“Mugged by reality”: COVID choices that are hard to make
Economics is called the dismal science in part because it is about hard choices — situations where we can't have our cake and eat it too. Last year it seemed as if COVID wasn't one of them. Keeping the virus at bay gave Australia one of the world's lowest death tolls and one of i ...Show more
Richard Thaler on "Nudging" the pandemic, climate change and retirement saving
Professor Richard Thaler has spent his career investigating how people really behave – how we save for retirement, what we choose to eat, how we use energy. Through understanding the many reasons for human misjudgement, such as being too optimistic, or facing too many choices, Ri ...Show more
GDP figures strong but difficult days ahead
The underlying strength in the Australian economy has again beat many expectations; the nation's economy rose 0.7 per cent in the June quarter. However, the figures are like a look in the rear-view mirror and do not capture the full pain of the latest lockdowns. Is the latest eco ...Show more
Big data
Huge amounts of information, known as administrative data, are being used by government and researchers to know what you need, even before you need it. How are linkages between data sets, and tracking types of people and businesses over time helping to improve decision making? ...Show more
Valuing nature
A landmark report has urged the world's governments to come up with a better form of national accounting from GDP, to reflect the value and depletion of nature. Plus, an update on carbon markets and the emerging field of biodiversity offsets. Guests: Diane Coyle, Bennett Professo ...Show more