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The Annual Fiscal Statement for Australia (aka ‘The Budget’) came out last night and ordinarily I would analyse it today. But I am travelling a lot today and also the wage data came out today, so I plan to leave the fiscal policy commentary until next week when I have more time to think about…

In Australia repurchase (repo) obligations are traded bilaterally 'over-the-counter' between parties, rather than on an exchange. As a result, it is difficult to obtain quotes of executable prices, trading volumes, and related data that are representative of the market. Market conditions are therefore not easy to assess and often dependent on anecdotal evidence. Over the years, the Reserve Bank of Australia has published data and analysis of the repo market by providing indirect perspectives using data from its own open market operations that are conducted using repos. This paper contributes to this work. The Reserve Bank conducts open market operations to manage liquidity in the interbank market, provide settlement balances for the smooth functioning of the payments system, and for the implementation of monetary policy. Repos are an integral part of these operations. The eligible private sector counterparties in these auctions have a variety of reasons for participating. We arrange their bids in an ascending order in a number of distinct phases so that they can be used to make inferences about the demand for repo and hence market operations.

Economists spend a lot of time talking about comparative advantage: France has just the right climate and land to make great wine, for example. In the Industrial Revolution England had good quality coal in just the right place. Germany has a lot of good industrial workers and craftsmen.

Most comparative advantage, however, is cost advantage. If it’s cheaper and you can produce it for less, it’s hard to compete against you.

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

Source - Patreon

After inquiries from The Intercept, Duane Kees stepped down from his ethics panel position.

The post This U.S. Attorney Resigned Amid an Ethics Investigation. Yet He Wound Up Overseeing Judges’ Ethics.  appeared first on The Intercept.

Those are responses to what Trump has been saying about the judge in his NY criminal trial: On a recent Tuesday morning, a visibly frustrated Donald Trump sat through a tense hearing in the first-ever criminal trial of a former American president. During a break, he let rip on his social media platform. New York Justice Juan Merchan, Trump declared on Truth Social, is a “highly conflicted” overseer of a “kangaroo court.” Trump supporters swiftly replied to his post with a blitz of attacks on Merchan. The comments soon turned ugly. Some called for Merchan and other judges hearing cases against Trump to be killed. […] The April 23 post by Trump and the menacing responses from his followers illustrate the incendiary impact of his angry and incessant broadsides against the judges handling the criminal and civil suits against him. As his presidential campaign intensifies, Trump has baselessly cast the judges and prosecutors in his trials as corrupt puppets of the Biden administration, bent on torpedoing his White House bid. […] The rhetoric is inspiring widespread calls for violence.

David Hencke examines a National Audit Office report revealing HMRC has not done enough to raise awareness of its digital services

Beatlefan Executive Editor Al Sussman offers a counterpoint to some fans who’ve been whining about various aspects of the reissue of “Let It Be.” Here’s his more evenhanded impression of the 1970 film’s restoration. …   Well, I watched the … Continue reading →

Fox news is having a full-fledged meltdown over Kamala Harris using the F-word. It dishonors the office dontcha know. Yeah…

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has this week released his third budget and with it there has been notable winners and losers. The most notable loser thus far appears to be Sky News Australia, who despite spending hundreds of thousands of dollars... Read More ›