Tag Archives: coronavirus

4BC interview on lowest unemployment rate in over ten years

Posted on July 15, 2021 by Gene Tunny

I had a good chat with Scott Emerson on his 4BC Drive program this afternoon about the June ABS Labour Force estimates released today which showed the national unemployment rate falling to 4.9%, the lowest rate since December 2010. The … Continue reading →

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On whether we should follow bad laws + Public Choice podcast chat with Brendan Markey-Towler

Posted on July 2, 2021 by Gene Tunny

Despite the positive messaging from the Queensland Government yesterday, Brisbane’s lockdown has been extended by at least 24 hours, because of two new cases on the south side, causing considerable angst among more than one million people and ruining weddings … Continue reading →

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The downside of Australia’s isolation strategy

Posted on June 8, 2021 by Gene Tunny

To political leaders, it often seems easier and less risky to stick with current restrictions, and a lesson from history is that government restrictions often last much longer than is justifiable. Hence, four years after the end of the War, … Continue reading →

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Lockdown CBA podcast discussion with Prof. Douglas Allen of Simon Fraser University

Posted on June 5, 2021 by Gene Tunny

If you’ve seen any of Alan Jones’s recent commentary on Sky Australia you may have heard him talk about a recent cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of Canada’s COVID lockdown. Episode 90 of my Economics Explored podcast features a discussion regarding COVID lockdown costs versus … Continue reading →

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Online retail falling away from 2020 highs

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Gene Tunny

The big news on the Australian sharemarket yesterday was the 14% drop in the Kogan share price after a market update revealed a drop in earnings for the online retailer (see chart below). This probably should not have been such … Continue reading →

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More action, less talk needed on vaccines

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Gene Tunny

Business people know meetings can crowd out action and, hence, meetings should be minimised to only those absolutely necessary and they should be action-focussed (e.g. short and sharp Scrum meetings of the team members directly involved in a project, meaning … Continue reading →

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Travel bubble great news for Qld’s 200,000 NZ-born

Posted on April 7, 2021 by Gene Tunny

As Queensland Premier Palaszczuk pointed out yesterday on social media following the announcement of the travel bubble with New Zealand, Queensland has the largest number of NZ-born people in Australia. Indeed, according to the 2016 Census, Queensland had 201,200 NZ-born … Continue reading →

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Six houses, alike in dignity… not much else – guest post by Brendan Markey-Towler

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Gene Tunny

This guest post by my good friend and fellow Queensland economist Dr Brendan Markey-Towler makes some excellent points regarding Queensland’s economic recovery from the COVID-recession – e.g. consumption spending has been goosed up by government benefits and, apart from in … Continue reading →

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

Another costly unnecessary lockdown for Brisbane

Posted on March 29, 2021 by Gene Tunny

It’s obvious now we were lulled into a false sense of security several weeks ago by Queensland CHO Jeannette Young when she said future lockdowns were unlikely. Our CHO has panicked once again, caused the Premier a sleepless night, and … Continue reading →

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Qld state finances chat with ABC’s Steve Austin & QEAS’s Nick Behrens

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Gene Tunny

Fellow Queensland economist Nick Behrens and I sat down with 612 ABC Brisbane’s Steve Austin to chat about the latest report from the Auditor-General on Queensland’s state finances. Of course, COVID is the big story since March last year, but, … Continue reading →

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