Big P Political Economy

Friday, December 11, 2015

Recent Charts

Working out what the public wants governments to do in relation to climate change is a fraught business. They did after all elect the Abbott government ...

I'm not sure that all foreign investment is a good thing, especially in established property assets. It's not just Chinese investment in this area that is a problem.

Given the deaths at music festivals it's time for the public to have a greater understanding of drug harms. Harm minimisation should be the goal. You're never going to stop experimentation; much better to treat drug-taking as a health issue rather than a criminal one.

A series of charts on housing

The household debt situation in The Netherlands and Denmark is even worse. Be interesting to see how their debt situations unwind over coming years.

Long-term migration down.

Resource states have performed poorly over recent years

Making a significant demographic in the United States unlikely to unvote for you is stupid

Real net national disposable income is a better indicator than GDP for measuring impact on the population ...

What can you say about mass shootings, except that they are only the most sensational aspect of gun deaths.

Comparing the US to Western Europe ...

Definitely not the worst in the Americas ...

Thailand surprisingly high ...

India has lower Gini Index figure than Australia - because nearly everyone is poor, despite the growth of the middle class and the extremely wealthy.

Fewer health uninsured in the United States under ObamaCare ...

Middle income in decline in the United States

China and many other countries in Asia face demographic challenges ahead ...

Monday, December 7, 2015

Recent Charts on the Australian Economy

Combining the two ways to measure the size of economies might give us a better indication of economic weight. Australia the 16th largest economy (12th with USD measures, although this will fall with the exchange rate over time; 18th using PPP measures).

Is the current account deficit about to worsen? Will it return as an issue for public policy - as it was in the 1980s and early 1990s - over the next few years.