Category Archives: Macroeconomics

Turning an eye to the CPI

Posted on March 19, 2010 by

Update: All ABS submission to the inquiry are now online. For my money, the most enlightening is point 3.2.2 of the Australian Treasury submission. ~~~~~~~~ The ABS are undertaking the first major review of the Consumer Price Index in 13 … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics

Happiness, Love, Money, and Sex

Posted on December 15, 2009 by

My AFR op-ed today discusses two happiness papers by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. Full text over the fold. 

Posted in Economics of the Family, Labour Economics, Macroeconomics | 2 Comments

Look at the changes, not at the levels

Posted on December 14, 2009 by

A few people have asked me recently for my view on “The Spirit Level” by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, which is apparently having some impact in policy circles. John Kay’s view in the FT comes closest to my own: … Continue reading →

Posted in Australian Politics, Health economics, Inequality, Macroeconomics | 9 Comments

Of politics, tax and monetary policy

Posted on December 10, 2009 by

Ross Gittins gave a fascinating talk on Monday to the Australian Business Economists Annual Forecasting Conference, and he’s kindly agreed to let me post it here. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Australian Politics, Macroeconomics, Tax | 1 Comment

Let’s get fiscal

Posted on October 22, 2009 by

My Wryside Economics segment on ABC Radio National this morning is about fiscal policy. I’ll be on about 9.15am, and will post the mp3 link when it’s up. Update: The audio can be downloaded here. My statement about the political … Continue reading →

Posted in Coming Events, Macroeconomics | 1 Comment

The unkindest cut

Posted on October 20, 2009 by

My AFR op-ed today is on education and the economic “downturn” (formerly known as the Australian recession). Full text over the fold, along with all the usual hyperlinks. Much thanks (but no responsibility) to Andrew Norton, who helped me understand … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics of Education, Macroeconomics, Universities | 3 Comments

Do Household Handouts Help?

Posted on September 22, 2009 by

My op-ed today is on the touchy topic of stimulus spending. Full text over the fold (with the usual hyperlinks for anyone interested in reading the original research).

Posted in Australian Politics, Macroeconomics | 1 Comment

Inquiring minds

Posted on September 20, 2009 by

I’m giving evidence at 10.45am tomorrow to the Senate inquiry into the government’s economic stimulus initiatives.* If you’ve read my paper on the topic, you’ll know everything I intend to say. * Oddly, mine is presently the only submission on … Continue reading →

Posted in Coming Events, Macroeconomics

Don’t choke on that cheque

Posted on September 7, 2009 by

Household stimulus payments can be too stimulating, it seems. The Short-Term Mortality Consequences of Income Receipt (gated stable link, ungated unstable link) William Evans & Timothy Moore Many studies find that households increase their consumption after the receipt of expected … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics | 1 Comment

Stimulating Stuff

Posted on September 2, 2009 by

One of the reasons that I wrote a paper using survey evidence to estimate the fiscal impact of the household stimulus package is that I don’t much like using aggregate time series data. But nonetheless, it shouldn’t be ignored, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics

Australians more easily stimulated than Americans

Posted on August 26, 2009 by

I have a new paper out today, looking at the impact of the Australian 2009 household payments on expenditure. It uses a poll question contained in the June ‘ANU Poll’. Here’s the abstract (click on the title for the full … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics | 5 Comments

Inequality and Growth

Posted on July 5, 2009 by

I have a new paper out with Dan Andrews and Christopher Jencks, on the relationship between inequality and growth. We reach a finding that is pretty standard in this literature – when we restrict the sample to 1960-2000, more inequality … Continue reading →

Posted in Inequality, Macroeconomics

Understanding the GFC

Posted on June 19, 2009 by

For anyone wanting a brief rundown on why the Global Financial Crisis happened, I can highly recommend this speech to the Sydney Institute by David Gruen, head of the macro division of the Australian Treasury. David has 13 causes of … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics | 5 Comments

Don’t fret the debt

Posted on June 3, 2009 by

I’m one of 21 authors (signatories?) of a Nicholas Gruen-instigated opinion piece in today’s AFR, arguing that modest levels of government debt are a perfectly appropriate response to a major downturn. Full text over the fold.

Posted in Macroeconomics | 12 Comments

A Better Crystal Ball

Posted on May 19, 2009 by

My oped today is on prediction markets. You can’t put acknowledgements on opeds, but if you could, this one would have read “Thanks to Nicholas Gruen and Robin Hanson for valuable comments on an earlier draft.” Not sure what my … Continue reading →

Posted in Health economics, Macroeconomics, Prediction Markets | 6 Comments

Let’s get fiscal

Posted on May 14, 2009 by

Three months ago, Christine Neill wrote on Core Economics: If you ask a reduced-form applied microeconomist like myself whether more government spending decreases unemployment, we have two initial instincts:(1) do some experimenting with an entire economy (perhaps not completely impossible, … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomics | 1 Comment

Will the downturn have intergenerational consequences?

Posted on April 15, 2009 by

From Ulrike Malmendier and Stefan Nagel: Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk-Taking? We investigate whether individuals’ experiences of macro-economic outcomes have long-term effects on their risk attitudes, as often suggested for the generation that experienced the Great Depression. Using … Continue reading →

Posted in Finance, Macroeconomics | 2 Comments