The Economy, Stupid

You're driving around looking for petrol, and you notice station after station charging exactly the same price. That could be because they are competing fiercely, and have cut prices to the point where they can't cut them anymore. Or it could be because they've coordinated. Professor David Byrne examined 1.6 million prices in order to find out. Guests: David P. Byrne, Ritchie Chair of Economic Res...

Home prices are falling for the first time in more than three years. Is Labor's housing policy starting to work? And if prices come down, who wins and who loses?  We unpack what's really driving the market, whether the budget's tax changes will make it easier to buy a home, what they mean for renters, and why Australia's housing affordability crisis can't be explained by immigration alone.  Guests...

Now that the dust is beginning to settle, what has happened to Labor's tax reform?  And what does the way the debate played out tell us about the limits to what governments can do in the future? 

We are reliving the 1930s, according to author Viktor Shvets. Is there a peaceful way out?

If Australian taxpayers were given the choice, would we be willing to pay for the services we need? 

The latest economic figures suggest we're not in a recession. But new ABS data shows our overall life satisfaction is in decline. So which numbers should we trust?

For decades, governments have spent billions in hidden tax concessions that largely favour the ultra-wealthy. How did they get there?

Would cutting tobacco tax weaken a dangerous black market - or reverse decades of progress in reducing smoking deaths?

This week Labor touched the third rail of Australian politics: wealth and tax. Can it survive the backlash?

What does the federal budget really do for Australia’s housing crisis? Peter Martin from The Economy, Stupid joins Anthony Burke from By Design to examine whether changes to tax settings will make it any easier to buy a home. Peter Martin is an economist and the host of The Economy, Stupid, a weekly guide to the world of business, economics and finance. Listen to The Economy, Stupid  here .

When RBA governor Michele Bullock announced the third consecutive interest rate rise this week, she acknowledged the real-world suffering that would result. But just how much pain is too much? And is there a better way?

Inflation has surged to its highest level in years, driven by soaring fuel prices, higher energy costs and global instability. For households already squeezed by rate rises, the pressure is mounting. Is this a short‑term shock the Reserve Bank can look through or the start of another prolonged inflation fight? What happens next for interest rates, wages, jobs, and the economy as a whole just one w...

Australians might expect to benefit from the global rush on our natural gas resources. But will we?

Petrol prices are up, car use is down, public transport and electric cars are booming, yet Australians are buying petrol more often than ever. Bank data shows panic topping‑up, driven by fear, not need. In this episode of The Economy, Stupid, we explain why fuel demand barely shifts with price and what it will take to finally break our dependence on petrol and diesel. Guests: Adam Triggs, Economis...

You know what they say about a crisis, suddenly, all sorts of things become possible. During the COVID crisis, the government doubled Newstart, paid wage bills, and allowed access to super - things that had almost no chance of happening. Right now, with the budget just weeks away in the midst of a crisis almost anything is on the table. What may that include? Guests: Tom Crowley, ABC economics rep...

Australia’s birth rate is collapsing, heading for a record low next year, well below the level needed for the population to replace itself.  Fewer couples, fewer kids, and a world where ageing societies reshape everything from innovation to taxes. Why is this happening everywhere at once, and what does it mean for your future? Guests:  Viva Hammer, ANU population researcher and tax expert Myriam R...

What happens when the economy stops playing by the rules? We’re taught that inflation and unemployment move like a seesaw, one goes up, the other goes down. But sometimes the seesaw snaps. Prices climb and people lose jobs at the same time.  It happened dramatically in the 1970s, and with oil prices surging again and global tensions rising people are whispering the word Stagnation once more.  Gues...

The Reserve Bank says it’ll do whatever it takes to crush inflation, even if it means Australia falls into recession. But for millions of Australians, the pain is already here with petrol prices soaring and mortgage repayments climbing. So did the RBA really have no choice but to lift rates again? Or is this a risk the Bank didn’t need to take? Guests:  Gianni La Cava, Former Senior Research Manag...

From food security to fuelling our air force, the global oil crisis threatens far more than the cost of driving a car. So what happens next?

GDP is meant to measure economic progress, yet even war can make it rise. So what exactly is it measuring?

What happens when the nation’s wealthiest state gets extra funding on top of a needs‑based system? Since 2019, Western Australia has received a special billion‑dollar boost that no other state gets, and now the deal is under review. WA wants it to stay. The rest of the country is paying for it. So is the arrangement justified, or overdue for a rethink? Guests: Saul Eslake, Economic consultant and...

Australia does something a bit weird: if you make money selling a house or shares, you get taxed at half the rate you’d pay on your actual job. Nice if you’re the one pocketing the profit… not so great if you’re trying to buy your first place and keep getting outbid by investors. People have argued about this discount for years; it’s political TNT. Bill Shorten tried to change it twice and got bur...

Spending is outpacing revenue, and the budget gap isn’t closing. At the same time, Australia is drifting off track on its emissions targets for 2030, 2035 and 2050. The Superpower Institute has a proposal: a revamped carbon pricing model it says could help fix both. Australians rejected carbon pricing more than a decade ago. The question now is whether the country is ready to reconsider?  Guests: ...

The Reserve Bank has lifted rates, and if you’ve got a mortgage, you’ll feel it fast.  A typical borrower on a $600,000 loan is up around $90 a month for a single hike, and if more follow, the hit multiplies.  Is inflation really back, or is the Bank overreacting? And what would more hikes do to jobs and house prices? Guests:  Michael Pasoe, writes for Michael West Media Cherelle Murphy, the Ocean...

The Reserve Bank looks set to lift interest rates after a year of cuts - adding around $90 a month to a typical $600,000 mortgage. If there are three hikes, that’s an extra $3,200 a year. What does it mean for you?