WEN Credible Blog Series Writing Competition - Winners Announcement

In 2022, NSW WEN hosted its inaugural writing competition as part of the Credible Economist series.

ACE 2022

It is our pleasure to invite you to the Australian Conference of Economists (ACE) 2022 to be held from 10 to 13 July 2022 in Hobart, Tasmania as an in-person event.  Our theme, Economics in the New Normal, will seek to address the challenges that a post-pandemic world faces, and we look forward to receiving your submissions for presentation at the conference. Keynote speakers will be announced soon.

Economic Analysis and Policy (EAP) - Call for Editors

Economic Analysis and Policy (EAP) has improved its performance considerably since it was taken over by Elsevier back in 2014. The combination of an online-only publication strategy, together with the steady editorial guidance of the Managing Editor since 2008, has been successful in increasing the journal’s outreach and placing EAP ready for its next step: an editorial team that will be diverse and specialised at the same time.

Prioritising issues for the incoming Government

Poll 54

Panellists were asked: 

"From this list, please pick the three issues you think will be the most important for the incoming government and should be the most important in the election".

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

Unreserved - RBA's latest release of digitised archival records

Over the past year, 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. In this latest release, users will find primary source material about government finances, the evolving international architecture of the 20^th century and economic analysis for the period from 1918 to 1966.

What should the budget deficit be?

Poll 53

Given the economic environment, compared to the December projection what should the budget deficit be?

Cut emissions, not petrol tax; fund childcare, not beer. What economists want from next week’s budget

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND

Intake of permanent migrants

Poll 52

"What do you think the intake of permanent migrants should be in coming years"

Australia’s leading economists have overwhelmingly endorsed a return to the highest immigration intake on record, saying Australia should aim for at least 190,000 migrants per year as it opens its borders, up from the target of 160,000 per year set ahead of COVID.

Photo credit "Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND"

Awards 2021

A number of prestigious awards were bestowed upon worthy economists at a recent Zoom ceremony.  Read on to find out who won the 2021 ESA National Awards.

Top Economists see no prolonged high inflation, no rate hike next year (Q1)

Poll 51

Our panellists were asked whether rate hikes would be necessitated in the United States, Britain and Australia.

Despite appearances – especially in the United States – the era of high inflation isn’t set for a comeback in the view of Australia’s leading economists, and most see no need for the Reserve Bank to lift interest rates next year.

Question 1

"The current combination of Australian fiscal and monetary policy poses a serious risk of prolonged above-target inflation."

Photo credit "Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND"

Follow us on Twitter

We are delighted to announce the launch of ESA's Twitter account.  Keep up to date with economics-related topics and be part of the conversation.

Will robots take our jobs? A conversation with Professor Jeff Borland

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?

Technology & Competition laws: A conversation with Dr Stephen King

"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.

Fitness & the future of work: time to swap out the marathon for F45 - A conversation with Karen Chester

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

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

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.

Career advice for young women from University of Melbourne

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 - ESSA's Annual Student Publication

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.

ACE2021

The Australian Conference of Economists (ACE) 2021 was held from 12 to 14 July 2021 as a fully virtual event.

ACE 2021 celebrated over 100 years of welfare economics and brought together like-minded individuals to explore concepts of allocation, utilisation and distribution of our resources as they relate to the wealth and wellbeing of individuals and our society.

Where permission has been granted, we have uploaded presenations. 

Infrastructure Victoria Policy Paper - Good Move: Fixing Transport Congestion

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.

Victorian Branch Postpones Public Events Until Further Notice Due to COVID-19

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.