Worldonomics

Welcome to a new episode of the Worldonomics Podcast! Today, we explore an intriguing journey in our episode titled "Medicine to Markets: A Medicine Student's Leap into Quant Finance." Join us as we sit down with Franklin, a former medicine student who made a dramatic shift into the world of quantitative finance. We'll dive into the pivotal decisions that guided his career change, the role of luck in his unexpected transition, and the search for meaning in a field vastly different from his original path.

Grandmaster and Behavioural Economist David Smerdon discusses the reasons behind the gender gap in Chess, behavioural theories behind the gap, Smerdon's Scandinavian, his journey from Chess to Economics, and playing world champion Magnus Carlson (and almost beating him)!

To kick off this semester’s exciting lineup of episodes, get to know the diversity team and what makes up our individual perspectives. This week we discuss our personal uni journeys, what drove us to economics, and what makes us unique outside of uni.

In the third installment of our Internship Experiences series, we interview our very own UQES executives, Thomas Mitchell and Kosei Stephenson. Both Thomas (Publications Officer) and Kosei (Socials Officer and Sports/Culture Director) indulge us in their fascinating summer experience, working as interns in the finance function for Boeing Defense Australia.

In this weeks Worldonomics Podcast episode we interview our very own Vice President of Publications Charlotte Thorne.  When she isn't busy writing and editing our publications pieces Charlotte has been wracking up Qantas points as she completed two summer internships, both in Brisbane and in Sydney.


Charlotte gained these internship opportunities as a recipient of the Pinnacle Women in Finance Scholarship. In this episode Charlotte tells us all about the scholarship and what she learnt from her internships at Resolution Capital and Hyperion Asset management. 

The first interview of our Internship Experiences series, in which we discuss the highs and lows of Economics internships. Episode one features our own UQES Treasurer Olivia Uy and a discussion on her experience at J.P Morgan in Sydney this past summer.

This week the UQES Diversity team present an interview with Robin Barlow,  founding director of NineSquared, an economics consulting firm based in Brisbane.

 Robin has had a fascinating career, primarily focused on transport economics. In this episode we discuss the beginning of his career, his time in the public sector, and some of the ins and outs of how economic decisions are made in regard to public transport. Come back next week to hear Robin's perspective on private economic consulting, and the challenges and advantages of starting your own firm. 

With the rapid rise in house prices since the covid pandemic, we have been put in a pretty unique situation.  Home ownership for young people has decreased by 7%  and the proportion of disposable income required to pay rent has increased by 14% since 2019 all while the top 10% of households grew their wealth by 12%. It is no secret that we are in the midst of a crisis but what if there was an easy way to combat this wealth disparity. Introducing: inheritance taxes. 

In this episode, UQES is joined by esteemed economics Professor John Mangan to discuss why we should be bringing inheritance taxes back from the dead and why it is the “single most progressive tax” Australia could implement. 

Johns paper on the inheritance tax: https://aibe.uq.edu.au/project/back-dead-australian-inheritance-tax

Johns researcher profile: https://bel.uq.edu.au/profile/3094/john-mangan

In this episode, UQES interviews KK Tang, a Professor at the UQ School of Economics and the current Acting Director of Teaching and Learning.

KK has a background in Physics, having studied a Bachelor of Science (Honours) at the University of Hong Kong. He further pursued a Master in Economic Studies and Doctor of Philosophy at the Australian National University. In addition, KK has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Economics from Macquarie University.

KK has a keen research interest in applied economics, and has investigated development and health economics. Currently, KK is examining income insecurity, mortality uncertainty, inequality in opportunity, health inequality and mental health.

In the first part of the interview, we will explore the trajectory of KK's academic career and how his interest in applied economics was fostered.

In this episode,  UQES continues our interview with Gene Tunny, the Director of Adept Economics.

Gene has enjoyed a diverse career, moving from the public sector, where he worked for the Treasury, into the private sector, working as a consultant with Marsden Jacob associates and as the Director of Adept Economics, an economics consulting firm based in Brisbane.

Gene has also acted on the executive of the Economics Society of Australia and currently runs the Economics Explored podcast. In this second part of the interview, we will explore Gene's experience with the Economics Society of Australia, and hear from him about his experience teaching macroeconomic policy at UQ. We also hear from Gene about his experience starting and acting as the Director of Adept Economics. Finally, we will learn about his podcast Economics Explored, and hear a few tips about succeeding in the field.