 32 16 and 12.

Step 1 :             9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 32 36 and 42

Step 2 :             Total Frequency = 8

Step 3 :             Median = 4th and 5th Position

                                    = 4th + 5th      =  15 + 16

                                              2          

                                    =  31               = 15.5

                                         2

The following are scores of 20 students in an Economics test. What is the median Mark?

5          10        2          9          5          3          4          6          1          3

2          3          6          1          3          3          2          3          4          3

Median = f       = 70th + 11th              =  3 + 3           = 6      =  3

              x                    2                            2     2

ADVANTAGES OF THE MEDIAN

1.         It is easy to determine with little or no calculations

2.         It is easy to understand and compute

3.         It does not use all values in the distribution

4.         It gives a clean idea of the distribution

DISADVANTAGES OF THE MEDIAN

1.     It is not useful in further statistical calculation

2.     It ignores very large or small values

3.     It does not represent a true average of the set of data.

This is the most frequently recurring number in a set of numbers or data, that is to say, it is the number or value with the highest frequency. It tells us the observation which is most popular. The best and easiest way of calculating the mode of any distribution is to form a frequency table for it.

Using the frequency distribution of example 3 above, the mode is 3 because it has the highest frequency of six (6)

1.       It can be easily understood.

2.       It is not affected by extreme values.

3.       Easy to calculate from the graph.

4.       It is easy to determine.

1.       It can be a poor average.

2.       It can be difficult to compute if more than one mode exists.

3.       It is not useful in further statistical calculations.

4.      All the values used in the distribution are not considered.

• What is median?
• Write a short note on measures of central tendency.

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 28-33

Comprehensive Economics for SSS by J.V. Anyaele chapter 2 pg 61-70 , chapter 2 pg 48-50

REVISION/GENERAL EVALUATION

• Find the mean of the following set of numbers 14,11,12,13,11,14,12,20,24,21,22,23,20,11,13,23.
• Define the median.  State four advantages of median.
• Calculate the mean 18,14,14,15,13,18,19,19,19,21.
• What are the disadvantages of the mean.
• Define the mode.
• List three advantages of the mode
• A stroke of five (5) makes up a (a) frequency (b) tally (c) bond (d) bundle
• The measure of central tendency in which the sum of observations is divided by the number of observations is called……. (a) median (b) mean (c) mode (d) range
• A data with figures randomly given without any sort of arrangement is called…………. (a) array of data (b) rough data (c) treated data (d) raw data

Use the table below to solve the following questions

• The mean score is ________ (a) 4.34 (b) 3.34 (c) 3.43 (d) 4. 33
• The modal score is (a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) 5
• The median score is ___________ (a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4 (d) 5
• What are the advantages of median?
• List three disadvantages of mean.                                
• Meaning of Production
• Types (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary)
• Factors of Production and their Reward
• Factors that Determine Volume of Production

DEFINITION AND MEANING OF PRODUCTION

Production has diverse meaning, but the usage depends on the context in which it is used .

Production in economics may be defined as the various economic activities aimed at the creation of goods and services and the distribution of these goods to the final consumers for the satisfaction of human wants. That is, production is the making available of goods and services to those who are willing and able to pay for them for the satisfaction of their wants.

Production may equally be defined as the creation of utility while utility is the ability of a commodity or service to satisfy human wants. All goods and services produced must possess utility, which means that they must be capable of satisfying certain human wants.

In effect, economics is not concerned with whether something is good or bad . Its interest is in whether that thing is desired by someone who is prepared to pay for it. Production in economics is never complete until the goods and services produced gets to the final consumers.

TYPES OF GOODS

There are two basic type of goods

Consumers Goods : These are goods that have reached their consumable stage that is; they are ready for use by consumer without undergoing further process of production . They can be durable or non- durable goods.

• Durable goods have a life span usually more than one year and can be used over and over again e.g. radio , shoes , chairs , computer  etc.
• Non – Durable goods are perishable goods that are consumed almost immediately due to their precarious nature e.g. bread , yam, garri , apple etc.

Capital / Producer goods : These are goods which can be used to produce other goods and services . They include such goods as sewing,  machines, vehicles etc.

Other types of goods Includes

(a)        Non-Economic Goods/Free Goods : These goods are very useful to human existence and survival but not scarce, and thus cannot normally command a price. They are freely available in any quantity desirable to man since they are freely got from nature e.g. air, rain, and water sunshine etc.

(b)        Economic Goods : These are any goods that are useful or valuable and at the same time scarce in its available quantity and which command a price as people are prepared to pay to possess them. They can be utilized and priced according to value and volume.

• Define is production.

TYPES OF PRODUCTION

Production is basically divided into two – Direct and Indirect Production.

• Direct Production : This is the creation of goods and services to satisfy household requirements It is a small scale production to meet family needs.
• Indirect Production : It is production by specialization for exchange . That is the producer is not attempting to satisfy his own wants directly except to a very limited extent.

CLASSIFICATION OF PRODUCTION

• Primary Production
• Secondary production
• Tertiary Production

Primary Production :  This is the first stage of production which is concerned with the extraction of raw materials from land, air and sea. It includes amongst many others produce from agriculture such as animal husbandry, mining , quarrying , oil drilling , cola, crude oil etc.

Secondary Production : This is the processing and transformation of raw materials from primary production into finished goods .At this second stage of production, utility is added to the basic raw materials from primary production. Those in manufacturing  and construction industries are engaged in secondary production.

Tertiary Production : This is the last stage of production which is concerned with the commercial activities and rendering of both direct and indirect services. It is mainly concerned with the distribution of produced goods until they reach the final consumers. Examples are wholesalers, retailers , barbers , bakers , hairdressers, teachers, musicians, soldiers etc.

FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

These are agents of production which are combined in different proportions to achieve production of goods and services. These four factors are:

FACTORS OF PRODUCTION            REWARD

• Land                                         Rent
• Labour                                     Wages/salaries
• Capital                                      Interest
• Entrepreneurship                      Profit

FACTORS DETERMINING VOLUME OF PRODUCTION

• Availability of raw materials.

3.   Level of efficiency in management.

4.   Size of market.

5.   Efficiency of other factors of production.

6.   High level of technology.

7.   The nature of the product.

IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTION

• It helps to ensure availability of goods and services.
• It helps to improve standard of living of people.
• It helps to provide employment opportunities to people.
• It helps to enhance increment in people wealth.
• It helps to boost the country’s export potentials.
• It helps in the acquisition of skills.
• It helps to generate income for the government.
• Define Production.
• When is production said to be completed in economics?
• List the agents / factors of production and give their rewards.

Amplified and Simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe page 41-45

• Explain with examples the following type of production.

(a) Direct production    (b) indirect production

• Discuss three importance of production
• The reward for entrepreneurship is : a) Rent b) Wages  c) Interest d) Profit
• Which of the following is a reward to a factor of production  a) Interest b) Donation c) Gift d) Subsidy
• Land is a factor of production because it a) is a free gift of nature b) Contains valuable minerals resources c) assists in the creation of utility  d) is owned by individuals and governments
• Which of the following factors of production consists of man made goods a) Land b) Labour c) Capital d) Entrepreneur
• In economics production is completed when  a) goods are manufactured in the factories b) Commodities are sold to the final consumer c) Goods and services get to the retailer d) Producers fix the price of goods produced.
• Define Production
• List the agents / factors of production and give their rewards

LAND AS A FACTOR OF PRODUCTION

• Meaning of Land
• Characteristics of Land
• Importance of Land (contributions)
• Law of Diminishing Returns

LAND: This is nature`s contribution to production. As a free gift of nature and its reward is rent. Land is a free gift of nature which refers to all those resources that are purely provided by nature but are utilized by man during the production process. It includes all resources not made by man e.g. land, sea, river, animals, minerals resources, crude oil, gold, diamond etc. Land is said to be a passive factor for it is useless without the application of human effort

CHARACTERISTICS

• Land is a free gift of nature.
• It is geographically immobile.
• It is relatively indestructible.
• It has no production cost.
• It’s quality and value varies with its location.
• It is subject to the law of diminishing returns.

THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS

This law is also called the law of variable proportions and it states that as more and more units of a variable factor (LABOUR) are applied to one or more fixed factor (LAND), output might initially increase significantly but after a point increasing use of such variable factor will yield less than proportionate returns and output will begin to fall.

This Law is highly applicable to the agricultural and industrial sector of the economy in particular.

Law of Diminishing Returns Table

When one labour is employed to work in one hectare farm, 15 tons of yams are produced. As more and more labour is employed in every successive round of production, the total output continues to increase from 15 to 32 to 54 to72 and so on. But as the seventh (7 th ) labour is employed, there is a drop in production from 90 t0 84.

In like manner, the MP increases as more labour are employed up to the fourth (4 th ) labour where the MP drops to 18 from 24 and becomes negative at the seventh (7 th ) labour.

MERITS OF THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS

• It helps to enhance proper combination of factors of production.
• It helps the entrepreneur to change the scale of production through the variation of the quantities of all inputs.
• It ensures efficiency, productivity and high profitable level in production process.
• It helps to prevent waste of resources resulting to reduced and minimum cost of production.
• It helps a producer to know when to stop adding more variable factors into fixed factors to obtain maximum outputs.
• Define the law of diminishing returns.
• List five merits of the law of diminishing returns.

IMPORTANCE OF LAND TO ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

• Agricultural activities providing food for consumption and raw materials for industrial and exports takes place on land.
• It provides areas for forestry and wild life resources.
• It aids production because it is on it that firm, Individual and government  built factories , schools, hospitals roads etc.
• Different mineral resource such as crude oil, gold, coal, etc are derived from land.
• Bodies of water such as rivers, lakes and sea which are part of land are used for transportation purposes which aids foreign trade.
• It is the host of other factors of production  in bringing about meaningful productive activities.
• Amplified and simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe Chapter 4 Pages 43-44
• Comprehensive Economics for SSS By. J.U. Ampele Chapter 4 Pages 93 – 96
• Fundamentals of Economics for SSS By. R.A.I. Anyanwuocha Chapter 4 Pages 22 – 26

GENERAL REVISION

• Highlight the basic concept in Economics
• Outline at least five characteristics of science used by economics in its field.
• Why is Economics a science?
• State three career prospect for the study of economics.
• State the branches of Economics.
• Land is a factor of production because it( a) is a free gift of nature( b) contains valuable minerals resources (c) assists in the creation of utility  (d) is owned by individuals and governments
• The law of diminishing returns applies to…………….. (a) the average product (b) land as factor of production in the short run only (c) the cultivation of crops only (d) production of essential commodities in the long run
• The only factor of production that is a free gift of nature is…………. (a) capital (b) labour (c) land (d) entrepreneur
• …………… is subject to the law of diminishing returns (a) production (b) land (c) capital (d) labour
• The reward of land is………………(a) interest (b) salary (c) profit (d) rent
• Define land as a factor of production.
• Define the law of variable proportions.

LABOUR AS A FACTOR OF PRODUCTION

• Meaning of labour
• Characteristics of labour
• Types of labour
• Importance of labour
• Efficiency of labour

LABOUR may be defined as all forms of human efforts both mental and physical efforts put towards the production of goods and services. It is one of the variables factors of production cannot take place without the utilization of labour. The reward of labour is in the form of wages and salaries.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LABOURS

• It is supplied by human beings.
• It is highly mobile.
• It is variable and unpredictable.
• It cannot be stored.
• Its ownership and use cannot be separated.

TYPES OF LABOUR

There are three common types of labour:

• Unskilled Labour : These are workers with little or no education who use only their physical energy in carrying out their work . e.g. messengers , cleaners, gardeners e.t.c.
• Semi -Skilled Labour : This category of labour is between unskilled and skilled labour These are workers who have little education and training . They combined both physical and mental efforts in carrying out their work . e.g. typist , tailors , carpenters , drivers , clerks e.t.c.
• Skilled Labour : This category of workers make use of their mental effort in production. This labour has undergone a relatively long and specialized type of training in institutions of higher learning. They usually hold administrative and managerial positions, e.g  accountants, lawyers, teachers, engineers involves the use of mental effort (brain ) in carrying out production process.

IMPORTANCE OF LABOUR

• It provides the required skills needed for production activity.
• It influences other factors of production since without labour, capital and land will remain idle.
• It is required for the operation of machine in industry.
• It helps to produce goods and services.
• It is important for producing human effort  required needed in production of goods and services.
• Define labour as a factor of production.
• Mention three types of labour.

EFFICIENCY OF LABOUR

Efficiency of labour means the ability of a worker to increase his output per hour without any loss in the quantity and quality of the goods produced. That is, it is the measure of the level of productivity of a labour in terms of his optimum use of resources to produce goods within a given period of time without any loss in the quantity and quality of goods produced.

The major aim of all employers of labour is to get the maximum output from their workers, and to get this, efforts are therefore made to keep them happy. This is what is being done by various employers of labour both in the public and private enterprises to increase the efficiency of their employees.

FACTORS AFFECTING EFFICIENCY OF LABOUR

• Moderate increase in the wages and salaries of workers.
• Provision of social amenities such as medical services, pipe-bone water, recreational facilities, electricity, canteen, etc.
• Provision of better condition of services.
• Improvement in the working condition of workers.
• Efficiency of other factors of production.
• Level of educational attainment and training.
• Improvement in the level of technological development.
• Granting of encouragement in terms of incentives to workers.
• What is efficiency of labour?
• Highlight factors affecting efficiency of labour.

Amplified and simplified Economics for SSS by Femi Longe Chapter 4 Pages 45- 49

Fundamentals of economics by R.A.I Anyanwuocha Chapter 4 Pages 25 – 26 Chapter 12 Pages 102 – 105

• Differentiate between labour as a factor of production and land.
• What is meant by the term production?
• What are the contributions of land to economic activities in Nigeria?
• Itemize the names of five renowned economists.
• The category of workers without formal education and training but have the      knowledge  and participate in production is………. (a) unskilled labour  (b) skilled labour (c) semi-skilled labour (d) untrained labour
• The factor of production with the highest degree of mobility is……….. (a) capital (b) entrepreneur (c) land (d) labour
• The reward accrued to labour for its participation in production is………….(a) interest (b) wages (c) bonus (d) profit
• The ability to increase output at its best quality within a given time frame is referred to as…………(a) supply of labour (b) mobility of labour (c) efficiency of labour (d) demand for labour
• The unskilled labour is the category of workers who engage in………… (a) white – collar job (b) yellow – collar job (c) brown – collar job (d) blue – collar job
• What will a producer of goods and services do to improve the efficiency of his workers?
• Briefly outline the uniqueness of labour as a factor of production.

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HSC 2022 Economics Assignment Answer Class 11 2021(1st & 2nd Week)

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এইচএসসি অর্থনীতি এসাইনমেন্ট উত্তর ১ম সপ্তাহ

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Inflation and consumer spending updates ahead: What to know this week

Stocks rallied during a quiet week for economic data on Wall Street. 

The Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC ) rose just under 1% while the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) popped almost 2%. The S&P 500 ended Friday back above 5,200 for the first time since early April. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI ) rose more than 2% on the week and has closed higher for eight straight sessions.

In the week ahead, a crucial April inflation reading and an update on retail sales will highlight the economic calendar. Initial jobless claims will also be in focus after the weekly data set hit a surprise nine-month high in the first week of May.

On the corporate side, Walmart ( WMT ), Home Depot ( HD ), and Alibaba ( BABA ) lead a quieter week of quarterly reports as earnings season slows down. 

Price check

Stickier-than-expected inflation reports headlined the first quarter of economic data, prompting investors to scale back expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2024. 

On Wednesday, investors will get their first look at whether this trend continued into the second quarter with the release of the April Consumer Price Index (CPI). Wall Street expects an annual gain of 3.4% for headline CPI, which includes the price of food and energy, a decrease from the 3.5% headline number in March. Prices are set to rise 0.4% on a month-over-month basis, in line with March's rise. 

On a "core" basis, which strips out the food and energy prices, inflation is expected to have risen 3.6% year over year, a slowdown from the 3.8% increase seen in March. Monthly core price increases are expected to clock in at 0.3%, down from 0.4% in the prior month. 

Morgan Stanley's economics team led by Ellen Zentner wrote in a research note that it believes inflation's descent "begins" with the April CPI report, led by easing price pressures in car insurance, rent, and healthcare. This, Zentner's team argues, could keep three Fed interest rate cuts on the table this year. 

"Weaker monthly prints ahead with faster disinflation starting in [the second half of 2024] provides the Fed the confidence it needs that inflation is on a sustained path toward target," the Morgan Stanley team wrote. 

This would likely be a welcome sign for markets, according to Fundstrat's head of research Tom Lee. 

"We think April CPI could push higher the number of Fed cuts [priced into the market]," Lee wrote in a note to clients on Friday. This, Lee said, would be a "positive for stocks."

Entering the week, markets are currently pricing in less than two interest rate cuts this year, per Bloomberg Data. 

Retail reading 

With the Fed holding interest rates high for longer, economists continue to watch closely for any signs that the resilience in consumer spending is dwindling.

A fresh reading on that trend is set to greet investors on Wednesday with the April retail sales report. Economists expect that retail sales increased 0.4% in April from the prior month, down from a 0.7% increase seen in March. 

Investors will also be closely watching results from Home Depot (Tuesday) and Walmart (Thursday) for signs of how the US consumer is holding up. Thus far, results from corporates have provided mixed results on how Americans are spending. 

"Spending data have continued to surprise to the upside, but we get the sense households are increasingly prioritizing purchases," Wells Fargo's team of economists wrote in a weekly research note. "Although volatile, non-discretionary categories have outpaced discretionary on trend for the past year. Industry comments included in Q1 earnings releases also emphasized a consumer trading down in search for value."

Earnings update

With 92% of the S&P 500 done reporting first quarter earnings, the index is pacing for its highest year-over-year earnings growth since the second quarter of 2022. As of Friday afternoon the S&P 500 is on pace for earnings growth of 5.4% in the first quarter, notably above the 3.2% expected entering bank earnings in early April.

FactSet senior earnings analyst John Butters points out that the index is actually doing even better when removing a massive earnings miss from just one company. Bristol-Meyers Squibb ( BMY ) reported a first quarter loss , dragging down the S&P 500's total performance this quarter. Excluding the healthcare company, the S&P 500 is pacing for 8.3% growth, per Butters. 

Stocks aren't cheering hot data 

Since inflation began spiking in 2021, the stock market has gone through fits and starts in how it reacts to economic data. And that's carried on in 2024. 

In a weekly note to clients, Citi US equity strategist Scott Chronert examined how stocks are reacting to hotter-than-expected economic data. Investors started the year cheering the data as they priced in a "soft landing" for the US economy, where inflation would return to the Fed's 2% target without an economic downturn. At that time, the S&P 500 moved higher with Citi's Economic Surprise Index, which gauges whether data is coming in better than consensus expectations. 

But after recent hot inflation data, markets have been more skittish as investors have increasingly priced in "no landing," where inflation doesn't come down to the Fed's target but the economy keeps growing.

This had led to the market perceiving good economic news to be bad news for inflation, and therefore bad for the market's rate cut hopes. Subsequently, the correlation between the S&P 500 and economic surprise has headed toward negative territory.

"This suggests hot macro data has increasingly threatened the soft landing narrative that may be needed to push markets higher from these elevated valuation levels," Chronert wrote. 

If inflation data returns to showing further cooling, the question is whether good economic growth news will be once again welcome by the market. 

Weekly calendar

Economic data: New York Fed one-year inflation expectations, April (3% previously)

Earnings: BuzzFeed ( BZFD ), Petrobras ( PBR ), Stone ( STNE ), Tencent Music Entertainment ( TME )

Economic data: NFIB Small Business Optimism, April (88.2 expected, 88.5 previously); Producer Price Index, month-over-month, April (+0.3% expected, +0.2% previously); PPI, year-over-year, April (+2.2% expected, 2.1% previously)

Earnings: Alibaba ( BABA ), Home Depot ( HD ), Canoo ( GOEV ), Rumble ( RUM ), Sony ( SONY ), 

Economic data: Consumer Price Index, month-over-month, April (+0.4% expected, +0.4% previously); Core CPI, month-over-month, April (+0.3% expected, +0.4% previously); CPI, year-over-year, April (+3.4% expected, +3.5% previously); Core CPI, year-over-year, April (+3.6% expected, +3.8% previously); Real average hourly earnings, year-over-year, April (+0.6% previously); MBA Mortgage Applications, week ending May 10 (+2.6%); Retail sales, month-over-month, April (+0.4%% expected, +0.7% previously); Retail sales ex auto and gas, April (+0.1% expected, +1% previously); NAHB housing market index, May (51 expected, 51 previously)

Earnings: Cisco ( CSCO ), Dole ( DOLE ), Monday.com ( MNDY ), Super League ( SLE )

Economic data: Initial jobless claims, week ending May 11 (233,000 previously); Housing starts month-over-month, April (8.6% expected, -14.7% prior); Building permits month-over-month, April (+1.6% expected, -3.7% prior); Philadelphia Business Outlook, May (8.7 expected, 15.5 prior); Import prices, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.4% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.3% previously); Industrial production, month-over-month, April (+0.2% expected, +0.4% previously)

Earnings: Walmart ( WMT ), Applied Materials ( AMAT ), Baidu ( BIDU ), JD.com ( JD ), John Deere ( DE ), Take-Two Interactive ( TTWO ), Under Armour ( UAA )

Economic data: Leading index, April (-0.2% expected, -0.3% previously)

Earnings: No notable earnings. 

Josh Schafer is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X @_joshschafer .

Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices .

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China Rules the Green Economy. Here’s Why That’s a Problem for Biden.

Beijing’s dominance raises economic and security concerns, and tensions will be high as top climate diplomats meet this week.

By Somini Sengupta

Somini Sengupta reported on global diplomacy for The Times before joining the Climate Desk.

The world’s two most powerful countries, the United States and China, are meeting this week in Washington to talk about climate change. And also their relationship issues.

In an ideal world, where the clean energy transition was the top priority, they would be on friendlier terms. Maybe affordable Chinese-made electric vehicles would be widely sold in America, instead of being viewed as an economic threat. Or there would be less need to dig a lithium mine at an environmentally sensitive site in Nevada, because lithium, which is essential for batteries, could be bought worry-free from China, which controls the world’s supply.

Instead, in the not-ideal real world, the United States is balancing two competing goals. The Biden administration wants to cut planet-warming emissions by encouraging people to buy things like EVs and solar panels, but it also wants people to buy American, not Chinese. Its concern is that Chinese dominance of the global market for these essential technologies would harm the U.S. economy and national security.

Those competing goals will be at the center of talks on Wednesday and Thursday as the Biden Administration’s top climate envoy, John Podesta, meets for the first time with his counterpart from Beijing, Liu Zhenmin, in Washington.

Trade tensions are likely to loom over their meetings.

The flood of Chinese exports, particularly in solar panels and other green-energy technology, has become a real sore spot for the Biden administration as it tries to spur the same industries on American soil. Mr. Podesta has sharply criticized China for having “distorted the global market for clean energy products like solar, batteries and critical minerals.”

Not only that, he has set up a task force to explore how to limit imports from countries that have high carbon footprints, a practice that he called “carbon dumping.” That was considered a veiled reference to China.

It remains unclear whether the Biden administration would impose a fee on products imported from high-emissions countries. The idea has been embraced by a handful of influential Republican lawmakers as a way to protect American manufacturers from Chinese competition.

China, for its part, has complained to the World Trade Organization about U.S. green subsidies. Mr. Podesta has called that complaint “beyond ironic” since the Chinese government has invested heavily in its own manufacturing sector.

Mr. Liu has said that, without Chinese technology, clean energy costs would rise, and that would slow down the global pivot away from the burning of fossil fuels, the main producer of the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet. “We need to maintain low costs, otherwise nobody is going to be able to afford the energy transition,” he told Bloomberg recently.

Both men are new to their current jobs, but hardly novices. Mr. Podesta was in charge of the climate-law rollout before he took on the global role, following the retirement of John F. Kerry. Mr. Liu is a longtime diplomat who served as a United Nations official before becoming President Xi Jinping’s top climate envoy.

The United States isn’t alone in warning against the flood of Chinese green goods.

The European Union is investigating whether Chinese-made electric vehicles have benefited from unfair subsidies, and Mr. Xi got an earful on a visit to Paris this week when the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said at a news conference on Monday that Europe “cannot absorb massive overproduction of Chinese industrial goods flooding its market.”

China dominates the production of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and electric cars and buses, and also processes most of the minerals that go into clean energy technologies. And Chinese companies have found workarounds to trade barriers in the West , including by sending products through indirect routes that avoid tariffs on goods that come directly from China.

That presents an acute dilemma for the Biden administration. It has staked its global reputation on an ambitious climate agenda, aiming to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared with 2005 levels. It’s also trying to build, practically from scratch, a domestic renewable energy industry.

Competing with China on low-carbon manufacturing at this point is a losing battle, said Li Shuo, who heads the China climate hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington. “It is hard to see how the U.S. will build a whole solar supply chain in time to respond to climate change, or how solar products made in the U.S. could ever be cost-competitive,” he said. It is not “the fight the U.S. should pick, nor one that it can win.”

This new great power rivalry presents two risks for the United States. Shunning a rival’s factories too much can raise costs and slow down the clean energy transition. But relying too much on a rival country’s factories raises national security concerns and can jeopardize American industries and jobs.

For instance, a flood of cheap Chinese cars would threaten the U.S. auto industry and a large, unionized and politically influential base of autoworkers. (President Biden wooed them openly by walking their picket line during a recent strike.)

Beyond trade, Beijing and Washington are at odds over many things, including the status of Taiwan, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and, not least, fundamental differences over the value of democracy.

“In a world free from geopolitics, if China wanted to supply the world with cheap and plentiful clean energy inputs, from solar panels to critical minerals, it would benefit us all by enabling the fastest energy transition possible,” said Meghan O’Sullivan, who directs the Geopolitics of Energy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. “But in the real world, the security imperative not to be overly dependent on China is leading countries, from the United States to India, to duplicate supply chains in solar and critical minerals, which can slow down the energy transition and make it more expensive.”

The outcry against Chinese exports comes at a time when politicians in this country face a challenge that’s foreign to politicians in China: elections.

In his re-election bid, Mr. Biden has highlighted his administration’s renewable energy investments. He has made it a point to visit new factories supported by government incentives, a clear effort to signal to voters his efforts to revive American manufacturing.

Clean energy investments have surged since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. It began to unlock $370 billion in incentives to speed the nation’s transition away from fossil fuels, with expanded tax breaks for battery production and solar-panel manufacturing. That, along with the Chips and Science Act, which set aside $39 billion in incentives for chip producers to invest in the United States, was aimed squarely at reducing dependence on China while bolstering U.S. manufacturing.

An analysis published on Tuesday by the private research group E2 found that 300 renewable energy projects had been announced since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. More than half were in Republican-controlled states.

Lisa Friedman contributed reporting.

Somini Sengupta is the international climate reporter on the Times climate team. More about Somini Sengupta

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News updates from May 10: US says Israel’s use of its arms may have violated humanitarian law; Jim Simons dies

Today’s top headlines:

US says Israel’s use of American arms may have violated humanitarian law

Jim Simons, billionaire founder of quant fund Renaissance, dies

ECB policymakers say June cut is ‘plausible’

Uk exits recession with 0.6% first-quarter growth, us consumer sentiment falls to six-month low.

• News updates from May 10: US says Israel’s use of its arms may have violated humanitarian law; Jim Simons dies on x (opens in a new window)
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Edited by Jaren Kerr , Alexandra White , Peter Wells , Zehra Munir , Emily Herbert , Maxine Kelly , Jonathan Wheatley and William Sandlund

Felicia Schwartz in Washington

Israel may have used US-made weapons in ways that violate humanitarian rights, according to a state department study that stopped short of formally accusing the Jewish state of breaking international law.

The declassified study sent to Congress found that because of the Israeli military’s heavy reliance on US-made weaponry, it was “reasonable to assess” that American munitions have been used in the Gaza war in ways “inconsistent with [international humanitarian law] or with established practices for mitigating civilian harm”.

The state department assessment of Israel and six other countries engaged in armed conflicts was mandated by President Joe Biden, who in February 2023 issued a directive aimed at imposing stricter oversight on US weapons transfers.

Read more here

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Jennifer Hughes in New York

Chinese EV maker Zeekr pops 34% on IPO debut

Shares in electric vehicle maker Zeekr Intelligent Technologies jumped by more than one-third on their New York debut on Friday in the biggest US listing by a Chinese company in almost three years.

Zeekr, controlled by Volvo owner Geely, sold shares worth $441mn in an initial public offering, two-thirds of which was bought by Geely units and existing investors. Demand for the shares not already spoken for allowed Zeekr to increase its deal from $367mn and to price at $21, the top of its range.

The company’s New York Stock Exchange-listed shares closed 34.6 per cent higher to $28.26. On average, IPOs of roughly this size have risen 29 per cent on their debut this year, according to Dealogic data.

A flood of Chinese companies seeking funds from US listings was abruptly cut off in 2021 after ride-hailing group DiDi floated amid investor acclaim, only to suffer a harsh Chinese regulatory crackdown within days.

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US stocks notch first three-week win streak since February

Wall Street blue-chips have managed their first three-week positive run higher in three months, while the S&P 500 made minor gains on Friday after consumer data suggested a weakening mood with renewed fears over inflation.

The S&P 500 closed 0.2 per cent higher, up 1.9 per cent this week, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended flat for a rise of 1.1 per cent since Monday morning.

An early upbeat mood was dented after figures from the University of Michigan’s preliminary May survey showed overall sentiment at a six-month low, but at a six-month high for expected inflation, prompting some worry about the potential for stagflation.

Yields on interest-rate sensitive two-year Treasuries rose to 4.87 per cent in response, up 0.06 percentage points on the day.

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US stocks struggle for direction as consumer sentiment slips

Wall Street stocks struggled to make headway on Friday as a sentiment survey suggested consumers’ mood was weakening while inflation expectations were rising. 

The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite were both broadly flat by mid-afternoon in New York, although still on course for their first three-week run of gains in three months. 

Data from the University of Michigan’s preliminary May sentiment report showed overall sentiment at a six-month low, but a six-month high for expected inflation, prompting concerns about the potential for stagflation.  

Yields on interest-rate sensitive two-year Treasuries rose to 4.86 per cent in response, up 0.07 percentage points on the day. 

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Rafe Uddin in London

UK and European stocks close at peaks as British economy exits recession

UK and European stocks closed again closed at record highs, with the former helped by signs of green shoots in the British economy.

London’s FTSE 100 closed 0.6 per cent higher on Friday, helped by data showing that the UK has recovered from a technical recession, as the economy expanded by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter.

The region-wide Stoxx 600 ended trading 0.8 per cent higher, extending a run this week that has been spurred by rising expectations the European Central Bank could soon cut interest rates as well as stronger than expected earnings for financial services companies.

Germany’s Dax rose 0.5 per cent, France’s Cac 40 added 0.4 per cent.

European indices’ performance year-to-date

Stoxx Europe 600

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Peter Wells in New York

Jim Simons, billionaire founder of quant fund Renaissance Technologies, dies

Jim Simons, the billionaire founder of hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, has died, aged 86.

A trained mathematician, Simons worked as a Cold War codebreaker for the National Security Agency during the mid-1960s, before shifting to Stony Brook University later in the decade where he chaired the maths department at the New York-based school.

Leaning on his mathematical expertise, Simons in 1978 founded what would go on to become Renaissance Technologies, which pioneered quantitative trading strategies.

Simons stepped back from his role as co-chair of the fund in early 2021 and from his family’s Simons Foundation, which sponsors research in mathematics and the basic sciences.

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Markets update: US stocks on track to hit third straight week of gains

US stocks rose slightly in early trading on Friday, putting them on track to notch a third straight week of gains for the first time since February, as traders looked ahead to potential interest rate cuts.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent and edged closer to an all-time high shortly after the New York opening bell, with financials and industrials among the best-performing stocks. The tech-dominated Nasdaq Composite also rose 0.3 per cent.

In a quiet week for major economic news, US investors will turn their gaze to the latest consumer price index reading, due next week, to gauge whether the Fed will move towards a more dovish position in pursuit of its 2 per cent inflation target. 

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Alexandra White in New York

A measure of US consumer sentiment has unexpectedly fallen to its lowest level since November as more Americans expect inflation, unemployment and interest rates to become “unfavourable” in the year ahead. 

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index registered a preliminary reading of 67.4 in May, its lowest since November, falling far short of the 76 expected by economists and April’s reading of 77.2.  

“While consumers had been reserving judgment for the past few months, they now perceive negative developments on a number of dimensions,” said Joanne Hsu, University of Michigan’s survey of consumers director. 

Inflation expectations for the year ahead rose from 3.2 per cent last month to 3.5 per cent.

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Samuel Agini in London

Everton bidder 777 calls in restructuring experts

Everton Football Club’s suitor 777 Partners has called in turnaround and crisis management experts, as the investment firm wrestles with accusations of fraud and the unravelling of the reinsurance financing that underpinned many of its acquisitions.

The Miami-based group has appointed a team from B Riley Advisory Services to assist with “various operational challenges”, according to a 777 memo reviewed by the Financial Times. “We have retained a team of professionals from B Riley Advisory Services (a division of B Riley Financial) to assist with managing through various operational challenges,” the memo said.

It added that 777 is working to “rationalise” the business and “select the most profitable path forward for our investments”.

Read more here .

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Martin Arnold in Frankfurt

European Central Bank policymakers believed they were close to cutting interest rates when they met last month, but most thought they should wait to see if escalating geopolitical tensions could cause a fresh surge in inflation.

Rate-setters thought it was “plausible” they would be “in a position to start easing monetary policy restriction at their June 6 meeting” if data continued to show inflation falling, according to the minutes of last month’s meeting.

There were “a few” members of the governing council who argued in favour of cutting rates at last month’s meeting, citing the risk of inflation “undershooting” the bank’s 2 per cent target. 

But most wanted to wait until June for “further evidence” of whether the disinflation process would continue or be derailed by “a possible escalation of geopolitical tensions”.

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Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv and Ben Hall in London

Russia launches assault on Kharkiv in northern Ukraine

Russian forces launched an armoured attack on Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region on Friday as Moscow seeks to take advantage of its superior weaponry and manpower before the arrival of US military aid.

The defence ministry in Kyiv said Russian armoured units attempted to break through Ukrainian defensive lines in the early morning after conducting artillery and air strikes around the city of Vovchansk.

“As of now, these attacks have been repelled; battles of varying intensity continue,” the ministry said on X. “Reserve units have been deployed to strengthen the defence in this area of the front. The Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to hold back the enemy’s offensive.”

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Mari Novik in London

Jaguar Land Rover posts biggest profit in 9 years

Jaguar Land Rover posted its biggest profit in nine years as global demand surged for its luxury vehicles, led by the Range Rover and Defender brands. 

Sales of the company’s Range Rover SV more than doubled, with 4,099 units sold in its fiscal year of 2024. Revenues for the 12 months to March were £29.0bn — JLR’s highest-ever full-year revenue and up 27 per cent compared with the year before.

Pre-tax profit hit £2.2bn in the full year, the highest since 2015. This comes after a difficult post-pandemic period for the company, with heavy losses due to production issues and chip shortages.

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Markets update: European stocks push higher on strong earnings

European stocks were marching upwards in early afternoon trading on Friday as strong earnings pushed indices to fresh highs.

The region-wide Stoxx 600 gained 0.8 per cent in early afternoon trading on Friday, while France’s Cac 40 added 0.7 per cent and Germany’s Dax climbed 0.5 per cent.

In a note to clients, Barclays said that companies’ tone on outlook had improved. “This has translated into better earnings momentum,” it said. 

London’s FTSE 100 continued to hit record highs, up 0.7 per cent. This followed data showing that the UK had rebounded slightly from a technical recession, with the economy growing by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter. 

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Oliver Barnes in New York

Novavax shares surge in pre-market trading on Sanofi licensing deal

Shares in Novavax more than doubled in pre-market trading on Friday after the struggling US maker of Covid-19 vaccines struck a licensing deal worth up to $1.2bn with Sanofi, one of the world’s largest vaccine makers by sales.

Under the deal, Sanofi will commercialise Novavax’s coronavirus jab and use its technology to develop its own combined shot with flu.

Novavax’s US-listed shares were trading at $10.31 before the New York open, a rise of more than 130 per cent, giving it a market value of about $1.4bn. Sanofi’s Paris-listed shares were up 0.6 per cent, with a market value of about €118bn.

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Moderna’s second vaccine hit by approval delay

A long-awaited approval decision on Moderna’s second commercial product after its Covid-19 jab has been delayed by several weeks, the US biotech said on Friday. 

The US Food and Drug Administration originally planned to have concluded the approval decision for Moderna’s respiratory syncytial virus vaccine by May 12 but the decision has been delayed to the end of the month. 

Moderna is also awaiting a decision from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee later this month, which is key to guarantee the widespread distribution of the jab.

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Gloria Li in Hong Kong

Tesla’s China market share shrinks in April

Tesla lost ground to local electric vehicle brands in April, latest data showed, as the US company grapples with heated competition and waits for full approval to sell its self-driving software in the world’s largest EV market.

Tesla’s market share in China dropped 2.6 percentage points from a year earlier to 4 per cent in April, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

The EV maker’s April sales volume in China declined 21 per cent year on year to 31,421 units, compared with a 28 per cent rise in the country’s overall EV sales.

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What to watch in North America today

US consumer sentiment : The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index is forecast to report a preliminary reading of 76 in May, down from 77.2 in April.

Fedspeak : Federal Reserve governor Michelle Bowman will deliver a speech about financial stability risks before the Texas Bankers Association Annual Convention. Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee will participate in a question-and-answer-session at the Economic Club of Minnesota.

Canada employment : The economy is forecast to have added 18,000 jobs last month, up from a loss of 2,200 jobs in March. The unemployment rate is expected to have ticked up to 6.2 per cent.

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Emily Herbert in London

Risers and fallers in Europe

Big share price moves in Europe today include Italian transport manufacturer Iveco Group, Swedish medical tech company Getinge, and British real estate portal Rightmove:

Iveco Group : Shares in the Italian truck and bus maker advanced 6.8 per cent after it reported strong results for the first quarter of 2024, beating analysts’ expectations. Adjusted net income doubled compared with the same quarter last year, rising to €153mn. 

Getinge: The Swedish medical technology company opened 8.7 per cent down this morning in its first trading session since the US Food and Drug Administration urged providers to move away from the company’s heart devices following a string of recalls for safety and quality concerns. 

Rightmove : Shares in the UK housing portal slipped 5 per cent after it cut its forecast for average revenue per advertiser from £100-£110 to £75-£85. Rightmove nevertheless provided a positive outlook for the UK property market and left its revenue and profit guidance unchanged.

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Difficult decisions are paying off, says Jeremy Hunt as UK exits recession

Chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt said the UK’s above-expected GDP growth of 0.6 per cent was “encouraging” and showed the government needed to stick with its policies. 

He told Sky News that Friday’s growth figures , alongside the Bank of England’s improved outlook for inflation issued on Thursday, would mean that “for families who’s been having a really tough time, this is an indication that difficult decisions that we’ve taken over recent years are beginning to pay off and we need to stick with them”.

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George Steer in London

UK stocks rally on surprise economic growth

London’s main bourse hit fresh highs on Friday after data showed the UK economy expanded 0.6 per cent in the first quarter, surprising economists and denting the case for an interest rate cut in June .

The FTSE 100 added 0.5 per cent in early trading on Friday, rising to a record high. The mid-cap FTSE 250 gained 0.3 per cent.

Sterling strengthened 0.1 per cent against the dollar to $1.2535 after Office for National Statistics figures showed the UK economy grew at a faster pace than the US and Eurozone in the first three months of the year. 

European stocks also rose, with the region-wide Stoxx 600 up 0.5 per cent. France’s Cac 40 added 0.4 per cent as did Germany’s Dax.

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Barney Jopson in Madrid

Sabadell accuses BBVA of breaking takeover law as deal battle intensifies

Banco Sabadell has accused its rival BBVA of breaking Spanish takeover law in an escalation of tensions between the two banks at the centre of a deal battle.

Sabadell, the target of a hostile takeover bid by BBVA, filed a statement with regulators on Thursday saying the larger bank “violated” takeover law by providing “incomplete data” in a call with analysts earlier in the day.

On Monday, Sabadell rebuffed a friendly approach from BBVA, which responded by going hostile and pitching the same bid directly to Sabadell shareholders. It originally valued the Catalan bank at €12bn.

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Philip Georgiadis in London

British Airways owner IAG profits from rebound in holiday and business travel

Winter holidaymakers flying to the Caribbean and a recovery in business travel helped British Airways owner International Airlines Group report a rise in first-quarter profit as it forecast another strong summer for the airline industry.

The company, which also owns airlines including Spain’s Iberia and Ireland’s Aer Lingus, reported operating profit before exceptional items of €68mn in the first three months of the year, beating analysts’ expectations and up from €9mn a year earlier.

IAG said it had increased flights to “the strongly growing” Latin America and Caribbean region as leisure travel demand “remains strong”, and noted that corporate travel “continues to recover”.

“We are well-positioned for the summer. The high demand for travel is a continuing trend,” said chief executive Luis Gallego.

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Valentina Romei in London

The UK economy has exited last year’s technical recession with above expectations growth of 0.6 per cent for the first quarter, providing welcome economic news for Rishi Sunak ahead of the election expected this year.

Friday’s Office for National Statistics figure for quarter-on-quarter growth compared with the 0.4 per cent forecast by both the Bank of England and economists polled by Reuters. 

It also marked a recovery from the technical recession of the second half of 2023, when output fell for two consecutive quarters.

The figure is set to be welcomed by Sunak, who has made economic growth a signature pledge. The prime minister’s Conservatives trail Labour by roughly 20 points in opinion polls.

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Mercedes Ruehl in Singapore

Founder of collapsed Singaporean oil trading firm convicted of cheating

The founder of Hin Leong Trading has been convicted of cheating HSBC and abetting forgery after a lengthy trial in Singapore, drawing a line under an oil dealing scandal that left banks facing hundreds of millions of dollars in potential losses.

Lim Oon Kuin was found guilty of three charges involving a total of $111.7mn which included two for cheating HSBC and another for instigating a Hin Leong employee to forge a false document. 

The 82-year-old was one of Singapore’s wealthiest businessmen before his empire collapsed in 2020 as oil prices tumbled. He was first charged in 2020 after confessing to hiding $800mn in losses at the oil trading firm he founded.

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William Sandlund in Hong Kong

Markets update: Hong Kong equities surge while oil edges up

Hong Kong equities extended a weekslong rally on Friday, with the city’s benchmark Hang Seng index surging 2.4 per cent.

The Hang Seng Mainland Properties index, which includes large Chinese developers, rose 3.9 per cent. On Thursday, the Chinese cities of Hangzhou and Xi’an scrapped restrictions on buying properties that had been put in place to deter speculation.

Futures for Brent crude, the global benchmark, edged up 0.7 per cent to $84.44 per barrel amid heightened tension in the Middle East after Israel struck a defiant tone over US objections to an invasion of Rafah.

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Oliver Ralph in London

What to watch in Europe today

Eurozone economy: The European Central Bank will publish the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting which took place in April. At the time, the ECB sent a strong signal that it could consider rate cuts at its next meeting in June.

UK: The Office for National Statistics will release its latest figures on UK GDP. Economists polled by Reuters expect the economy to have grown by 0.1 per cent in March.

International Airlines Group: The London-listed owner of British Airways will report results for the first quarter of the year; its shares are up by 17 per cent in the year to date.

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Markets update: HKEX shares rise on plan to create Saudi Arabia ETF

Hong Kong equities rose on Friday, with the city’s bourse operator leading gains after the announcement of a plan to create a Hong Kong-themed exchange traded fund in Saudi Arabia.

Hong Kong’s financial secretary Paul Chan on Thursday said the city was working on an ETF tracking Hong Kong equities that would be listed on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index rose 1.4 per cent on Friday. Shares in Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, the company that runs the city’s stock exchange, rose as much as 8.2 per cent.

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Singapore’s OCBC makes $1bn offer to take insurer Great Eastern private

The Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Singapore’s second-largest lender, has made an offer to fully acquire its life insurance subsidiary Great Eastern Holdings.

OCBC said on Friday it had made an unconditional S$1.4bn (US$1bn) offer to buy the rest of Great Eastern’s shares at a 37 per cent premium.

The company said the take-private offer was “in line with OCBC’s strategy to solidify its wealth management leadership position to drive growth by capturing rising Asian wealth”.

OCBC on Friday reported first-quarter net income of S$2bn, a new quarterly record and a 5 per cent increase from the previous year. Shares rose 1.8 per cent after the report.

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What to watch in Asia today

Events: Iran holds run-off parliamentary elections. Indonesian markets are closed for the ascension of Jesus Christ holiday.

Economic data: Japan publishes its current account balance for March, while Malaysia and India have industrial production data for the same month.

Earnings: India’s Tata Motors, Japan’s Honda Motor, Tokyo Electron and Singaporean bank OCBC report results.

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Jaren Kerr in New York

S&P 500 closes at 5-week high on rate cut hopes

The S&P 500 climbed to its highest level in a month as traders had higher hopes for rate cuts after the publication of soft labour market data.

The benchmark index rose 0.5 per cent on Thursday, its highest since April 1, as 82 per cent of its participants rose in the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3 per cent as four “Magnificent Seven” stocks made gains. Tesla and Nvidia notched three-day losing streaks.

The small cap-focused Russell 2000 also finished at its highest level in a month after closing 0.9 per cent higher.

The advance mirrored moves on the other side of the Atlantic, where stocks in the UK and Europe rose as the Bank of England stirred hopes it could loosen monetary policy this summer if inflation stays low.

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Jamie Smyth in New York

BP interested in acquiring Tesla supercharger sites in the US

BP is interested in acquiring available Tesla supercharger sites in the US following Elon Musk’s decision to scale back growth of the electric-vehicle maker’s charging network.

“We are aggressively looking to acquire real estate to scale our network, which is a heightened focus following the recent Tesla announcement,” BP said in a statement.

BP Pulse, the company’s EV charging division, plans to work with real estate owners with potential Tesla supercharger development deals to secure available sites to meet its expansion goals. Last week Tesla laid off most of its supercharger division in response to falling revenues at the EV company.

BP’s interest in Tesla supercharger sites was first reported by Bloomberg.

BP has committed to invest $1bn in the US’s EV charging infrastructure by 2030, with $500mn of that in the next two to three years to deliver 3,000 charge points.

Tesla operates more than 57,000 superchargers at more than 6,200 locations globally.

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Shares of video game maker Roblox plunge after outlook cut

Shares in Roblox, one of the biggest video game developers in the world, plunged more than one-fifth after the company issued a weaker than expected revenue and bookings outlook this quarter, in a further sign of the slowdown afflicting the industry.

Roblox, which had a market capitalisation of $25bn at Wednesday’s close, is best known for its eponymous platform that allows users to create and play their own games. Player spending on in-game transactions has come under pressure in a challenging consumer environment.

Shares were down about 22 per cent in Thursday afternoon trading after its projected ranges for bookings of $870mn to $900mn and revenue between $855mn and $880mn in the current quarter undershot analysts’ forecasts.

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Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu in London

UK government approves Vodafone-Three merger

The UK government has under the National Security and Investment Act cleared the planned merger between telecoms operators CK Hutchison-owned Three UK and Vodafone’s domestic business with conditions.

The Cabinet Office in a “final order” said the secretary of state had approved the proposal subject to conditions, including the establishment of a national security committee within the combined entity to “oversee sensitive work”.

The UK competition watchdog last month formally referred the planned tie-up to a more in-depth investigation .

The companies in a joint statement said they were “pleased” the proposal had been approved by the government and were “continuing to engage collaboratively with the Competition and Markets Authority” on its ongoing review.

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