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True wages growth, and true price growth, is probably less than the official figures suggest – meaning there’s no need for alarm about inflation in Australia.
Joel Carrett/AAP
The prime minister road-tested an avalanche of slogans on Wednesday, some of them clearly false.
Hoover Institution
Firms should attempt to maximise profits, but if shareholders want it, there’s no reason why they can’t have other goals.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Most recessions are caused by an overreaction to too much inflation. This one is because we are not spending.
Would the economy be in better shape if the RBA had cut interest rates sooner?
AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)
The Reserve Bank of Australia says it’s prepared to ease monetary policy further if needed to stimulate the economy. But is the policy working when interests rates are so low?
Democratic candidate frontrunner Elizabeth Warren’s signature policy proposal is to tax the rich.
Gabriella Demczuk/CNN
Other measures might raise as much as her proposed wealth tax, but Democratic front-runner Elizabeth Warren likes big gestures.
It’s easy to ask businesses to invest more, hard to get them to do it.
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The government can help boost business investment, but it would take a boost in government investment and would keep the budget in deficit.
The last time inflation was zero the Reserve Bank cut rates twice. It’ll get the chance on May 7.
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Inflation has barely been within the Governor Philip Lowe’s target band his entire time in office. Zero inflation means he should cut now, before the election.
Both Australia’s trend and seasonally adjusted GDP per capita growth rates have dipped below zero.
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The treasurer says 2018 was a year of two halves, but there were signs of a downturn well before mid year.
Newly-elected US Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is co-author of the New Green Deal which proposes massively expanding the budget deficit as a way of supporting both the environment and the economy.
Alba Vigaray/EPA
There are limits on how much governments can spend without earning, although increasingly politicians are behaving as if there are not.
Philip Lowe tells the Press Club on Wednesday there’s now an even-money chance rates will be cut.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Rates might need to be cut urgently, and because things are good. Governor Lowe has signalled he won’t wait.
We’re unpredictable, but this could be a one-off adjustment.
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Prices are off, but from unprecedented highs. It could be a one-time adjustment.
How the float was greeted, 35 years ago on December 10, 1983.
The Australian, December 10, 1983
Floating the dollar 35 years ago was a leap into the unknown. Here’s how it has served us well.
Negative gearing makes it hard for renters to become home owners. Now would be a pain-free time to wind it back.
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The best time to shut down negative gearing is when few people are taking it up. That time is now.
Officially, our inflation rate is lower than at any time since the 1950s, but we’ve reasons for doubting it.
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Hardly anyone believes that prices are really increasing by only 1.9% per year. The fault lies with us, and also the way the Bureau of Statistics adjusts prices for ‘quality’.
Australia’s unemployment rate is at what would once been regarded as full employment. But that doesn’t mean it can’t fall further.
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We should ignore out-of-date and failed theories and test what full employment really means in 2018.
Air could come rushing out of the housing market all at once.
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The Reserve Bank is worried that a further tightening of lending standards could take the air out of the housing bubble quickly. Here’s how.
Whether there is a floor beneath which cuts in interest rate are ineffective depends in part on house prices.
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It is thought that it doesn’t help much to cut official interest rates toward or beyond zero, and maybe it doesn’t, but new research suggests the answer has a lot to do with the housing market.
Online prices drive offline prices.
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The mere possibility of online competition is restraining prices offline.
The Turkish currency, the lira, has fallen by more than 40% against the US dollar.
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It is contagious populist ideology more than financial contagion that should scare us right now.