Women still being kept in the home, but not by what you think

By MILLIE MUROI, Economics WriterIt’s a topic that, despite its horrific consequences, makes us avert our eyes, close the tab, and turn the page.Usually, sadly, it’s only when there’s a death that readers – and the click-hungry media – pay attention. But before I lose you, I want to reassure you that it’s not all bad news. And I want you to hear from people who have defied the odds.We already know domestic violence kills one...

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Maths or no maths? Ross Gittins and Richard Holden have it wrong

By MILLIE MUROI, Economics WriterWe’ve heard the old(er) boys argue over the optimal level of maths in economics, but they’ve delivered some imperfect information. Don’t know what I’m talking about?Seven years after sitting my final high school economics exam, four years after farewelling university economics, and three years since exiting the economics profession (almost) entirely, I’ve been reflecting.The reason? A clash between...

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Want more economics students? Drop the obsession with maths

The Reserve Bank is worried. The number of students wanting to study economics has been falling over the years, and it’s worried this will lead to a fall in the electorate’s economic literacy, which could end up worsening government policy.And the Reserve, being by far our biggest single employer of economists, may be worried its choice of potential recruits will deteriorate.An article by the Reserve’s Emma Chow, published last...

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Education is leading the two sides of politics to change sides

A strange thing is happening in politics. People who in earlier times could have been expected to vote for the right-wing party are now more likely to be supporting the party on the left, while those who would have voted for the left in times past are now more inclined vote for the right.This is something the insiders – the political scientists, pollsters and party professionals – know all about, but the politicians prefer not...

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Our troubled universities have become the politicians' plaything

If it wasn’t for their sterling success in fattening their own salaries, I’d be tempted to feel sorry for the nation’s vice chancellors. They’ve been screwed around for years by federal governments of both colours, and the mess they’re in – some of which they try to cover up – gets ever deeper.They’re another victim of our decades-long dalliance with “neoliberalism”. But now the task is to sort out this and other messes a misguided...

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Politicians don't control migrant numbers, and usually don't want to

Suddenly, everyone’s talking about high migration and the way it’s disrupting the economy. Why is the government letting in so many people, and why hasn’t it turned off the tap?Short answer: because, the way we run immigration, it has little control over the tap.But, at times like this, that’s not something either side of politics wants to admit. The truth is, they could exercise more control over immigration, but neither side...

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We need to talk (sense) about immigration

It’s a safe bet there’ll be much talk about immigration between now and the next federal election, due this time next year. Peter Dutton has seen to that. Trouble is, much of it will just be hot air, much of it will be misleading and much will reflect the vested interests of the person doing the talking.And some of it will reveal us at our worst: our tendency to blame incomers for all our ills. The more ignorant among us will...

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Paying for the cowpat sandwich Morrison handed Albo

It never pays to be too sorry for politicians. They’re all volunteers, they’re well paid for what they do, and even the nicest of them have thrust themselves ahead of many others to get as far as they have.But I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for Anthony Albanese. He got himself elected by promising not to change much, but I doubt he expected to be handed quite such a cowpat sandwich from the smirking Scott Morrison.As part of...

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Want better productivity? Start by ensuring our kids can read

The trouble with our economy is that there are so many things needing to be fixed, it’s hard to know where to start. And so many of them are urgent we don’t have time to fix things one at a time. But since the economy consists simply of all the workers and all the consumers – that is, all the people – one of my guiding principles is that governments should manage the economy for the many, not the few.This may seem obvious but,...

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Identity politics is destroying our public schools

When one of the most privileged and oldest private schools in Australia, The King’s School – home to the scions of the squattocracy – has to be ordered by the NSW government not to spend public money on a plunge pool at its headmaster’s residence, that’s when you know there’s something very wrong with the way federal and state governments are dividing their funding between public and private schools.It’s a system where the less...

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Voting No? You may have this key assumption wrong

If you’re thinking of voting No in the Voice referendum because governments have been spending so much taxpayers’ money trying to “close the gap” without much sign of success, perhaps you need to reconsider. If the Voice to parliament of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is enshrined in the Constitution, obliging our politicians and bureaucrats to listen, chances are that money will be better spent.But I can tell you...

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Albanese wants to put full employment back on its throne

Something really important to the management of the economy happened this week: the Albanese government released its white paper on employment. If the government achieves the vision it has laid out, it could be a turning point in how our economy works, one that begins a lasting reduction in the rates of unemployment and underemployment.This is Labor’s decision to put “full employment” back on its throne as a central objective...

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Universities teach us much about government mismanagement

I’m starting to worry about Anthony Albanese and his government. As politicians go, they’re a good bunch. Well-intentioned, smart and hard-working. Only occasionally got at by their union mates.They’re anxious to fix things, which is surely what we elect our politicians to do. Things the previous lot either neglected or worsened. But, like all pollies, their overriding objective is to stay in office.And I fear they lack what...

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Most of us don't really want to be rich, for better or worse

When it comes to economics, the central question to ask yourself is this: do you sincerely want to be rich? Those with long memories – or Google – know this was the come-on used by the notorious American promoter of pyramid schemes, Bernie Cornfeld. But that doesn’t stop it being the right question.It’s actually a trick question. Most of us would like to be rich if the riches were delivered to us on a plate. If we won the lottery,...

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Handle with care: Productivity Commission's advice on getting richer

If you accept the Productivity Commission’s assumption that getting richer – “advancing prosperity” – is pretty much the only thing that matters, then the five priority areas it nominates in its five-yearly review of our productivity performance make a lot of sense.But when you examine the things it says we should do to fix those five areas, you find too much of its same old, same old, preference for neoclassical ideology over...

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Maybe Left versus Right is turning into smart versus not-so

Here’s a funny thing to think about on a holiday Monday: what if all the well-educated people voted Labor and the lowly-educated voted Liberal or National? How would that change our politics? A preposterous notion? Not as much as you may think.As I’ve mentioned once or twice before, the great political stereotype is that the Liberals are the party of the bosses, while Labor, with its link to the union movement, is the party of...

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