A brief thought on economics



Ronald Reagan and Bob Hawke both had degrees in economics and both introduced intelligent reforms that were immensely beneficial to their respective countries.

Gough Whitlam probably ran the most shambolic government Australia has ever seen and he admits to this day that he does not understand economics. Julia Gillard is a lawyer and Kevin Rudd has a degree in Chinese.

Tony Abbott has a degree in economics. Australia has a bright future.

9 comments:

  1. Economics is probably the only field where 'a little knowledge' is *not* a dangerous thing. Quite the contrary.

    The first two or three chapters of a typical introductory economics textbook introduce concepts that immunise a citizen against the magical thinking promoted by some politicians, and can make the politician himself more humble about the abilities of government to 'manage' the economy.

    Unfortunately, the typical textbook will then go off the rails by using unsupportable assumptions (eg that preferences of different individuals can be ranked) in order to introduce mathematics into the field. Out of these later chapters come the Paul Krugmans of the economics world. So perhaps a lot of 'knowledge' is a dangerous thing in this field.

    It is clear that President Obama (or our Prime Minister Gillard) has no sense at all that government is limited either by man's law or by natural law. I have met Tony Abbott and can confirm that, to the contrary, he is well aware of the limitations of government, as one would expect from someone with knowledge of economics.

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  2. Don't forget John Howard was also a lawyer.

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  4. Yes, but Howard had Costello at his side. If Costello would only come back as treasurer with Abbott... It would be awesome to have the Australian Government run by Abbott and Costello.

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  5. Costello was also a lawyer.

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  6. Perhaps he did something like Economics/Law (a common double degree) to have been selected as treasurer. But then again just read a couple of chapters, it's an eye opener.

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  7. No, Costello did Arts/Law. Abbott did Eco/Law. Keating had no degrees and was treasurer. Howard had no eco degree and was Fraser's treasurer. Swan has no eco degree. An eco degree is not a prerequisite for the job.

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  8. Keating was actually a good study
    Although he did no degree in economics, he got on top of it and made some good decisions
    It's the understanding of economics that counts but a degree in it is the best starting point

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  9. Treasurers listen to the advice the Mandarins of the Treasury Dept., those people with high-powered eco degrees. If Costello was part of the government that retained power in 2007 he would have acted no differently than Swan for the sake of the country. As an open economy, Australia has very little power to determine its position economically no matter what government elects. Howard, like Clinton, was blessed with better economic climate than Rudd, Gillard, Bush or Obama. As a Treasurer, history shows Howard was lucklustre. As Keating suggests, Costello had only to lay in a hammock and comment over monthly results when needed. Policy was determined elsewhere.

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