Tag Archives: australia

Qld has outperformed rest of Australia this decade so far

The May Labour Force data released by the ABS yesterday confirmed Queensland has outperformed the rest of Australia over the last couple of years. My view is that this is due to a range of factors including a surge in … Continue reading

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

Consumer confidence indicators are very concerning

As always it’s important not to read too much into one piece of data, and generally I’ve been optimistic about the Australian economy and even more so about the Queensland economy over 2022-23, but the latest consumer confidence figures are … Continue reading

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

Global stagflation risk increasing – my latest podcast episode

Earlier this week, the World Bank cut its global economic growth forecast and warned of the risk of 1970s-type global stagflation, with a coincidence of high inflation and low growth and high unemployment. I had already decided to cover stagflation … Continue reading

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

RBA is copying the Fed as Michael Knox forecast

In my previous post, I discussed my latest podcast chat with Morgans Chief Economist Michael Knox who forecast the RBA would today increase the cash rate to 0.85%, as it did. As Michael noted, the RBA has been copying the … Continue reading

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

RBA’s next move: 25, 40, or 50 basis points? Michael Knox says 50 on Economics Explored

Next Tuesday, the RBA will increase the cash rate again, but it’s uncertain by just how much. Reuters is reporting RBA to raise rates a modest 25 bps in June, some call for 40 bps, where bps stands for basis … Continue reading

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

Super-high coal royalties to help address Qld hospitals crisis

As I predicted earlier this month (see John McCarthy’s 13 May InQld article), the Queensland Government will be boosting health spending in the upcoming budget to deal with the hospitals crisis, and to a large extent it’s able to do … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Economic update: interest rates, monetary policy, fiscal policy, and coal prices

The election debate would benefit from a clear understanding of the factors affecting interest rates, now that the RBA has increased the cash rate from the “emergency level” of 0.1%, practically the lowest it could go, to the still extraordinarily … Continue reading

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

Unemployment and state budgets update

On Monday, I appeared on the 612 ABC Brisbane Radio Drive program (from 2:09:00) to chat with Kelly Higgins-Devine about how we estimate the unemployment rate, a matter of interest that day obviously due to the Opposition Leader being unable … Continue reading

Posted in Budget, Labour market, Macroeconomy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Will the Brisbane Olympics stack up? The Federal Parliamentary Library investigates

The latest federal budget refers to “$22.5 million for the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games 2032 – Business Case Development”. It’s a shame that we didn’t spend some of that money prior to deciding to bid for the Games, to … Continue reading

Posted in Queensland Government | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Thriving, a new book by Wayne Visser, Cambridge pracademic and sustainability expert – my latest podcast episode

Wayne Visser, of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Antwerp Management School, has written a thoughtful and informative new book Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society, and the Economy. Wayne is reassuringly optimistic about the future of … Continue reading

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