The Economists

What is the Reserve Bank of Australia doing to taper its economic support as it becomes more confident about Australia’s recovery? Plus, fewer high school students, and fewer girls are choosing to study economics. A school is three times more likely to offer the subject if it is in a well-off area compared to a poorer area. What are the implications?

Guests:

Su-Ling Ong, Managing Director, Chief Economist, RBC Capital Markets

Leith Thompson Second Master Economics, Sydney Grammar School

Over the next 40 years, Australia’s population is expected to age and become smaller than expected. What are the implications and is it really a problem?

Guests:

Professor John Piggott, Director, Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR), UNSW

Professor Miranda Stewart, tax specialist, University of Melbourne Law School

How do we measure the costs and benefits of lockdowns and how can we move forward to fully open the economy? Plus, the "statistical" value of a human life – how this measure underpins government decision making. The Economists are back on RN!

Guests:

Bob Gregory, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University and former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia

Kip Viscusi, Professor of Law, Economics, and Management, Vanderbilt University, Nashville Tennessee

GDP figures say that Australia is heading towards recession for the first time in 29 years. Now what?

As 2020 brought bushfires, drought and floods, we were already in financial trouble.

But the measures taken to save lives in the face of COVID-19 have pushed the economy over the edge.

Nicki Hutley, partner at Deloitte Access Economics and Terry Rawnsley from SGS Economics and Planning, join us to pull apart the GDP 'sausage' and tell us what it all means.

If economics was made more relatable, it would be easier to understand.

Justin Wolfers says we should start by teaching it differently.

He says that although the guiding principles have largely remained, they need to be pulled apart and used in everyday decision-making to be useful.

And if you don't want to study at university, there are some great resources to guide you through say, a pandemic.

Justin Wolfers is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

He co-authored (with Betsey Stevenson) Principles of Economics.

The hardships caused by the COVID-19 shutdown are not evenly distributed.

In the US, 40% of the workforce who earn just $40,000 a year, have lost their jobs.

Australians in a similar position will also face harsher conditions than higher earners.

But it goes beyond employment into poverty-specific issues like homelessness and neglect.

Stefanie Schurer explains why most of the suffering will land on the shoulders of children.

Professor Schurer is at Sydney University. She is chief investigator at the NHMRC of Research Excellence of both Child and Indigenous Youth Well-being.

Also

How does the Australian Bureau of Statistics gather data in the fast-moving times of the coronavirus?

David Gruen, lead statistician of the ABS and former chief economist to the prime minister, joins us.

The COVID-19-induced recession will be nothing like any recession, indeed depression, we have seen before.

The difference this time is that the government is not reacting to poor market performance. Rather, it has actively directed business across Australia to close its doors.

Bob Gregory is a former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia.

He says that the economy will be 'grim for six to nine months' and after that, it is impossible to know.

Bob Gregory is Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University.

Also

Behavioural economist Bob Slonim explains why we need to think more creatively to inspire more downloads of the COVIDSafe app.

Former research director of the prime minister's BETA unit, Bob Slonim is now at Sydney University.

As the dust starts to settle on the Australian economy, what will work look like?

Many of us hope to still have jobs but wonder how they will change.

Jessica Mizrahii from Deloitte Access Economists assures us not to worry, that the future of work is still human.

But when we have money in our pockets again, how will we spend it?

Also

Ross Garnaut joins us.

Will we finally change our approach to transforming energy and mining?

Pandemics require individuals to contribute to the greater good.

Behavioural economist, Stephen Whyte says that it is possible to 'nudge' people towards actions that improve their lives.

Staying at home, social- distancing and downloading the COVIDSafe app are pro-social behaviours we can implement ourselves.

But how do we incentivise big companies to put the necessary resources into finding a vaccine?

Joshua Gans, author of Economics in the Age of COVID-19 explains.

Competition in the free market is best for everyone. Except when it's not.

In the time of COVID-19, it most definitely is not.

Rod Sims is chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

He says that when we are fighting a pandemic-induced war, the economy is flipped on its head.

We must all work together to supply what people need, even if it involves co-operating with rival companies.

But once all parties have sat at the same table, how do we prevent collusion after the 'war' is over?