Should governments be more transparent in their thinking about the economy at a time of uncertainty? Plus the Victorian spike undermines confidence in the recovery and the problems with how global public health is funded.
Could this recession leave permanent scars on the economy? Plus the Victorian COVID spike dents confidence, the turn in the job market, the Fed buys Apple bonds and twenty years of the GST.
The grim IMF forecasts, record low job vacancies, what the Victorian spike means for the national economy and a very wonky discussion on the future of monetary policy.
More heartbreaking jobs numbers, the mystery of why sharemarkets are so high when the world is so low and directors call on the government to get radical. It's another long one this week. We've divided the topics up into chapters again. If you skip forward, we won't hold it against you....
Australia's GDP contracted in the first quarter and Australia is now in its first recession in nearly thirty years. Are there any positives we can take from the latest GDP data? Plus New Zealand eliminates coronavirus and Ivan gets a test. We're late getting this one out but we will be back to our regular schedule with another episode this week.
Treasury made a $60 billion blunder on JobKeeper. Now what should we do with the spare money? Plus negative interest rates, the death of Oliver Williamson, global trade and superspreading. This is a big episode (every minute represents approx. $1bn of the JobKeeper shortfall). We've divided up the topics into chapters. If you skip forward, we won't hold it against you.
A record number of Australians lost their jobs in April and now one in five workers is either unemployed or underemployed. Plus the RBA's thinking on the property market, will working from home change the CBD and a rare cameo from our former Chief Economist, Stephen Walters.
The Reserve Bank has set out three scenarios for the Australian economy depending on how we go over the next six months in curbing the coronavirus. Plus the horror US jobs report, retaliatory China tariffs and confidence in Australia picks up. We're a little late getting this one out. Apologies to our loyal listeners. We recorded this last week before the Australian jobs numbers were released. We'll have another episode out later this week covering those.
Rising tensions over the Australian government's calls for an inquiry into the origins of coronavirus have raised old questions about our dependence on China. Plus more bad jobs news and the economics of vaccine development.
The coronavirus crisis has seen steep spikes in the prices of some goods and dramatic falls in others. Which should worry us more? Plus GDP growth in the US is turning out even worse than expected and we look at research into the media's influence on coronavirus cases.
There is some speculation that the lives lost due to the recession could outnumber those from the coronavirus itself. But the evidence from past downturns might surprise you. Plus the latest from China, what's going on with oil prices and the ugly jobs numbers start rolling in for Australia.
After two decades obsessing over budget surpluses, Australia is entering a new normal with a massive run-up in government debt to stop the economy from flatlining during the coronavirus crisis. Should we be worried and how will we ever pay it back?
With a coronavirus vaccine expected to take 12 to 18 months, smart people are starting to think about what steps we can take till then to quash the virus while getting back some semblance of normality.
As the global economy goes into freefall, policymakers are faced with a dilemma: how do they slow activity enough to halt the spread of coronavirus, while at the same time providing enough stimulus to keep the economy going.
Mark and Ivan discuss how bad the coronavirus crisis could get, what the impact might be on GDP and whether there is hope for flattening the curve.
Are there any positives to take from the latest GDP numbers? Is the RBA about to embark on QE? And is the property market back?
With Mark back from holidays, we catch up on the RBA's historic rate cut early this month and do a Nobel edition of the number of the week.
Special guest Jamie Smyth of the Financial Times helps Mark and Ivan make sense of the Brexit omnishambles. This episode was recorded on 4 September, the day after Boris Johnson's government lost its majority in the House of Commons and the morning of the start of the fourth Ashes test.
What the hell is an inverted yield curve and should we be worried? This episode was recorded on 22 August.
Finally, we are back! New AICD chief economist Mark Thirlwell joins Ivan to talk about why Mark fell in love with economics, the US-China trade war, whether the RBA has failed and the AICD's number of the week. This comeback episode was recorded on 8 August.
Stephen and Ivan catch up on the budget and discuss the fragile Chinese economy.
In the first episode of the year, Stephen and Ivan catch up on the 'boomy' November retail sales and the surprising midyear budget review.
In this episode, recorded in early December, Stephen and Ivan look ahead to 2018. Will the Reserve Bank continue to stay its hand? Will wages growth finally pick up? And what's the outlook for the Australian and global economies?
Stephen and Ivan talk about the 'terrible' August retail sales and the better than expected FY17 budget position.
In this catch-up episode recorded in September, Stephen and Ivan talk about June quarter GDP and the August jobs report. Then AICD policy adviser Matt McGirr comes in to explain the newly passed safe harbour reforms.
Stephen and Ivan talk inequality.
Stephen and Ivan discuss the recent spike in the Australian dollar, what it means for the RBA's growth forecasts and whether you should be buying foreign currency for that overseas holiday now.
Stephen and Ivan do a close reading of RBA governor Philip Lowe's latest speech on the labour market.
Stephen and Ivan take look at why the minutes from the RBA board's July meeting moved markets, as well as the June jobs numbers.
For this comeback episode, we catch up on the latest economic data, Ivan asks for a pay rise and we dive into the census.
