Concept Economy Podcast

The Australian Government is determined to enrol more young people into university as a lever for achieving greater national productivity.

But what’s the point of increasing the number of university students if we don’t help graduates find those productivity-boosting jobs at the end of their degrees?

Sam is joined by Dr Jason Brown, now Director of Career Impact at Monash University. They discuss the flexible nature of employability, the benefits of hybrid work, and how internships unlock value for both students and industry.

It’s been said that if money is the lifeblood of the economy, the financial system is a network of veins threaded through the nation.

The financial system provides a place for people to invest and store their savings. It helps to channel funds into new businesses. It can also be used for speculation and in some cases, money-laundering.

With such a range of functions, how can we create a financial system that caters to the needs of customers and promotes productivity?

Sam is joined by Emeritus Professor Kevin Davis from the University of Melbourne to discuss who created our financial institutions and why; the surprising effects of financial regulation; and how Australia ended up with a few big, privately owned banks, and a huge decline in the number of mutually-owned credit unions.

Public policy impacts almost every aspect of our lives. Policy sets constraints on the economy. Policy sets out the rules that we live by. Analysts, politicians, and policymakers from different backgrounds collaborate and compete to create policy.

But who gets to decide what makes “good” public policy?

What should “good” policy seek to achieve?

Sam is joined by Professor Janine O’Flynn from ANU to step through two big ideas that have shaped public policy: New Public Management, and Public Value Theory.

The creation of good public policy requires policymakers to solve complex problems. This is challenging work, especially because reliable methods for creating good policy are not always clear.

Science, technology, and product development have made leaps and bounds in recent decades, in part thanks to advances in problem solving derived from fields of study such as design thinking and systems theory. Is it possible to apply the tools from these domains to solve complex policy problems?

Systemic design and co-design offer strategies for enabling policymakers to develop better policy – a big part of the picture is simply listening to the people who are impacted. Sam is joined by coach and researcher, Dr Emma Blomkamp to find out more about how to design better policy and the challenges faced by policymakers.

Does higher education hold the key to national prosperity?

Universities are complex and ancient institutions, yet instrumentalists view them primarily as a means to achieving government goals. The workers of the future will require advanced skills – so it is reasoned – and universities are perfectly positioned to deliver the training.

But does increasing the number of students at university automatically lead to a better educated workforce? Does it matter whether university educators have been trained to teach? And how can we know what the jobs of the future will be?

Professor Andrew Norton joins Sam to discuss the many responsibilities of universities and whether higher education policy is taking teaching seriously.

In a nation grappling with expensive housing, our lives are dominated by banks. Social mobility is no longer a function of hard work but a question of how much cash you can borrow from your parents.

Economic policy has played a central role in shaping these undesirable outcomes but it can be hard to understand how this works. That’s where Alan comes in.

Alan Kohler has been helping ordinary punters understand finance and the economy for over five decades. He joins Sam to unpack his writing – The Great Divide: Australia’s Housing Mess and How to Fix It (2023), and It’s Your Money: How Banking Went Rogue, Where it is Now and How to Protect and Grow Your Money (2019).

While they’re at it, they pause to wrestle with some of the mind-bending questions raised by Modern Monetary Theory. Are we being lied to about the national budget? Do government deficits matter?

The Australian government has decided it is not responsible for providing access to affordable housing. Despite playing a pivotal role in the provision of public education and healthcare, government builds only a fraction of Australia’s housing stock. In a market dominated by private developers, house prices have seen staggering increases.

Everybody’s Home is a campaign to fix the Australian housing crisis. Sam speaks to national spokesperson, Maiy Azize, about how to effect political change, and why the government needs to return to the tried-and-tested policy of building more social and affordable housing.

We rely on it every day, but we rarely stop to consider, “What is money?”

There’s an important difference between a $50 banknote, and the numbers you see in your bank account. The availability of cash and digital money, and the infrastructure that supports them fundamentally shape our monetary system.

Much like a transport system, the monetary system is vital to the operation of a modern nation. But who is designing it? And what do we need a monetary system to provide?

Sam and Brett discuss the origin of money, monetary systems, and Brett’s 2023 book, “Cloudmoney”.

Have you ever met a politician under the age of 30?

When Jordan Lane was elected as the NSW State Member for Ryde, he was one of just two parliamentarians in that age bracket.

Young people around the world are facing unique challenges, yet they are under-represented in our parliaments.

Jordan joins Sam to discuss young Aussies losing faith in politics and why he’s optimistic about the potential for positive change.

Economic policy has transformed Australia in the past forty years.

If you’re reading about the Australian economy, it’s only a matter of time before you come across the term, “neoliberalism”. Over the past four decades, this brand of economic thought has had a massive impact on the shape of economies around the world.

Professor John Quiggin unpacks the rise of neoliberalism in Australia, the distinguishing characteristics of this ideology, and how events like the Global Financial Crisis undermined the credibility of key neoliberal theories.

John’s 2024 book, After Neoliberalism, can be found here.