Burgernomics

Interest Rates. A 150 second 'cheat note' great for dinner party conversation, impressing your boss...or impressing your employees.  Interest rates are going up, up, up. Can they be predicted? Many say the bond markets are the clairvoyants of interest rates. How accurate are bond yields in predicting interest rates? For a detailed discussion on interest rates please listen to episode 24, Interest Rates. Where to from here? With NAB's Chief Economist, Alan Oster and Burgernomics host Ross MacDowell. Alan doesn't believe the bond markets have a good record of interest rate predictions. 

Alan Oster, National Australia Banks Chief Economist and Burgernomics host Ross MacDowell candidly discuss whether bond traders are interest rate clairvoyants. Bonds usually put most people to sleep. This discussion won’t!Australian’s pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest on their mortgages. What if there was a way to predict future interest rate rises? If the Reserve Bank sets Australian interest rates, is it possible for a mysterious group of bond traders to influence the RBA and therefore Australia’s economy? Concrete examples are given as to the accuracy of bond yields and interest rates, including mortgage rates.

Carbon Net Zero. A 55 second 'cheat note' guide by Burgernomics host Ross MacDowell. What is net zero? What happens if enterprises can't meet net zero? What are carbon credits? Great for business meetings, dinner parties or whenever you need just a little bit of knowledge to get you through. Want to know more? Please listen to the full podcast, Carbon Net Zero with Tony Wood, Energy Program Director at the Grattan Institute and Burgernomics host Ross MacDowell.

Tony Wood, Energy Program Director at the Grattan Institute demystifies Net Zero Carbon with Burgernomics host Ross MacDowell. Straightforward explanations, highlighting the problems and defining responsibilities. This is a fascinating conversation.Climate experts believe 6 bn tonnes of carbon dioxide needs to be removed from the atmosphere by 2050 if climate change is to be avoided. To date 0.00016% or 10,000 tonnes have been removed.Net Zero Carbon will create massive shifts within the Australian economy, both pluses and minuses. Over the next 30 years, $86 billion dollars of coal and liquified natural gas export sales will disappear. Net Zero will reduce massive insurance payouts caused by bad weather events related to global warming. Net Zero will cause billions of dollars to be invested in new technology transferring Australian industry to net zero carbon emission by 2050.Will the change to net zero cause consumer prices to rise to cover the cost of the transition? Will huge gov’t subsidies be required to shift industries into net zero putting pressure on our tax base? What are the role of carbon credits?

Petrol Prices. Are you being taken for a ride? A 25 second 'cheat note' guide by Ross MacDowell. Do petrol companies collude setting petrol prices? How do they orchestrate price rises without government prosecution? What would be the price of petrol if there was no collusion? Great for business meetings, dinner parties or whenever you need just a little bit of knowledge to get you through. Want to know  more? Please listen to the full podcast, Petrol Prices. Are you being taken for a ride? With Australia's leading petrol price expert, David Byrne Professor Of Economics at Melbourne University

David Byrne Professor of Economics at Melbourne University is Australia’s leading expert in retail petrol pricing. With Burgernomics host, Ross MacDowell they discuss collusion, cartels and the associated costs to the Australian motorist. Professor Byrne has conducted empirical studies proving exactly what most people believe, there is something ‘funny’ going on with the price of the petrol we buy at the bowser. Australia's petrol market, a freely competitive market place benefiting the consumer? Probably not.
Dive Deeper

What Professor Byrne recommends.Petrol Pricing Apps That Will Save You MoneyMotor Mouth. https://motormouth.com.au/Gas Buddy. https://www.gasbuddy.com/app

Fuel Map. http://fuelmap.com.au/

Fuel Watch WA. https://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/
Start Up Search Costs by Prof David Byrne and Prof Nicolas de RoosAmerican Economic Journal: Microeconomics,https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3100395Individuals pay the same cost to obtain price information each time they search. This paper provides evidence on a new form of search costs: startup costs. Exploiting a natural experiment in retail gasoline, we document how a temporary, large exogenous shock to consumers' search incentives leads to a substantial, permanent increase in price search. A standard search model fails to explain such history-dependence in search, while it follows directly from a model with a one-time up-front cost to start searching.
Learning To Co Ordinate: A Study In Retail Gasoline. By Prof. David Byrne and Prof Nicholas De Rooshttps://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/scholarlywork/953653-learning-to-coordinate--a-study-in-retail-gasoline
ACCC Vs Informed Sourceshttps://www.australiancompetitionlaw.org/cases/current/2014-vid450-informed.html

Inflation. Is it here to stay? A 60 second 'cheat note' guide by Ross MacDowell, on inflation that is reappearing worldwide. Is it temporary or permanent? Why has it happened? What can you expect in terms of interest rate rises? What will happen to your mortgage repayments and income?Great for business meetings, dinners parties or whenever you need just a little bit of knowledge to get you through.Want to know more? Please listen to the Burgernomics podcast, Your Monthly Budget. Will inflation make it explode? With EY’s Chief Economist Oceania, Cherelle Murphy.

Cherelle Murphy Chief Economist Oceania EY and Burgernomics host Ross MacDowell discuss Your Monthly Budget. Is Inflation About To Make It Explode?

Every economists nightmare is the 1930’s black & white photo of German women stuffing her stove with banknotes to boil the kettle. Inflation had made her banknotes worthless. Now, after decades of almost no inflation, inflation is back and lots of Australians are wondering how inflation will affect them. Cherelle & Ross discuss

Cherelle takes the Burgernomics test, applying the effects of inflation to our simple hamburger, not just from an economists viewpoint but also as a mother with two young hamburger eating children to cater for.
Want To Dive Deeper?Cherelle Murphy recommends,For a great explanation of inflation: Inflation and its Measurement | Explainer | Education | RBA

Measuring inflation methodology:  Consumer Price Index, Australia methodology, December 2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)

CPI data from the ABS can be found here: Consumer Price Index, Australia, December 2021 | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au)

Read our EY’s 2022 full Budget analysis here, and Cherelle’s Budget in 90 seconds. 
Connect with Cherelle Murphy on LinkedIn for regular updates on the economy.
Cherelle is passionate about encouraging women into economics,Women in Economics Network: WEN National Committee (esawen.org.au)

A 75 second 'cheat note' guide by Ross MacDowell, on how economic warfare (sanctions) rather than military warfare is being used to defeat Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine. What are the consequences for the rest of the world?Great for business meetings, dinners parties or whenever you need just a little bit of knowledge to get you through.Want to know more? Please listen to the Burgernomics podcast, Russian Sanctions. Weaponised Economics with Steven Hamilton,  Assoc Professor Of Economics from the George Washington University.

Steven Hamilton Assistant Professor of Economics at The George Washington University in Washington DC and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University discusses how the world is reeling from the the largest conventional military attack in Europe since World War 2. Russia has invaded the Ukraine.Just about every country in the world is outraged about this invasion...with China sitting on the fence.But unlike other wars, all the countries opposing the war have decided not to fight head to head with the Russian aggressor. Is this because they fear Vladimir Putin has forgotten the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction, meaning Putins threats of nuclear missiles against the West would start a nuclear war, where everyone ends up dead. Led by the United States and Europe, economic sanctions are now the weapons of choice against Russia rather than missiles, warships and fighter jets. The west believes it can economically sanction Russia into surrender. But just like bombs and missiles, sanctions too create collateral damage.Steven Hamilton Assistant Professor of Economics at The George Washington University in Washington DC and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. Steven has authored policy proposals for the Brookings Institution and provided economic commentary for the New York Times, the LA Times and Time Magazine.

Want To Dig Deeper?
Steven recommends reading,https://theconversation.com/just-short-of-nuclear-these-sanctions-will-cripple-russias-economy-178000https://theconversation.com/russian-sanctions-are-biting-harder-than-imagined-and-itll-get-worse-178322Some pieces by economist Noah Smith:https://noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-big-sanctions-a-quick-explainer?s=rhttps://noahpinion.substack.com/p/how-are-the-big-sanctions-hurting?s=rSome pieces by economic historian Adam Tooze:https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-89-russias-financial-meltdown?s=r

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-97-is-boycotting-russian?s=r