MAKING SENSE OF ECONOMICS: BEYOND THE OTHODOXY

Talk to The New Institute, Hamilton August 28, 2007 I’ve now been a journalist for 33 years, spending all that time working for the Sydney Herald and virtually all of it as an economic journalist. So I thought what I’d do tonight was tell you a little about my intellectual pilgrimage over that time – how my views about economics have evolved. I should start by telling you that, though I have a lot of economics in my degree,...

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BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC POLICY

Dinner address, Reserve Bank Roundtable, August 8, 2007 ‘Economics has not only become boring but also threatens to become irrelevant. Therefore I do not feel embarrassed about being unorthodox. In fact, I rather enjoy it!’ Frey (2001) One of my favourite economist jokes is the one that says an economist is someone who can’t see something working in practice without wondering whether it also works in theory. There are two professions...

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TALK TO TREASURY MACROECONOMIC GROUP’S PLANNING DAY

Old Parliament House, Canberra July 18, 2007 David Gruen has asked me to talk about the policy issues I believe Treasury should be thinking about in briefing an incoming government, new or returning. I’m not convinced I could give you much useful advice on that score, but I’m going to address the topic quite broadly in the hope of saying something that gives you something to think about, even if - as I suspect is often the case...

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After dinner speech to Social Policy Conference dinner

Australian Social Policy Conference dinner Sydney, Thursday, July 12, 2007 Peter Saunders - the Peter Saunders I call the original and best Peter Saunders - tried to inveigle me into giving this talk by promising me a free feed, but something in the back of my mind warned me that meals are never free. So then he tried the line that I could use the occasion to plug my latest book - and he had me. Actually, I’m going to plug my...

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ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS

July 24, 2007 The environment and economic activity Mankind's economic activity - the production and consumption of goods and services - adversely affects the natural environment in many ways. It causes pollution, the using up of natural resources and the endangering of species. Linked with mankind's economic activity as a cause of environmental damage is the growth in the human population. More people mean more disturbance...

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TALK TO HOPE STREET BUSINESS LUNCHEON

Sydney, Friday, May 26, 2007 Brendan has asked me to say a few words sharing my background and experiences and what I’m really passionate about these days, and I’m happy to do so. To understand me you have to know that I come from an extended family of Salvationists and that both my father and my mother were Salvation Army officers - ministers - making me a member of a strange group known to the Sallies as OKs - officers’ kids....

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WELLBEING, MONEY, PSYCHOLOGY AND ECONOMICS

Conference on Quality of Life, Deakin University November 30, 2006 I want to talk to you about the increased interaction between the disciplines of psychology and economics, and focus particularly on the relationship been income and subjective wellbeing, as befits a conference on quality of life. But first I need to explain that I’m not an economist myself. Rather, I’m a journalist who writes about economics. Psychology and...

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