Randomised trials in economics: what the critics have to say

Dec 13, 2019 07:23 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The 2019 Nobel Prize has been awarded to three scholars for pioneering recent attempts to answer microeconomic issues in development using randomised experiments. Over the last three decades randomised trials have...

Conservative promise of a hard Brexit would be worse for the UK economy than Labour's radical spending plans

Dec 11, 2019 12:00 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy Politics

The outcome of the UKs 2019 general election will have lasting consequences. The stark difference in choice between the two main parties pours cold water on the idea that politicians, their manifestos and their electoral...

Global Geopolitics Series

How the China-US trade war will affect your holiday shopping

Dec 11, 2019 04:01 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

With more tariffs on Chinese imports set to take effect this month, holiday shoppers in the U.S. face a dilemma: buy the Apple iPhone 11 or Hasbro toy action figures now or risk facing higher prices later. On Dec. 15,...

Central Banking Series

Paul Volcker helped shape an independent Federal Reserve – a vital legacy that's under threat

Dec 11, 2019 03:57 am UTC| Insights & Views Central Banks Economy

Paul Volcker, who died on Dec. 8, is the poster boy for central bank independence and why it matters. One of his legacies, as you may have read in the many obituaries published since his death, is taming the runaway...

How randomised trials became big in development economics

Dec 10, 2019 05:16 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

The 2019 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to three researchers for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty, one which has transformed development economics. What are randomised experiments? And why...

Key trade rules will become unenforceable from midnight. Australia should be worried

Dec 10, 2019 05:15 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

An important part of the World Trade Organization will cease to function from midnight. December 10 is when the terms of two of the remaining three members of its Appellate Body expire. It is meant to have seven. The...

GDP update: spending dips and saving soars as we stash rather than spend our tax cuts

Dec 09, 2019 05:27 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Australians saved rather than spent most of the budget tax cuts, almost doubling the proportion of household income saved, leaving spending languishing. The September quarter national accounts show that in the first...