Economics Explored

Professor Henry Ergas and Joe Branigan have just had a new paper published by the Menzies Research Centre,  COVID19: Getting Australia Safely Back to Work . Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Joe Branigan, Director of Tulipwood Economics, about the paper. For a sample of Joe’s comments and a link to an interview with Professor Ergas, check out: Suppression preferred over more costly e...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Professor Rodney Strachan regarding his recent video on the Challenges of Forecasting in the COVID-19 Pandemic . Professor Rodney Strachan is Professor of Econometrics at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Rodney received his PhD from Monash University in 2000. His research focuses on Bayesian analysis, econometric theory, and time...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks to Dr Boyd Blackwell on the use of economic techniques to value the environment. Boyd is Director of AquaEquis Economic Consulting and the President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Ecological Economics.  Links relevant to the discussion include: Deloitte Value of the Great Barrier Reef report Conversation article critiquing economic value est...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny presents and elaborates on his opening remarks to the Queensland Parliamentary Inquiry on the state government’s economic response to COVID-19. The remarks are relevant to state or sub-national governments in countries other than Australia.  Here are some relevant links: COVID19: Getting Australia Safely Back to Work (the new Menzies Research Centre paper from D...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses dynamic pricing, which is used by Uber and airlines among other businesses, with his Adept Economics colleague Ben Scott.  Resources mentioned in the conversation include: Tim Harford's The Next Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy Uber and airline dynamic pricing models can be viewed as both fair and predatory QPAC/QTIX to trial Uber-style surge...

Economics Explained Host Gene Tunny discusses unfreezing discount rates for infrastructure projects with Marion Terrill , Transport and Cities Program Director at the Grattan Institute, a leading Australian think tank.  Marion is a leading policy analyst with experience that ranges from authoring parts of the 2010 Review of Australia’s Future Tax System to leading the design and development of the...

Professor Tony Makin of Griffith University speaks about his new CIS Policy Paper A Fiscal Vaccine for COVID-19 with Economics Explained host Gene Tunny. In Tony’s words, “the paper considers the resurgence of crude Keynesianism before highlighting risks of the fiscal legacy.” Tony Makin is Professor of Economics at Griffith University and has previously taught at the University of Queensland, the...

Why is there a gender pay gap - i.e. why do women earn less than men on average? To what extent is it due to working in different types of jobs, levels of experience or education, or discrimination and biases? Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses the evidence with his colleague Benjamin Scott, Research Officer at Adept Economics.  Resources mentioned in the discussion include: Blau and Ka...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks about one of his favourite books, Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , with Tim Hughes, a Brisbane-based businessman (Urban Ergo). Gene speaks about how he sees the lessons applying to economists.  A 30th anniversary edition of the 7 Habits was published this year. Links related to the discussion include: Art of Manliness episode on 30th...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Craig Lawrence, Managing Director of Lytton Advisory , regarding the pros and cons of picking winners and interventionist industry policy more broadly. Craig Lawrence has over 30 years of experience across government and private sector projects, particularly in infrastructure, transport, and tourism. Prior to establishing Lytton Advisory, Craig was D...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with statistician William M “Matt” Briggs about uncertainty and the perils of prediction. Matt is a consulting statistician and a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute. He has been a visiting Professor of Statistics at Central Michigan University and an Adjunct Professor of Statistics at the Cornell Medical School. Matt is the author of the 2016 book...

Darren Brady Nelson speaks about his new Heartland Institute Policy Brief How to fix America's crumbling infrastructure: lessons from Australia with Economics Explained host Gene Tunny.  Darren is an Austrian school economist who serves as the chief economist at LibertyWorks, an Australian think tank, and as an associate scholar with the US Center for Freedom and Prosperity. He is also a policy ad...

Working from Home: Opportunities and Risks is a new briefing paper from Alison Pennington and Jim Stanford from the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute. Economics Explained host Gene Tunny interviews Alison regarding the paper in this episode.  Alison Pennington is Senior Economist with the Centre for Future Work. Her research focus is on work in Australia today, and in the future. S...

This episode is a review of the big issues covered in recent Economics Explained episodes on coronavirus. Economics Explained host Gene Tunny and Brisbane-based businessman Tim Hughes of Urban Ergo react to excerpts of recent episodes and discuss the important policy issues regarding coronavirus.  Timestamps Use these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights: 1:40 – radical uncerta...

Radical Uncertainty: Decision making for an unknowable future is a new book from eminent British economists Professor John Kay CBE, FRSE, FBA, FAcSS and former Bank of England Governor Lord Mervyn King. Economics Explained host Gene Tunny interviews Professor Kay about the book in this episode.  Timestamps Use these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights: 2:34 – John Kay on what...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Dr Dan Mitchell about government bailouts of companies such as airlines which we are seeing in this time of coronavirus. Dr Mitchell is the Founder of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and a former Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He runs the highly informative and thought-provoking blog International Liberty . Timestamps Use these (approxima...

Social distancing measures to contain coronavirus have crashed economies around the world, reducing government tax revenues. At the same time, governments have brought in massive economic rescue packages to support workers and businesses. An obvious question is: where is the money coming from to pay for these rescue packages and to make up for the lost tax revenue? Economics Explained host Gene Tu...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Professor Benno Torgler of QUT about a new paper he has co-authored: Certified Corona-Immunity as a Resource and Strategy to Cope with Pandemic Costs . Professor Benno Torgler is Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Finance and Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST), QUT. He was also Adjunct Professor at the...

Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses coronavirus policy responses with Joe Branigan, Director, Tulipwood Economics . The episode features a discussion of what we're learning from around the world, including from experiences in Australia, NZ, Italy, and the US, among other countries. Use these timestamps to help you jump to the highlights: 1:50 - Joe reviews international data on coronavir...

Would strong early action on coronavirus have been better, from both public health and economic perspectives, than the incremental policy responses we have seen in countries such as Australia and the US? In this episode, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny discusses policy responses to coronavirus with Dr Nicholas Gruen , CEO of Lateral Economics. Nicholas is a Visiting Professor at King’s College...

Why are financial markets swinging so wildly in response to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19? Economics Explained host Gene Tunny speaks with Michael Knox, Chief Economist of Morgans , who thinks it's related to the machine trading programs which dominate financial markets. Morgans is Australia's largest national full-service stockbroking and wealth management network with more than 240,000 client...

A lot of the infrastructure assets relevant to our daily lives, such as roads, bridges, and parks, are provided by city or municipal governments. In this episode, we ask the question: how should we assess the economic viability of city infrastructure projects? To answer this question, we’ve invited Craig Lawrence, Managing Director of Lytton Advisory, back on to the program. Lytton Advisory is an...

In an Australian ABC News story in early February, Deloitte Access Economics Partner Nicki Hutley referred to the potential cost of climate change as “astronomical”. In this episode, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny chats with Nicki about the cost of action compared with the cost of inaction on climate change.  Use these (approximate) timestamps to jump right to the highlights: 1:10 – Nicki des...

Bloggers such as Mr Money Mustache and the Financial Samurai have been responsible for starting a new movement: the FIRE movement. FIRE stands for Financial Independence Retire Early. By early, proponents typically mean retiring in your 30s or 40s. To discuss the FIRE movement, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny has invited Griffith University Business School lecturer Dr Di Johnson back on to the...

Many universities now offer courses in entrepreneurship, as students have been inspired by tech entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. But what exactly is entrepreneurship and who qualifies as an entrepreneur? Is entrepreneurship essential for economic growth? To help answer these questions, Economics Explained host Gene Tunny invited Professor Peter G. Klein on to the program. Peter...