Tag Archives: brisbane

Ragnarok in Brissywood

Next week, the Brisbane CBD road closures for the filming of scenes for Thor: Ragnarok will obviously, through the disruption to traffic and local businesses, add to the already large multi-million dollar cost to the Queensland community of hosting the … Continue reading

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Driverless cars and congestion charging up for discussion at IAQ Qld Infrastructure Summit 2016

The well-known fatal crash involving a self-driving Tesla car and a lorry suggests a completely driverless future is some time away, but nonetheless regulators and businesses need to start preparing for it. Hence it is great to see driverless cars … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

SEQ should note growing realisation the Olympics is a waste of money

Forty years after the financially disastrous Montreal Olympics, cities around the world are finally realising that hosting the Olympics does not stack up. Brazilians, now experiencing a deep recession, have certainly lost much enthusiasm for the upcoming Rio Olympics (e.g. … Continue reading

Posted in Brisbane, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Being unpredictable helps guard against collusion: a lesson from the 2016 Colin Clark Lecture

Professor Leslie Marx of Duke University delivered the 2016 Colin Clark Lecture last Tuesday morning at Customs House in Brisbane on how to defend against potential collusion by suppliers. In industries with a small number of players who can readily … Continue reading

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Heat map of Brisbane metro property prices – big opportunities in the Western corridor?

It is well appreciated that people are willing to pay more for properties that are closer to the CBD, have a greater range of services close by (e.g. transport, retail) and offer an attractive lifestyle (e.g. a cosmopolitan community, river … Continue reading

Posted in Housing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Huge opportunities from closer relationships with Indonesia

An enthusiastic and bright group of Indonesian officials arrived in Brisbane just over a week ago to undertake two-week short courses on public policy processes and public-private partnerships at the University of Queensland (see photo below). The courses are funded … Continue reading

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Transparency and good governance essential for successful infrastructure projects

After my recent post on mega-projects, I came across this excellent presentation, by a Jacobs consultant and an Adelaide University academic, which was delivered to a conference in Adelaide last year: Jacobs presentation on infrastructure risks and mega projects The … Continue reading

Posted in Infrastructure, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Don’t miss 16 June Brisbane speech by RBA Deputy Governor Philip Lowe, the Bank’s next Governor

At a lunchtime event at Tattersall’s Club in Brisbane yesterday, after he predicted another interest rate cut this year in either June or August, Dr Chris Caton, BT’s Chief Economist, noted that “Interest rate changes are like cockroaches.” That is, … Continue reading

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Tuesday’s Jobs Growth Summit a great opportunity to push for better economic policies

On Tuesday, I will be attending the Queensland Jobs Growth Summit at Parliament House, which is being hosted by UQ’s School of Economics (my occasional employer) and the Australia Institute. My business Adept Economics is one of several Summit sponsors. … Continue reading

Posted in IR, Labour market, Macroeconomy, Queensland Government, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Comment in Courier-Mail on volatile Qld jobs data

With the huge volatility in State unemployment rate estimates, demonstrated by the ABS seasonally adjusted estimate of Queensland’s unemployment rate falling from 6.4% in January to 5.6% in February, and the SA rate increasing from 6.8% to 7.7%, the ABS … Continue reading

Posted in Labour market, Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments