Category Archives: Global Financial Crisis

Of razor gangs, budget cuts and the policy mix

Posted on November 18, 2011 by

In the Channel Nine series Underbelly Razor – as in real life – Sydney’s criminal matriarch Tilly Devine did not hesitate to wield the razor to keep her motley empire in line and protect it against incursion by rival gangs. … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Gillard Government, Global Financial Crisis, Interest Rates, Mining Boom, Reserve Bank | Leave a comment

Like cholesterol, inequality cuts both ways

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

SHOULD we worry about rising inequality? Protests across the United States under the Occupy Wall Street banner are in part a spontaneous outcry at the outrageous post-crisis salaries of Wall Street “bailoutees”. But they also find roots in a deeper, … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Financial Crisis, Inequality | 2 Comments

Euro zone a car crash: best keep your eyes on the road

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

You know how most of the traffic created by a car crash is not the crash itself, but everyone slowing down to have a rubberneck? Well, the same thing can happen with economies. And fair enough, the unfolding car crash … Continue reading →

Posted in Banks, Budget, Currency, Employment, Gillard Government, Global Financial Crisis, Interest Rates, Mining Boom, Reserve Bank | 1 Comment

Trouble keeping up with Euro woes? Get used to it.

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

Mamma Mia. Where are those happy days? They seem so hard to find. The Greek tragi-comedic musical continues to play on continuous loop. Leading characters are still struggling to sing from the same song sheet, emitting only a discordant jumble … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Global Financial Crisis, Interest Rates | Leave a comment

Monopoly blues: why top bosses’ riches are undeserved

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

In the hit Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, a young window washer discovers a book that tells him the secrets to climbing the corporate ladder. If such a book were to exist in Australia, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Banks, Employment, Global Financial Crisis | Leave a comment

Tony Abbott-o-nomics, or not…

Posted on November 14, 2011 by

Economics textbooks are hefty objects. Many a kinked neck and curved spine have resulted from children being forced to lug such weighty tomes between school and home. Whether many students manage to read and absorb the often turgid contents of … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Climate change, Gillard Government, Global Financial Crisis, Mining Boom, Tax | 4 Comments

Don’t Panic! You’re all going to panic now, aren’t you?

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

IS THERE any more surefire way to induce widespread panic than the phrase “don’t panic”? Well, here goes anyway: DON’T PANIC. May as well leave panicking to the fickle souls trading daily in financial markets, if only because they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Employment, Global Financial Crisis, Interest Rates, Mining Boom, Reserve Bank | 1 Comment

Yes, Europe is in trouble

Posted on September 26, 2011 by

As financial beauty pageants go, they don’t come any glitzier than Euromoney magazine’s annual finance minister of the year award. The magazine’s editors scour the world in search of the perkiest budget bottom line, biggest assets and best-rehearsed answer to … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Financial Crisis | 1 Comment

Government budgets are not like household budgets

Posted on August 31, 2011 by

Reckon you could run the federal government’s budget? Would you balance the books, stop the reckless spending and pay off the debt? Think again. Government budgets are not like household budgets. If you could run your household budget under the … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Gillard Government, Global Financial Crisis | 4 Comments

Efficient markets hypothesis… really?

Posted on August 15, 2011 by

The thing about humans is we often search for reason where there is none. Economists are notorious for it. So enamoured was the profession in the 1970s with the concept of rationality, economists developed the idea of the “efficient markets … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavioural Economics, Global Financial Crisis | 1 Comment