Author Archives: Gene Tunny

Qld Treasurer was premature in claiming recovery to pre-COVID jobs level

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Last month, I dissected the Queensland Treasurer’s bold claim that more Queenslanders are working now than were working pre-COVID (check out my 21 November post). I thought it was a bold claim given a) the substantial sampling error at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Money and cryptocurrency – my latest podcast episode

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Gene Tunny

When I recorded the latest episode of my Economics Explored podcast last Friday afternoon, the price of one Bitcoin was a bit above US$18,000 after having failed to get beyond US$20,000 in the previous weeks. In my chat with my … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The book for 2020: Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Many Queenslanders would have been terrified about the possibility of a re-imposition of border restrictions when they learned about the new NSW community-acquired COVID case, but, thankfully, Acting Premier Steven Miles has told us all is good for now, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

PM puts China’s Aussie thermal coal ban in perspective, but $100M+ annual loss to Qld state budget possible

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Prime Minister Scott Morrison did a good job yesterday at putting China’s reported ban on Australian thermal coal into perspective, pointing out Japan is our largest customer for thermal coal, and it takes twice the amount of thermal coal as … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Mining | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Rainfall crucial for drought-afflicted Qld regions highly dependent on agriculture

Posted on December 14, 2020 by Gene Tunny

We’ve seen some impressive rainfall in Brisbane over the last few days, but it appears parts of the state such as Warwick which really need it can do with a lot more to fill dams and help them get over … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bad planning policies leading to poor outcomes in Brisbane City according to UQ researchers

Posted on December 13, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Two UQ geographers have written a great Conversation article, republished in the Brisbane Times, on Why city policy to ‘protect the Brisbane backyard’ is failing. The authors argue that current planning policies lead to undesirable outcomes. Current Brisbane City Council … Continue reading →

Posted in Brisbane | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Huge swings in Bitcoin value make it hard to believe it will ever replace traditional currencies

Posted on December 12, 2020 by Gene Tunny

The Bitcoin price was getting close to US$20,000 at the end of last month, but has since come down to a bit over US$18,000. In March, it was around US$5,000 (see chart above). There has been a lot of speculative … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What the QCA had to say about special deals like the Downer Maryborough trains deal

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Gene Tunny

As a Queenslander who grew up during the days of Sir Joh, I’ve come to expect a certain level of impropriety in Queensland politics, so I haven’t been surprised governments since Sir Joh’s have had questionable dealings, although they’ve been … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition policy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Behavioural Finance podcast chat with Dr Tracey West of Griffith Business School

Posted on December 10, 2020 by Gene Tunny

The latest episode of my Economics Explored podcast considers the emerging field of behavioural finance, which is basically the application of behavioural economics to finance. It considers lessons from this field for households, investors, and governments. The episode features an … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Aussies over-confident after being over-compensated by Gov’t for COVID-recession

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Gene Tunny

Today we learned that, as Reuters reports, Australia consumer sentiment hits 10-year high (see chart above). This is despite Chinese trade restrictions and the looming insolvency tsunami in the new year and the fiscal cliff in April 2021. Sure, given … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments