Quibans 95: The 50p at 50

From the Guardian.

50p at 50: how Britons' living costs have changed since 1969

The 50p coin entered circulation on 14 October 1969, in the run-up to D-Day on 15 February 1971, when the UK finally abandoned shillings and pence and moved to a decimal currency.

The 50p coin was worth a lot then – indeed, more than any coin in circulation now. In real terms it was worth the equivalent of just over £8. Fifty years on, especially after rampaging inflation in the 1970s, the 50p is a shadow of its former self – it has shrunk in size and weight, but above all in value.

But what do these figures mean in real terms? Inflation since 1969 has been an astonishing ## %, with the fast-rising “cost of living” already a major headache for the government at the end of the 1960s.

What is extraordinary about the wages data from the late 1960s is the huge gap between men and women. The ONS New Earnings Survey for 1970 shows that the average full-time male worker was paid £30 a week, while a female full-time worker earned just £16.30. Annually, that worked out at £ ## for men, which is equal to £24,050 today, but only £ ## for women, equal to £ ## today.

A look through the Guardian’s classified job adverts on the day the 50p was launched gives a snapshot of what real jobs paid. The Open University, which had just been established, was hiring professors at £3,780 a year (equal to £ ## today), lecturers on a range of £ ## to £ ## (£20,153-£47,147), and secretaries on £ ## -£1,068 (£12,506-£ ##).

The Open University is still hiring – and its adverts suggest that real pay for academics has barely edged ahead in 50 years. It currently has an advert for a professor of economics on a range of £67,700-£75,800, while it pays lecturers £33,000 to £49,000. But the secretary job pays lots more in today’s money, with the OU advertising a role at £23,000 to £26,000.


Questions:

Work out the numbers that have been replaced by ## symbols.

What is the real-terms increase of salary for Professors, Lecturers and Secretaries (using the top of the pay scale each time)?



Answers:

Inflation since 1969 has been an astonishing 1,554%

The ONS New Earnings Survey for 1970 shows that the average full-time male worker was paid £30 a week, while a female full-time worker earned just £16.30. Annually, that worked out at £1,560 for men, which is equal to £24,050 today, but only £847.60 for women, equal to £13,068 today.

The Open University, which had just been established, was hiring professors at £3,780 a year (equal to £62,532 today), lecturers on a range of £1,240 to £2,850 (£20,153-£47,147), and secretaries on £756-£1,068 (£12,506-£17,668).

• Professors: an increase of 21.2%
• Lecturers: increase of 3.9%
• Secretaries: increase of 47.2%

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/sep/14/50p-britons-living-costs-1969-spending

Quibans 94: Transport in Luxembourg

This is a pre-coronavirus article about public transport in Luxembourg, from the BBC.

Free transport in Luxembourg, but what's the cost?

It has had months of hype and now finally Luxembourg's free public transport has begun.
With a population of only 614,000, it may be one of Europe's smallest countries and the idea is not unprecedented. But the "free mobility" drive has captured the imagination. Buses, trams and trains are now free to ride on and you don't need a ticket.

"The government wants Luxembourg to become a laboratory for mobility," says Mobility Minister François Bausch, who points to the grand duchy's fast-rising population, with a rise of 40% in 20 years.

Travelling on transport will be free for residents and visitors alike, except for first-class train passengers.

The price of the project will be the €41m (£35m; $44m) in lost ticket fares, but that will be shouldered by the taxpayer. "Of course, just because I call it free transport doesn't mean nobody pays," said Mr Bausch, who is part of Luxembourg's green party,

The total cost of running the service is more than €500m so the government sees the lost fare revenue as relatively small.

It was not exactly pricey before 29 February. A fare cost €2, and double for a day pass. Many workers have their annual travel pass subsidised in Luxembourg, so few people spend much on transport anyway.

Luxembourg spends more of its economic output on transport that most other European countries, with a reported €600 a year per person.

Questions:

1. What was the population of Luxembourg 20 years ago?
2. What is the exchange rate of the £ to the € , and the £ to the $ ? How can we use these exchange rates to work out the € to the $ ?
3. Using the cost of running the service and the population, work out how much it costs per person per year. What is strange about this?
4. Roughly how many public transport journeys are taken each year? How many per week?

Answers:

1. 614,000 divided by 1.4 = 438571, so the population was about 440,000
2. £1 = €1.1714 £1 = $1.2571 This means €1.1714 = $1.2571 , so €1 = $1.0732
3. €500m divided by 614,000 people is €814 each. Later in the article it says that it spends €600 per person per year on transport. (Presumably this includes roads as well. And airports?)
4. A ‘day pass’ used to cost €4 and brought in €41 million. Presumably most people made two journeys each day (there and back?). That’s about 10 million journeys. Dividing this by 50 (approx. number of weeks in a year) gives 200,000 journeys per week. If we were to assume that this is 100,000 people then only a small fraction of the population ever use public transport!

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-51657085

Quibans 93 – Royal Families

Quibans 93 – Royal Families

from CNN.

Here's how much Europe's royal families really cost

Question 1:

The UK monarchy is twice as expensive as every other one.  What is potentially misleading about this?

Answer 1:

The population of the UK is massively bigger than that of Monaco!

Question 2:

If we work out the cost per person in each country, where do you think the UK would be?

Answer 2:

Here is the next part of the article:

Question 3:

If we combine these two images, what can we work out?  (Then work it out!)

Answer 3:

We can work out the population of each country.

Here are my workings (with upper and lower bounds included too, perhaps as a talking point):

Question 4:

What else might we need to consider when working out how expensive a Royal Family is?

Answer 4:

There might be lots of other issues.  If palaces are being renovated then that will have a one-off cost.  The number of ‘working royals’ might be different in different countries, so there are different numbers of people being ‘paid’.  More working royals will require more admin support and staff. 

This doesn’t factor in the benefits to a nation of having a monarchy.   This might include the tourism that is attracted.  In the UK system the Queen is the head of state.  If we didn’t have a monarchy then we would need a different person doing that role (such as a president) who would need offices, staff, etc, so some of these costs would still be necessary.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/14/europe/european-royal-families-intl/index.html

Quibans 92: Hoarding toilet paper

Quibans 92 – Hoarding toilet paper

From the Daily Telegraph, near the start of the coronavirus pandemic:

Why the UK won't run out of toilet roll

13 March 2020
 As panic over the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread, empty shelves where toilet roll once would have been has become a common sight in many supermarkets. Consumers have been stockpiling the bathroom staple, sparking fears that supermarkets could soon be caught short. However,  there might not be any need to panic.

The UK exported $129m (£103m) of toilet roll in 2019 and exports more than it imports.

“As the world’s 11th-largest exporter of toilet roll, at least if our supply routes shut down, we will be able to keep calm, stop exporting, and carry on,” Dr Rebecca Harding of data firm Coriolis Technologies said.

Ireland accounted for $90.4m or ##% of all UK toilet roll exports in 2019 and is dependent on the UK for 80pc of all toilet roll. Dr Harding said the Irish reliance on the UK for toilet roll is evidence of the importance of borderless trade on the island of Ireland.

Questions:

1. What is the exchange rate? 
2. What percentage of UK exports of toilet roll go to Ireland?
3. How much does Ireland spend on toilet roll per year?
4. The population of Ireland is 4.83 million.  How much does each person spend on toilet roll per week?
5. Four sheets of toilet paper cost about 1p.  How many sheets is that per person per day?

Answers:

1. £1 = $1.2524
2. 70%
3. 90.4 million divided by 0.8 = $113 million
4. 45 cents per week
5. 45 cents is about 36p per week.  Divide by 7 to get the cost per day and multiply by 4 to find the number.  20.5 sheets per day.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/03/13/uk-wont-run-toilet-roll/