Poll 60

Australia’s leading economists believe Australia can sustain an unemployment rate as low as 3.75% – much lower than the latest Reserve Bank estimate of 4.25% and the Treasury’s latest estimate of 4.5%.

The ESA Central Council and the heads of Economics departments at various Australian universities have had a number of discussions about declining enrolments in Economics and the lack of diversity in enrolments. There are low enrolments of women, but there are also low enrolments of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is largely due to the decline in the number of high schools that offer Economics as a subject. High schools in disadvantaged areas are particularly unlikely to offer Economics.

Poll 59

Our panellists were asked the following 2023 budget question: "On May 9, the government delivered a budget designed, in the Treasurer's words, to strike a balance between relief, repair and restraint'.  What grade would you give the budget, given that objective: A, B, C, D, E or F?"

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

The Australian Conference of Economists (ACE) 2023 was held from the 9 - 12 July 2023 in Brisbane, Queensland. 

The aim was to organise a conference with interest to all economists, both academic and professional. Only by a balanced approach of practice and theory can we solve the problems our society faces. 

Presentations are uploaded where permission has been received.

Located in the Botanic Garden in Uppsala, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (scas) is a
national institute for advanced study. For the academic year 2024-25 the Collegium offers residential
fellowships for senior and early-career scholars from all countries. The Collegium is also offers short-term research stays (approximately two weeks to two months) to scholars from all countries.

Poll 58

When panellests were asked to find an extra A$20 billion per year to fund government priorities like building nuclear submarines and responding to climate change, Australia’s top economists overwhelmingly back land tax, increased resource taxes, an attack on negative gearing and extending the scope of the goods and services tax.

Photo credit by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash

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 payment system is changing in profound ways around the world as individuals demand faster payments, nonbank entities are seeking a greater role in facilitating payments, and a wide range of investors appear to believe that there is a significant role for cryptocurrencies as investment and as payment instruments. As a result, the concept of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) has gained traction, with an increasing number of central banks around the world announcing efforts to explore CBDC use and designs.

The event was held on Thursday Nov 10, 2022, 5:00 pm at QUT. The video recording can be watched on our YouTube Channel.

Poll 57

Australia’s top economists have overwhelmingly endorsed intervention to restrain gas and electricity prices, with only three of the 47 leading economists surveyed believing the best thing the government can do is to leave things to the market.

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

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Emeritus Professor Clem Tisdell from the School of Economics at The University of Queensland on 14 July 2022.

It is with great sadness that the Economic Society of Australia acknowledges the passing of Professor Geoffrey Brennan.

Geoffrey Brennan was an outstanding scholar, who did ground-breaking work in economics and philosophy and at their intersection and played a major role in the development of PPE as a global interdisciplinary research program.

Australian Conference of Economists (ACE) 2022 was held from 10 to 13 July 2022 in Hobart, Tasmania as an in-person event.  Our theme, Economics in the New Normal, sought to address the challenges that a post-pandemic world faces.

A number of prestigious awards were bestowed upon worthy economists at ACE2023, held in Brisbane.  Read on to find out who won the 2023 ESA National Awards.

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.

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. 

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.