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It is clearly time to talk about NAIRU – the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment. The NAIRU is  supposed to capture the sweet spot – the lowest level to which the unemployment rate can safely fall before inflation starts to accelerate. Part 3 of 3 | Keynes, Pikketty and the the Pope identify the hegemonic […]

“Frydenberg exhumes Thatcher and Reagan”, so the Murdoch press gleefully extols.   Part 2 of 3 | The growth of inequality, ideological crusades and zombie economics A critique in three parts: 1. Beware the ‘fundamentalist’ narrative 2. The growth of inequality, ideological crusades and zombie economics 3. Keynes, Piketty and the Pope identify the hegemonic

It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. Mark Twain Part 1 of 3 Beware the Fundamentalist Narrative “One of the uses of history is to free us of a falsely imagined past. The less we know of how ideas actually took root

Mr Porter’s accuser is regrettably dead, and that fact is usually, but not always, the end of criminal proceeding into the accusation. Porter has, however, initiated a defamation case against the ABC and its journalist Louise Milligan. Coupled with this fact there is the potential for a South Australian coroner’s inquest into the circumstances surrounding

“The system is broken. It is unfathomable that we are still having to fight this stale, tired fight.” From Brittany Higgins’ speech at Canberra’s ‘March 4 Justice’ last Monday. A short-term problem to be politically managed? Not likely! Rather we are watching a rare generational moment where a convergence of events may have produced an

Guest Contributor: Thomas Nulty – retired Lawyer King JOHN and Donald JOHN have many traits in common. Some of the more obvious ones are self-centeredness; vanity; lasciviousness; broken promises; and a love of appointing justices that are reckoned to be ‘…on their side’. King JOHN was not just satisfied with appointing them but he required

We concluded our pre-election post with those immortal words from Peggy Lee “Is that all there is?” Maybe not – let us see what else emerged in this post-election assessment of Labor’s victory. The Basic Data: The Labor government was returned in an history-making third term for Annastacia Palaszczuk. But, as the above primary voting

Why is global capital fleeing coal and exiting oil and gas? Financial institutions are not acting this way simply for lofty social or environmental reasons, or for ‘virtue signalling’, but rather because it simply makes sense – both in terms of basic economics and in terms of climate change risk. Last weekend Malcolm Turnbull said

The kaleidoscopic politics of Queensland become even more confusing as election approaches. A record number of minor parties and candidates have emerged in the State’s political landscape. The Queensland parliament has 93 seats. There are 342 minor party candidates and 69 without party endorsement or running as independents seeking to get a share of the

What do Donald Trump and Scott Morrison have in common? Perhaps many things but we are only concerned about the economy at this time – they both reject the advice of economists on the best way to recharge the economy. Rather than look to the experts, Morrison focussed on key LNP constituencies – stimulating business