The Dismal Science

Directors have identified labour shortages as the biggest economic challenge facing Australian business, according to the AICD's latest Director Sentiment Index. Plus, the Australian residential property market passes $9 trillion in value, record job ads and European carbon prices skyrocket.

Our founding economist Stephen Walters, now NSW Chief Economist, comes back for our 100th episode to reflect on what's changed in economics since we started in 2017 and his role in advising the NSW government during the pandemic. Plus, 3Q GDP turns out not to be as bad as we feared, Omicron looms on the horizon, another record current account surplus and house prices keep on going up.

Grab bag this week for our 99th episode: Four more years for Jerome Powell, President Biden taps the US strategic oil reserves, PMIs turn positive for Australia and decentralised autonomous organisations.

The COP26 climate talks were largely a failure against their stated goals. So is there any hope for the future of negotiations and the planet? Plus, wages remain subdued, the RBA's view on the inflation debate and the war for talent.

We go back to the Paris Agreement and ask if its vision, particularly restraining warming to less than 2 degrees, can be met at COP26 and beyond. Plus, central banks begin the task of unwinding unconventional pandemic support programs.

The government announces a 'plan' for net zero, plus is the inflation genie coming for Australia?

The China economy is creaking. Could the crash be coming and what can the authorities do to stop it? Plus, the market questions the RBA, lockdowns hit the job market and how COVID impacts football performance.

NSW reopens and spending takes off, the Great Resignation, a global tax deal and a Nobel Prize for natural experiments.

Gas shortages are leading to spiraling energy prices across the world. Are we headed for another era of stagflation? Plus, APRA tries to cool the housing market, another record trade surplus for Australia, and should the US mint a trillion dollar coin?

"Everything Evergrande owns belongs to the Party and the Chinese people," Evergrande Chairman Hui Ka Yan once said. Will the Chinese people now own the crashing property company's $300bn of debt or is China headed for a financial crisis? Plus, housing affordability, monetary tapering and vaccinating the world. This is a long one but we're taking next week off so listen at your leisure.

Large parts of the economy are in 'wait, survive and see' mode, according to RBA governor Philip Lowe. We look at the latest deceptive unemployment data, the OECD's Australian economy fan fiction for a post-pandemic world, house prices and urban planning, as well as US inflation, the softening in the Chinese economy and central banks' role in fighting climate change. It's a big one!

The RBA is expecting the economy to bounce back in December but should the halting recovery of other more open economies around the world be tempering our optimism? Plus, is the China property bubble about to burst?

The Delta lockdowns have caused widespread job losses and decimated consumer demand. Were economic policymakers inadequately prepared for the downside risks of a new COVID strain? Plus, Q2 GDP, takeaways from this year's Jackson Hole conference, and the Taliban economy.

The latest confidence numbers tell a tale of two Australias as the bickering continues over the national COVID strategy. Plus, the case for board diversity.

As more of Australia goes into lockdown, the RBA is maintaining what some are describing as a 'bizarrely' optimistic view of the recovery. Plus, a weird jobs report and the OG gold standard.

Despite the lockdowns, businesses and consumers are clinging to vaccine hope. Plus, the IPCC's Code Red, US infrastructure and China's billionaires.

Guided by the Doherty Institute modelling, National Cabinet has outlined the path out, but much is still uncertain. Plus, can cash incentives work for vaccinations and the rise of buy now pay later. Apologies for the audio on this one, we had some technical difficulties.

Base effects are starting to show up as inflation spikes in Australia. But with Delta ravaging the Australian and world economies, is inflation the least of our concerns? Plus, UK's Freedom Day two weeks on.

The shut down of the construction industry is another hammer blow to the NSW economy. Are policymakers doing enough to soften the impact? Plus, vaccine hesitancy and we ask if hosting the Olympics is worth it.

Starting local then going global, we talk about the economic cost of the latest lockdowns before doing some virtual economic tourism taking in the G20 finance conference in Venice, climate change, the latest on global inflation and the value of mRNA vaccines.

The government announces its four phase plan to return to a kind of normal. Will it work? Plus, lockdowns depress confidence and jobs, more on the global minimum company tax and the RBA begins to taper stimulus.

With almost half of Australia's population plunged back into lockdown as the Delta variant spreads, do we need to revise the rosy forecasts from earlier in the year for pandemic recovery? Plus, a job vacancy boom, house prices keep going and European tourism.

Australia's unemployment rate has fallen to 5.1%, below the pre-pandemic level, and approaching a 'four in front of it', the target level for the government. So what's next for policy and will wage growth follow? Plus, inflation comes roaring back in the US and an Australia-UK free trade deal.

Job vacancies are at an all-time high, yet there is still slack in the labour market. Is the economy getting worse at matching workers to jobs? Plus, confidence slips back, the G7 agrees to a global minimum tax and is Biden's infrastructure package a stimulus bridge too far.

Australia's economy is now larger than it was pre-pandemic but the slow rollout of the vaccine continues to threaten the recovery. We dig into the latest GDP numbers and ask if we need more incentives for people to get jabbed. Plus, house prices, the Victorian lockdown and the RBA says watch this space.