News
Friday Fodder (13/24)
Inflation should be the highest policy priority; Bayesian reasoning and the Wuhan lab leak; the urgent need for economic reform; how to reduce debt, Jamaica style; and even when wrong, models can be useful.
Latest
Monetary policy
A sticky, stagflationary mess
Australia risks "sticky" inflation if real wages start to outpace productivity, requiring higher rates longer and job losses as businesses start to adjust on the employment rather than not wage margin. Continued fiscal deficits also fan future inflation risks.
Sport
Brisbane should sprint from the Olympics
Brisbane should withdraw from hosting the 2032 Olympics. The cancellation costs will pale into comparison to the billions that will be wasted in cost overruns and the creation of underutilised facilities, funds which would be much better spent on other priorities.
News
Thursday Thinkers (12/24)
Javier Milei's troubles in Argentina; the death of the Scottish Enlightenment; how to regulate AI; Bowen's emission's backdown; the limits of industrial policy; how not to fix housing; and how happy are we, really?
Budget
It's time for fiscal rules
Oh boy. Another year, another GST carve-up that led to a flurry of complaints from the states that 'lost out'. This time it was the NSW and QLD Labor governments that were the most vocal, with NSW facing a $310 million cut, while QLD lost $469 million. For
News
Friday Fodder (10/24)
Tasmanians will go to the polls tomorrow but it's looking like it'll be more of the same; I ask whether you should you fly on a Boeing; why Xi Jinping's leadership meant Evergrande was inevitable; and what's going on across the ditch.
Technology
Rethinking the National Broadband Network
The NBN was a costly mistake that has failed to earn a commercial return, hindered competition, and its business model is being undermined by new technologies. Might it be time to rethink the experiment?
Energy
Powering our AI future
If Australia's policymakers don't address the rising energy demands of AI, we risk falling behind other advanced nations. Despite its many critics, nuclear is a potential solution alongside renewables, and should not be ruled out so cavalierly.
News
Friday Fodder (9/24)
The rental affordability crisis has been overblown; why your shower should be a lot better; Chris Minns is doing great work on housing; the freaky side of politics and academia; and a little green bonus.
Growth
What Australia's per capita recession really means
Australia's national accounts were released last week and confirmed that our per capita recession – defined as two consecutive quarterly contractions – didn't just continue into the December quarter, but deepened: on a per person basis, our economy is now a full 1% smaller than where it was
Housing
A public property developer won't fix housing
The Greens released their much-hyped housing plan last week and while I wouldn't normally give this much attention to a minor party's policy, it was just so full of well-meaning but really confused policy, I just had to weigh in. Before getting into it, I should
News
Friday Fodder (8/24)
Where the cost of living crisis is biting hardest; China's pivot from growth to security; AI is a marathon, not a sprint; why interest rates might stay higher for longer; and plenty more in this week's Fodder.