Category Archives: Macroeconomy

Qld still set to boom

Posted on September 14, 2011 by Gene Tunny

BIS Shrapnel has come to the same obvious conclusion as everyone else who has looked at the planned resources sector investment in Queensland (Growth years tipped for Queensland): QUEENSLAND can look forward to booming growth in the next four or … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining | Leave a comment

Qld unemployment rate increases to 6.2% – due to surge in labour force participation

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Gene Tunny

There is no point worrying too much about monthly movements in the labour force data, as several months of data are usually necessary to identify clear trends, as I noted in my previous post Media over-reacts to jobs data. Hence, … Continue reading →

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Qld and WA leading Australia’s economic rebound

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Today’s National Accounts data should leave no one in doubt as to the underlying strength of the Australian economy – thanks in large part to Queensland and WA, as per the figure below:

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Qld economy will easily hit Bligh’s 100,000 new jobs target

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Given the massive amount of resources sector investment in the pipeline, I have no doubt the Queensland economy will rebound strongly and prove wrong pessimistic stories such as this one: Anna Bligh’s target of 100,000 new jobs in jeopardy amid … Continue reading →

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy, Queensland Government, Queensland Rail | 1 Comment

Treasury’s dismissal of stimulus criticism is unconvincing

Posted on September 3, 2011 by Gene Tunny

In a just released Economic Roundup paper (The Australian Economy and the Global Downturn), the Commonwealth Treasury attempts to rebut one of the standard criticisms of fiscal stimulus, which relates to its impact on the exchange rate: Another view is … Continue reading →

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Stimulus was always going to be problematic in an open economy

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Gene Tunny

One of the major implications of the 1983 floating of the Australian dollar was that fiscal policy became less powerful than monetary policy. Any fiscal expansion (i.e. stimulus) would put pressure on domestic interest rates, attracting money into Australia (some … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy | 2 Comments

Buy local policy would be costly in the long-term

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Gene Tunny

With the two-speed (a.k.a. patchwork) economy driven by the resources boom – and associated high exchange rate – Australia was always going to see more job losses in manufacturing, such as the 1,000 jobs lost at BlueScope Steel. The Government … Continue reading →

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$430bn investment pipeline

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Gene Tunny

The scale of the resources boom is staggering, as noted in Deputy PM-Treasurer Wayne Swan’s speech to federal parliament yesterday: We have an unprecedented investment pipeline that is continuing to build, with a staggering $430 billion planned in resource investment … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Mining | 1 Comment

Qld Treasury still expects jobs rebound

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Gene Tunny

While the weak labour force data released on Thursday were a bit of a surprise, I remain confident the Queensland economy will pick up considerably over the next year, and I broadly agree with Queensland Treasury’s assessment here (Labour Force: … Continue reading →

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No reason to panic yet

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Gene Tunny

Our sharemarket has over-reacted to news of the US downgrade and continuing fears about European sovereign debt (Sharemarket closes almost 3pc down). As pointed out by financial economist Chris Joye, Australia’s economy is now largely tied to China and India … Continue reading →

Posted in Housing, Macroeconomy, Mining | Leave a comment