The Dismal Science

Surging prices, war in Ukraine, the spectre of nuclear conflict – how worried should we be? This episode was recorded live last week in Melbourne at the Australian Governance Summit.

Wages growth is off the pandemic floor but remains historically weak. How low can unemployment go in Australia before we start to see inflationary pressures? Plus, we look at the potential eocnomic impact of war in Ukraine.

We are back! Markets are roiling at the prospect of interest rate hikes over 2022. Will central banks take away the punchbowl? Should we be worried about a crash? Plus, a mixed confidence picture in Australia as we emerge from Omciron and the latest on Evergrande's debt workout.

It's another bumper quizmas episode. We score Mark on last year's quiz, look ahead to 2022 and run through The Dismal Science summer reading list. Plus, the final extremely strong jobs numbers for 2022, Biden's troubled stimulus bill and the MYEFO. We'll be back with more episodes in late January.

Directors have identified labour shortages as the biggest economic challenge facing Australian business, according to the AICD's latest Director Sentiment Index. Plus, the Australian residential property market passes $9 trillion in value, record job ads and European carbon prices skyrocket.

Our founding economist Stephen Walters, now NSW Chief Economist, comes back for our 100th episode to reflect on what's changed in economics since we started in 2017 and his role in advising the NSW government during the pandemic. Plus, 3Q GDP turns out not to be as bad as we feared, Omicron looms on the horizon, another record current account surplus and house prices keep on going up.

Grab bag this week for our 99th episode: Four more years for Jerome Powell, President Biden taps the US strategic oil reserves, PMIs turn positive for Australia and decentralised autonomous organisations.

The COP26 climate talks were largely a failure against their stated goals. So is there any hope for the future of negotiations and the planet? Plus, wages remain subdued, the RBA's view on the inflation debate and the war for talent.

We go back to the Paris Agreement and ask if its vision, particularly restraining warming to less than 2 degrees, can be met at COP26 and beyond. Plus, central banks begin the task of unwinding unconventional pandemic support programs.

The government announces a 'plan' for net zero, plus is the inflation genie coming for Australia?