John Quiggin

That’s the headline for my latest piece in Inside Story, along with the short version of my answer. The long answer is that, even with dubious modelling choices and extreme parameter assumptions, Brian Fisher of BAEcon* comes up with estimates of about 2 per cent of GDP, trivial compared to the potential cost. So, he uses the same presentational trick he’s been using since the first ABARE modelling exercise back in 1996, turning an annual flow into a present value over ten years to...

The first half of the 2019 election campaign was the worst I’ve ever seen, especially relative to the possibility for real debate. Both sides ran continuous attack ads focusing on the opposing leader, playing into the gladiatorial model favoured by the Press Gallery. Labor, in particular, seemed to have forgotten it had any policy offer. Since Labor’s policy launch, things seem to have improved substantially. The fact that the launch took place at all, rather than being reduced to...

I’ve been generally appalled by the performance of the media in the current election. This article by David Crowe in the Nine/Fairfax papers is the perfect illustration. Asking what is wrong with the current election, Crowe concludes The fact is that neither leader has inflicted a killer blow against the other. The idea that an election is a gladiatorial contest between “leaders”, staged for the entertainment of the Press Gallery has never been put more simply and clearly....

Another Monday Message Board. Post comments on any topic. Civil discussion and no coarse language please. Side discussions and idees fixes to the sandpits, please. If you would like to receive my (hopefully) regular email news, please sign up using the following link http://eepurl.com/dAv6sX You can also follow me on Twitter @JohnQuiggin, at my Facebook public page   and at my Economics in Two Lessons page Like this:Like Loading...

I’ve been looking over some posts from the bright dawn days of blogging in the early 2000s. One thing that struck me is that some ideas I put forward as unconventional but evidence based, are now fairly widely accepted. In view of the widespread, and justified, concern about a post-truth era, this seems encouraging, and worth investigating. A few examples In this post on equality of opportunity from 2003, I noted that “contrary to popular belief, there is less mobility between...

I pitched this article about the emergence of a global rightwing movement to the NY Times back in 2015, but the argument wasn’t obvious, and I let it slide. Now I wish I’d tried a little harder to place it. The proposed nuclear agreement with Iran has seen the Republican party line up with Israeli prime minister Netanhayu to denounce the deal negotiated by the Obama Administration. In itself, this is unsurprising. Bipartisanship in foreign policy, epitomized by the phrase ‘politics...

That’s the headline on my latest piece in the Guardian, and sums up the content pretty accurately. A couple of key paras over the fold The people of Townsville have seen announcement after announcement of the project’s imminent start, beginning as long ago as 2015. In June 2017, the regional headquarters was opened with a statement of “final approval” and a promise to start pre-construction works. It was even said that Gautam Adani would be there to cut the ribbon. Sadly,...

I got some questions about Adani from a friend, which I answered by email. I thought it might be useful to share the exchange The sources I use primarily are:https://endcoal.org/category/news/coalwire/andhttp://ieefa.org/In response to questions 1.       Whilst China and India had plans to build numerous coal fire power stations, my understanding is that many/most of those projects have not proceeded.  The media often refer to planned CFFS when in fact that is...

You are here: Home / !Post Type / Author Interviews / John Quiggin on Economics in Two Lessons April 23, 2019 Since 1946, Henry Hazlitt’s bestselling Economics in One Lesson has popularized the belief that economics can be boiled down to one simple lesson: market prices represent the true cost of everything. But one-lesson economics tells only half the story. It can explain why markets often work so well, but it can’t explain why they often fail so badly—or what we should...

A new sandpit for long side discussions, conspiracy theories, idees fixes and so on. Like this:Like Loading...