When I met Andrew Leigh before his ‘Meet the Authors’ discussion of this new edition of his book, I had to ask him, ‘how on earth do you do this?’. Lyn Hatfield Dodds who moderated the discussion opened with the same question. Andrew Leigh is not only an extraordinary politician but an extraordinary person. Another Continue reading »
Economy
If, as seems likely, Anthony Albanese and his government lose seats at next year’s federal election, one thing we can be certain of is that the nation’s economists and econocrats won’t be admitting to their not insignificant contribution to Labor’s setback. Economists have such a limited understanding of how the behaviour of the real-world economy Continue reading »
Government spending is keeping Australia out of recession, just as last week’s feeble GDP numbers tallied 7 consecutive quarters of negative growth. Michael Pascoe reports on the moaning business lobby. A funny thing happened after Wednesday’s weak national accounts figures: a large part of the economic commentariat poured scorn on government spending and investment for keeping the Continue reading »
Trump’s economic strategy is based on a series of delusions that will result in higher inflation, a bigger trade deficit and a loss in the value of the American dollar. How can that Make America Great Again? Trump’s tariff delusion President Trump is on record as saying, multiple times, that “tariffs” are his favourite word. Continue reading »
Australia and the United States believe China is hegemonic. China uses a different approach to international engagement, and that means Australia fails to understand China’s appeal to the region and the global south. Increased tariffs on China and 100% tariffs on any country that backs any other currency to replace the US dollar. The Trump Continue reading »
Interest rates settings depend on forecasts of price inflation, wages and unemployment. There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that the Reserve Bank should begin to cut interest rates soon and arguably at its December Board Meeting. The balance of risks if it stays there much longer is that the economy will fall into a Continue reading »
US President-elect Donald Trump’s protectionist trade policies — marked by high tariffs — have been a major economic setback for the United States. The costs of these policies have harmed domestic buyers and caused job losses in sectors related to the targeted industries. Rather than resolving the trade imbalance issue as Trump intended, his administration’s Continue reading »
While lifting the rate of productivity growth is the obvious solution to the cost of living crisis, judging by the experience of most developed economies, it is not obvious how to restore productivity growth. According to the opinion polls the cost-of-living is the dominant political issue. Already it is clear that Dutton wants the focus Continue reading »
Like all policy instruments, the Future Fund was created to manage the challenges the country was facing at the time. The government has every right and reason to adjust and adapt the mandate to manage very different political and economic challenges today. The Future Fund (FF) was created by the Parliament at the time when the Continue reading »
The invitation said: ‘Global Multinational Corporations Summit.’ Main Topic: ‘An opening China and the World.’ So I dutifully packed my bags and headed tor Beijing. There on the 70th floor of the luxurious Shangri-la hotel I found bosses and representatives of about 30 Chinese multinationals who wanted to talk about Australia. But apart from two Continue reading »