Welcome to the re launch of Ceteris Paribus for members of the Victorian branch of the Economic Society. This newsletter was discontinued in 2014 but it’s time to relaunch it and inform members of the activities of the branch and the Economic Society at large.

The newsletter will also feature some economic commentaries.

As the editor I will be inviting economists from the public and private sector to write commentaries on current economic issues. I will also be inviting university academics to contribute. I would welcome any contribution you might wish to make about the state or aspects of Australian economics or snippets of the history of the Society as it nears its 100th anniversary in 2025.

The Economic Society is one of Australia ‘s oldest business organisations. I have to remind you that since its inception in 1925 the Society has never harboured certain position on matter of economic and public policy; Rather, it’s focus was all about spreading economic literacy and economic knowledge within the community. Branch meetings have always been a forum for discussion. It is true, though, that the Economic Society favours mainstream economics, not heterodox economics in its journals and conferences.

I wanted to start my discussion with a story.  I was at a 50th Birthday party recently which happened to be frequented by a dozen high school teachers.  I asked several of them “why do high school graduates not know how to calculate something as simple as a percentage change?”  They responded with, “well you know George we do teach this around years 9 or 10, however they simply memorize what to do for any assessments and then it’s thrown out and they never look at it again.”  This made a lot of sense to me and why students in economics (math methods trained or not) had so much difficulty understanding the simple concept of elasticity….it turns out they didn’t even remember how to calculate a percentage change! 

There have been persistent calls recently for a review of the Reserve Bank. Both the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, and the Shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, have confirmed that if they were the Treasurer after the forthcoming general election they would initiate a review of the Bank.

When Anthony Albanese won the recent federal election, he became Australia’s seventh postwar Labor prime minister. He might do well to recall the experiences of his forbears. Incoming Labor prime ministers in Australia have invariably faced immediate and serious economic challenges, some of those bequeathed by conservative governments which have long styled themselves as superior economic managers.