Economic Policies
The Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin once said that the study of economics “offered the hope, as it still does, that improved understanding could better the lot of mankind”. One of the ways in which it does this is through the implementation of economic policy that helps to ameliorate boom-and-bust cycles, reduces unemployment, contains inflation or lifts people’s living standards in sustainable ways.
Video & Presentation Slides: Saul’s Assessment of 2021 – 2022 Australian Federal Budget
Australian Federal Budget, Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, The Australian Economy | 12th May 2021Last year’s budget encapsulated a massive turnaround in the Morrison Government’s fiscal strategy, from one focussed on achieving and then maintaining budget surpluses and paying down with a view eventually to eliminating government net debt, to one focussed on supporting economic activity and employment in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, even though that meant […]
Tasmania Talk: Australian Federal Budget 2021-2022
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Tasmania, The Australian Economy | 12th May 2021Saul talks to Tasmania Talk’s Mike O’Loughlin about Australian Federal Budget 2021-2022
Our closed borders have turbo-charged the economy’s recovery
Economic Policies, News, Publications, The Australian Economy | 7th May 2021An article in the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age newspapers on 8th May 2021 by Economics Editor Ross Gittins about the under-recognized stimulatory impact of Australia’s border closures in response to Covid-19, which draws extensively on my Financial Review op-ed of 8th April
The right and proper thing to do | Inside Story
Economic Policies, Publications, The Australian Economy | 30th April 2021Treasurer Josh Frydenberg makes the ‘right call’ on fiscal policy, 12 days out from the 2021-22 Federal Budget
The Australian economy’s recovery from the corona-recession, and implications for interest rates
Economic Policies, The Australian Economy | 8th April 2021Saul talks to the Eureka Report’s Alan Kohler about Australia’s better-than-expected recovery from the “corona-recession”, which in turn reflects Australia’s relatively good performance in keeping the virus ‘at bay’ and the larger-than-average volume of fiscal support provided by the Australian Government. He explains how the closure of Australia’s borders to migrants (as well as tourists […]
Rebound in growth could force RBA’s hand on rates
Economic Policies, News, Publications, The Australian Economy | 8th April 2021Feature article published in the Australian Financial Review on 7th April, looking at Australia’s emergence from the recession induced by Covid-19, and the implications for the future course of fiscal and monetary policy
Conversation with the Archbishop
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview, Taxation, The Australian Economy, Video | 27th March 2021Saul participated in a ‘Conversation with the Archbishop’, hosted by the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, Dr Philip Freier, in Melbourne’s Federation Square along with CEO of Anglicare Kasy Chambers, on Tuesday 23rd March 2021, about Australia’s response to Covid-19 and how the ‘new normal’ could be different from the old one.
The west is having its iron ore cake – and eating it too
Economic Policies, News, Publications, The Australian Economy | 24th March 2021Op-ed piece in the Australian Financial Review on 24th March 2021 about “deal” imposed on states and territories by the Federal Government two years ago which is now producing the perverse result that the Federal Government will have to run an even bigger budget deficit so as to allow Western Australia – the only government […]