ACE 2026 will be held in Canberra, ACT from 7-10 July 2026 at University of Canberra.

On 12th August, our long term Secretary, and at the time, Treasurer Elect, Associate Professor Russell Ross, sadly passed away. Russell’s passing has left us heartbroken.  In light of the vacant role of Treasurer and under the ESA Central Constitution [Sections 15(3) - 15(9)], the Call for Nominations is now open.

A number of prestigious awards were bestowed upon worthy economists at ACE2025 which held in Sydney during July. 

Poll 67

Poll finds support for aligning net zero, reliability and price,

Peter Martin

Poll 66

Top economists say Trump’s policies will hit Australian economic growth and push up inflation and interest rates in the US.

The Economic Society, especially the Victorian branch, regret the passing of Duncan Ironmonger at the age of 92.

Duncan spent most of his career at the University of Melbourne following his return from Cambridge after a brief stint at the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The 8th Australian Gender Economics Workshop (#AGEW2025) was hosted by the University of Wollongong in partnership with the Women in Economics Network and was organised by Alfredo Paloyo. The workshop took place on 6‒7 February 2025 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Wollongong is in Dharawal Country.

Philip, an Honorary Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia died recently after a short illness.

As a long-time member of the Victoria branch, he was President and also Treasurer. After his father Arthur Norman died, his mother Jean Macgregor married Richard Downing, the Ritchie Professor of Economic Research, at the University of Melbourne and editor of the Economic Record.

Poll 65

Panellists are unanimous in believing Australia’s housing market is in crisis.

Offered a choice of 14 measures identified by the Economic Society of Australia as likely to restrain prices for buyers and renters, none of the 49 leading economists polled picked: “do nothing, the market will determine appropriate prices”.

The Reserve Bank has been releasing a large volume of digitised archival records to the public through our digital archive (called Unreserved). These records span nearly 200 years of Australia’s economic, financial and social history. The latest release includes records about the work and influence of Dr HC Coombs along with additional records from the Bank’s Research Department, with much of the new information covering the period from the Bank’s ‘separation’ from the original Commonwealth Bank in 1960 through to the early 1970s.

The robots are coming. The world of human work is fast disappearing. This is the future according to the doomsayers who seem at present to dominate discussion on the effects of computers in Australia. It’s a catchy story, and perhaps it fits with what we feel is happening around us. But it has rather a big problem. There is not much (or any) evidence to support it.

In the first of a new series of podcasts for members we ask Professor Jeff Borland: Will robots take our jobs?

"If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold."
twitter.com/andlewis/status/24380177712 

There is little doubt that consumers have benefited from zero price services from the likes of Facebook, Google and even Visa and Mastercard. But is there such a thing as a free emoji? In this podcast Dr. Stephen King explains the two-sided nature of the markets in which these companies compete. He also discusses how economists have grappled with the complexity of these markets in problems ranging from the misuse of market power to ownership of personalised data.

Jobs matter – they are not only a source of income, but also a source of self-esteem, social interaction, purpose and even community. The concept of work, however, is rapidly changing with the advent of the digital economy and a rapidly aging population. So what can Australians do to improve their job prospects and security?

In this podcast Karen Chester discusses recent trends in Australia’s labour market and the fundamental fractures in Australia’s education and training system that could be leaving us unprepared for our current and future labour markets

Keynote address by Professor Sir Tim Besley to the Australian Conference of Economists, Melbourne 2019

This is a special edition of the regular ESA podcast, featuring a recording of the keynote speech from the Australian Conference of Economists in Melbourne on 15 July 2019. Professor Sir Tim Besley spoke on Why policy economists should study the dynamics of culture.

Keynote address by Professor Wendy Carlin to the Australian Conference of Economists, Melbourne 2019

This is a special edition of the regular ESA podcast, featuring a recording of the keynote speech from the Australian Conference of Economists in Melbourne on 16 July 2019. Professor Wendy Carlin from University College London spoke on the Future of Economics & Economics Education - Insights from Machine Learning.

The University of Melbourne has launched a campaign that's designed to highlight the women in their Faculty and provides career advice to young women.

Follow this link to view the youtube video, which features some of their top female academics (including economist Guyonne Kalb and Abigail Payne).

Short Supply is an annual publication of the Economics Student Society of Australia. Launched in 2015 by ESSA’s Monash University branch, it has served as an outlet for student writers and academics to share thoughts and insights on a particular theme. This year's publication, which was launched in mid-August, focuses on the theme of "disasters". Previous editions of the publication are also available on the ESSA website.

The Victorian WEN committee is seeking interested members to join the 2023 Committee as general committee.

On Wednesday 25 March 2020, Infrastructure Victoria released its latest policy paper on transport network pricing -- Good Move: Fixing Transport Congestion. You can view Infrastructure Victoria's presentation on the paper here.  The Victorian Branch is working with Infrastructure Victoria to bring Economic Society members a webinar or podcast on this research in coming weeks. Stay tuned for more details.

Given the exceptional circumstances surrounding COVID-19, the Victorian Branch of the Economic Society of Australia will be postponing public events until further notice. This includes the Women in Economics Network and the ESA Young Professionals. This is the most sensible course of action to keep our presenters, members, attendees and other members of the community safe. We will closely monitor developments and bring back our events when it is safe to do so.