Who is Immanuel Wallerstein and does his “world-systems” approach provide insights into our social and economic world?Check out some of Wallerstein’s writing here, and an interesting an relevant article on his thinking for today is here.Follow Cameron and Jonathan on X/Twitter.Please like, comment, share, and subscribe.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

I talk to Tim Helm about the rise of “Yes In My Back Yard” (YIMBY) as a cultural movement and dig into some of the economics missing from housing debates. Follow Cameron and Jonathan on X/Twitter.Please like, comment, share, and subscribe.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

Australia in 2022-23 has seen record net immigration, as have other countries such as New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom.We discuss the structure of Australia’s immigration system, the economics of our policy choices, and what might be a more sensible immigration program. Leith is the Chief Economist at Macrobusiness. Follow Cameron and Jonathan on X/Twitter.Please like, comment, share, and subscribe.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

Have you ever thought it might be possible to retire early? My guest today is Matt from Aussie FIREBUG who has done that. He’s been part of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) movement. What’s it all about, and does it make economic sense? Find out all about the FIRE movement at Aussie FIREBUG. Follow Cameron and Jonathan on X/Twitter.Please like, comment, share, and subscribe.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

What is a property buyer’s agent? How can trading housing be more efficient? And how we can boost the regions to take population pressure off the capital cities?Hear Pete’s views on these questions and more in this engaging chat and follow him on X/Twitter @PeteWargent.Follow Cameron and Jonathan on X/Twitter.Please like, comment, share, and subscribe.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0 Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

You might have heard that renewables are the cheapest new electricity generation technology. But is this claim true?Physicist and businessman Aidan Morrison looked into the assumptions and analysis in the various reports that produce such claims from organisations like the CSIRO and AEMO. Aidan has published his initial analysis of the “sunk cost assumption” hidden in these reports at Fresh Economic Thinking back in July. He has also released a terrific video explaining how the analysis gets it wrong. We discuss these problematic issues in much more detail.Aidan posts as @QuixoticQuant on Twitter. Follow Cameron and Jonathan on Twitter.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0Please like, share, and subscribe. Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

Tim Helm is the Research Director of Prosper Australia. We chat about Tim’s intellectual journey into the economics of property and housing, and his views on housing prices and debates about supply. The Auckland analysis referenced in the episode can be found here and here.Follow Cameron and Jonathan on Twitter. Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0Fresh Economic Thinking is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

What are the legal and economic issues that arise when trying to enforce a duty of care to future generations?Cameron and Jonathan discuss the legal and economic questions arising from the Private Senators Bill by David Pocock intending to “legislate a positive duty of care, creating a requirement for politicians and policy makers to consider the impact of climate harm on young people and future generations.”This comes on the back of a 2022 Federal Court of Australia ruling in the appealed case of Minister for the Environment v Sharma, which found against such a duty.This case was brought by “eight brave children led by Anj Sharma (with the assistance of 86 year-old litigation guardian Sister Brigid Arthur), against the Federal Minister for the Environment to protect young people from the future harm caused by the climate change impacts of a proposed coal mine extension project in NSW known as the Vickery Extension Project.”Read about that court case here.Follow Cameron and Jonathan on TwitterTheme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0Fresh Economic Thinking is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

There has been a lot of news on both the housing policy and COVID policy fronts recently. Cameron and Jonathan share their thoughts on things like the Housing Future Fund, the latest on Australia’s COVID vaccination injury compensation scheme, a new anti-discrimination bill about COVID vaccines, and news out of the United States about hidden influences behind the COVID mandates, and more. The Lee Fang article on Pfizer’s lobbying and financial influence is here.The United States Senate report on COVID origins is available here.The Australian bill on vaccine discrimination is here.Follow Cameron and Jonathan on Twitter.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0Please leave a comment with your ideas for future podcast conversations and Substack posts.Thanks for reading Fresh Economic Thinking! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe

Why does an economist start a website documenting the effect of city upzoning?Matthew Maltman is an Australian economist who runs the website onefinaleffort.com. In this interview, Cameron talks with Matthew Maltman about the case for experimenting with zoning changes to understand what really happens. Did Auckland fix its housing problems with upzoning? Where are other planning rule changes being tested? Find Matthew on Twitter at @1finaleffortFollow Cameron and Jonathan on Twitter.Theme music: Happy Swing by Serge Quadrado Music under Creative Commons Licence CC BY-NC 4.0Please leave a comment with your ideas for future podcast conversations and Substack posts.Thanks for reading Fresh Economic Thinking! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Get full access to Fresh Economic Thinking at www.fresheconomicthinking.com/subscribe