Macroeconomic research, teaching and advocacy
I am travelling most of today and have commitments at the other end. So I have meaning to post his podcast I did with Melbourne radio station 3CR in July, so today is a good time to make it available here. As I understand it, this is an edited version of a longer talk that
With the Rhine drying up and grass turning brown all over Europe (including the UK), even conservative bodies such as the ECB are starting to take notice and comment. On July 2, 2026, a member of the Executive Board, Frank Elderson gave a speech to the 7th World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists
Most of the economics commentary in the last few weeks about Japan has been about the need for higher interest rates or, relatedly, the desperate foreign exchange intervention where the US allegedly bailed out Japan to prevent currency failure. All side issues really. The forex intervention said more about US paranoia than anything about Japan s
The prophets of doom (Japan division) are back in town predicting the worst for the country. The UK Guardian even is getting in on the act (July 25, 2026) Can Japan avoid a Liz Truss-style shock as its PM embarks on a giant spending spree?. It is interesting now that the prophets have a
The former head of the Australian Treasury claims that: Everybody knows the budget should be in surplus right now. Well last time I checked I was still part of the body of humanity and I don t know that. In fact, the fiscal balance is currently recording a deficit (which should be referred to as a
Earlier this week (July 28, 2026), the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia presented to a fundraising event in Sydney on the topic of – Monetary Policy in an Era of Shocks. Later she conducted a Q A session where she declined to answer key questions about the policy choices the RBA has taken under
Over the last several years, I have been indicating that I think we are in the endgame for neoliberalism as a dominant ideology. On many fronts, the signs are that its institutional structure has failed and the promises that justified that structure have not materialised. I know there is a difference between the promises to
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released the latest labour force data today (July 23, 2026) Labour Force, Australia for June 2026 which provided mixed signals about the state of the labour market. While employment growth was positive, it was biased to part-time work, which is perhaps signalling a weakening as the
In addition to the basis academic research that occupies my working time and is funded by national competitive research funding agencies such as the Australian Research Council, I also do commissioned work for various organisations, mostly unions and community groups. That income allows me to also cross subsidise the basic research and is how a
Earlier this year, I analysed how decisions taken by the Japanese Government Pension Investment Fund to speculate in global financial markets have played a significant role in the depreciation of the yen. In this blog post Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund and the yen – mainstream macro myths driving bad policy (February 2, 2026)