The Economy, Stupid

New Australian voices are being lost beneath a digital avalanche. What will it take for them to be heard? 

“Bond vigilantes” are making governments around the world nervous. But what are bond markets, and why do they wield such power?

Migration helped build modern Australia. But are we now growing faster than the economy can handle?

The RBA's efforts to cool the economy will hit recent home buyers and workers hardest. Could the pain be better shared?

Despite optimistic forecasts of an economy transformed by technology, a worrying picture emerges in the latest intergenerational report. 

Rules are meant to protect us. But sometimes they get in the way of doing good things. Is there a better way to regulate?

Many younger Australians are in financial freefall - has superannuation become a parachute that opens too late?

We don't measure our social media activity in GDP. But what would happen if we did? And are we richer or poorer because of consumer tech?

The government has promised to crack down. But victims can still be left owing debts they never created.

How did a world-leading disability fund find itself in peril? And what can be done to save it?

Consumer sentiment remains at fifty year lows. The Reserve Bank has surveyed Australians to find out why. 

The first computer revolution was supposed to bring mass unemployment but didn't. Is this time really different?

Australia's early settlements were radical experiments in almost exclusively male societies. Their impact is still felt today.

Australia's social safety net is designed for those most in need - but increasingly the benefits are flowing to the wealthiest households. 

California is seeking to introduce a tax on the wealth of billionaires. Is it time we did the same?

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 .