Ross Gittins

Ross Gittins is the Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.

Ross's recent articles

Home truths: Housing policies are for show, but one side at least gets the problem

Home truths: Housing policies are for show, but one side at least gets the problem

If you think this sounds twisted, it is. The best thing about the two sides’ various promises to help young people afford to buy their first home is the way it has provoked the nation’s economists to rise in condemnation of those schemes’ wrongheadedness. They look like they’ll help, but most of them are more likely to end up making homes less affordable rather than more.

Memo Dutton: Good economic managers don’t try to panic the punters

Memo Dutton: Good economic managers don’t try to panic the punters

A problem in economics is that you can’t use the economy to experiment.

Trump’s trade war is bad, but how bad is up to the rest of us

Trump’s trade war is bad, but how bad is up to the rest of us

At last, we know enough about US President Donald Trump’s opening move on tariffs to start thinking about what it all means. By imposing tariffs on America’s imports, he’s shot his economy in the foot, but the rest of the world decides how bad it’s likely to be by what we do in response.

Dutton wants to know if you’re better off now. It’s a trick question

Dutton wants to know if you’re better off now. It’s a trick question

For most people, the simple answer to Peter Dutton’s repeated question — are you better off today than you were three years ago? — is “no, I’m not”.

Debt and deficit: Labor’s budget naysayers ignore the cold hard facts

Debt and deficit: Labor’s budget naysayers ignore the cold hard facts

The independent economist and former Treasury officer Chris Richardson, the leader of Treasury-in-Exile and thus chief apostle of fiscal rectitude, does the country a favour with his eternal campaigning to keep budget deficits and public debt levels low.

The government is timid, uninspired and uninspiring. This budget fits it perfectly

The government is timid, uninspired and uninspiring. This budget fits it perfectly

If you’re having trouble working up much interest in the budget, don’t feel bad. It’s not you, it’s the government. So much fuss is made about the annual federal budget that we expect it to be full of major announcements. Well, not this one, and not from a government that never wants to rock the boat.

It’s official – supermarkets are overcharging. Quick, change the subject

It’s official – supermarkets are overcharging. Quick, change the subject

Why does a government release a highly critical report on the conduct of Woolworths and Coles on the Friday before a budget that will lead straight into an election campaign? Short answer: not for any worthy reason.

The outlook for house insurance is much worse than we’re being told

The outlook for house insurance is much worse than we’re being told

The big news on house insurance this week was the response of the insurance industry’s peak body to a parliamentary committee’s extensive criticisms of its treatment of people claiming on their policies after the massive floods of 2022.

Much argy-bargy on the way to next week’s off-again, on-again budget

Much argy-bargy on the way to next week’s off-again, on-again budget

According to the business press, Anthony Albanese was desperately hoping for an early election so he could avoid next week’s budget and the drubbing he’ll get when Treasurer Jim Chalmers is forced to reveal projections of a decade of budget deficits.

Maybe the inflation surge didn’t happen the way we’ve been told

Maybe the inflation surge didn’t happen the way we’ve been told

According to Reserve Bank deputy governor Andrew Hauser last week, we’ve entered a world characterised not just by volatility, complexity and uncertainty, but also by “ambiguity” – a world where “you don’t know the model”, meaning that “judgment and instinct are as important as formal analysis”.

The real truth on productivity: The bosses aren’t trying hard enough

The real truth on productivity: The bosses aren’t trying hard enough

At last, some sense on the causes of our poor productivity performance. For ages, we’ve been told it’s the government’s fault — maybe even the voters’ fault — for failing to make economic reforms. But last week the econocrats finally set the record straight: the problem is, our businesses have stopped doing the things that make us more productive.

To make Medicare healthy again, our leaders must treat these worrying symptoms

To make Medicare healthy again, our leaders must treat these worrying symptoms

I don’t know if you noticed, but the federal election campaign began on Sunday. The date of the election has yet to be announced – it may be mid-April or mid-May – but hostilities have begun. And they began with an issue that’s been big in election campaigns for 50 years: Medicare.

We may be short of leaders, but we’re not short on false prophets

We may be short of leaders, but we’re not short on false prophets

With this year’s federal budget supposedly brought forward to 25 March, the seasonal peak in business bulldust has come early. Last week, Canberra kicked off an annual ritual little noticed in real-world Australia, the call for “pre-budget” submissions on what the government should do in its budget.

The nation is finally coming to grips with home affordability

The nation is finally coming to grips with home affordability

Right now, the prospect of much improvement in being able to afford a home of your own isn’t bright. We don’t look like solving the problem any time soon. But I’ve been watching and writing about the steady worsening in housing affordability for the best part of 50 years, and I’m more optimistic today than I’ve ever been.

Want more economics students? Drop the obsession with maths

Want more economics students? Drop the obsession with maths

The Reserve Bank is worried. The number of students wanting to study economics has been falling over the years, and it’s worried this will lead to a fall in the electorate’s economic literacy, which could end up worsening government policy.

Voters blame one man for rising energy bills while companies get away with gouging

Voters blame one man for rising energy bills while companies get away with gouging

If, as seems likely, Anthony Albanese and his government lose seats at next year’s federal election, one thing we can be certain of is that the nation’s economists and econocrats won’t be admitting to their not insignificant contribution to Labor’s setback.

We’ve entered the era of gutless government

We’ve entered the era of gutless government

Sorry to tell you that I’m finishing this year most unimpressed by Anthony Albanese and his government. I’m still reeling from his last two weeks of parliament, pushing through 45 bills just to show how much he’d achieved and give himself the option of calling an election early next year should he see a break in the clouds.

How to avoid being conned by lobby groups using you to pressure the government

How to avoid being conned by lobby groups using you to pressure the government

The obvious question arising from big business’ onslaught against Anthony Albanese and his government is: do Australia’s voters know which sides their bread is buttered on? Sorry, boss, I think they usually do.

Authors who write with insight and experience

Authors who write with insight and experience

I read the daily Pearls and Irritations email without fail.

Maybe only a recession will fix macroeconomic management

Maybe only a recession will fix macroeconomic management

In the economy, as in life, it helps a lot if you learn from your mistakes. Or, if you’re in public life, from the mistakes of your predecessors.

Students count cost of epic fail

Students count cost of epic fail

Successive federal governments have propelled a ‘backdoor privatisation’ of Australian universities. It’s shameful.

If you care about future generations, you should support ‘nature positive’

If you care about future generations, you should support ‘nature positive’

The most pressing problem we face is climate change. It’s even more important than – dare I say it – getting inflation down to 2 per cent by last Friday. But we mustn’t forget that climate change is just the most glaring symptom of the ultimate threat to human existence: our continuing destruction of the natural environment.

Reserve Bank has squeezed us like a lemon, but it’s still not happy

Reserve Bank has squeezed us like a lemon, but it’s still not happy

Let me be the last to tell you the economy has almost ground to a halt and is teetering on the edge of recession. This has happened by design, not accident. But it doesn’t seem to be working properly. So, what happens now? Until we think of something better, more of the same.

This budget will make us better off now, worse off later

This budget will make us better off now, worse off later

It’s said you can tell a government’s true priorities from what it does in its budget. If so, the top priority of Anthony Albanese’s government is not to have any priorities.

Labor deploys ‘security’ to protect bad policy from proper scrutiny

Labor deploys ‘security’ to protect bad policy from proper scrutiny

Politicians are increasingly using the word to justify bad policy initiatives and fend off criticism of their decisions.

Rent-seekers put their hands out as budget looms

Rent-seekers put their hands out as budget looms

Last week we got a reminder that, among its many functions, the federal budget is the repository of all the successful rent-seeking by the nations many business and other special interest groups. Unfortunately, it added to the evidence that the Albanese government knows what it should do to manage the economy better, but lacks the courage do more than a little.

Greedy businesses deserve part of blame for cost of living crisis

Greedy businesses deserve part of blame for cost of living crisis

The nations economists and economist-run authorities such as the Reserve Bank have not covered themselves in glory in the present inflationary episode. Theyve shown a lack of intellectual rigour, an unwillingness to re-examine their long-held views, and a lack of compassion for the many ordinary families who, in the Reserves zeal to fix inflation the blunt way, have been squeezed till their pips squeak.

It's on PM to make tax cuts fair

It's on PM to make tax cuts fair

Anthony Albanese risks being the man who did what Scott Morrison couldnt easing the tax burden of the rich.

Australia has so far resisted American populism and dysfunction. This is why

Australia has so far resisted American populism and dysfunction. This is why

Trumpian populism has not yet taken hold here. Why? Perhaps because this countrys not quite as unequal as others.

Paying tax is good and, for better government, we should pay more

Paying tax is good and, for better government, we should pay more

On Friday, a former top econocrat did something no serving econocrat is allowed to do, and no politician is game to do: he set out the case for us to pay higher, not lower, taxes.

Nine 'planetary boundaries' set the limits of global economic freedom

Nine 'planetary boundaries' set the limits of global economic freedom

One of the most important developments in economics is something in which economists had no hand: the identification of the environmental limits which humans, busily producing and consuming, cross at their peril.

Business should serve, not enslave

Business should serve, not enslave

It is time for government to get the suits back under control and manage the economy for the benefit of us all.

We wont fix inflation while economists stay in denial about causes

We wont fix inflation while economists stay in denial about causes

Led on by crusading Reserve Bank governors, the nations economists are determined to protect us from the scourge of inflation, no matter the cost in jobs lost.

Numbers fail to add up for central bankers in fight against inflation

Numbers fail to add up for central bankers in fight against inflation

The ground has been shifting under the feet of the worlds central bankers, including our own Dr Philip Lowe, the outgoing chief of the Reserve Bank. This has weakened the power of higher interest rates to get inflation down.

Grim Reaper is catching up with the Baby Boomers, waving bills

Grim Reaper is catching up with the Baby Boomers, waving bills

Having witnessed the last days of my parents and in-laws, I dont delude myself as they did that Ill be able to avoid being carted off to an old peoples home. Sorry, an aged care residential facility.

Big business cries poor on wages even as profits mount

Big business cries poor on wages even as profits mount

Dont believe anyone not even a governor of the Reserve Bank trying to tell you the Fair Work Commissions decision to increase minimum award wages by 5.75 per cent is anything other than good news for the lowest-paid quarter of wage earners.

This is the budget of a government that wants to be loved by everyone

This is the budget of a government that wants to be loved by everyone

The best word for this budget is complacent. Theres nothing wrong with it; its keeping us from getting further into trouble. But its doing little to deal with the many troubles we already have: the transition to renewable energy, declining home ownership, the rental crisis, and problems with Medicare and education.

How squabbling pollies let miners wreck our economy

How squabbling pollies let miners wreck our economy

A speech by former Treasury secretary Dr Ken Henry last month was reported as a great call for comprehensive tax reform. But it was also something much more disturbing: an entirely different perspective on why our economy has been weak for most of this century and once the present pandemic-related surge has passed is likely to stay weak.

Albanese is just pretending to be tough on emissions

Albanese is just pretending to be tough on emissions

Labor talks the talk, but doesnt walk the walk. Last weeks final warning from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Albanese governments refusal to be moved by it should be a gamechanger in our assessment of Labors willingness to do what must be done.

Lowe's secret inflation fear: big companies' price-setting power

Lowe's secret inflation fear: big companies' price-setting power

Despite the grilling he got in two separate parliamentary hearings last week, Reserve Bank governor Dr Philip Lowes explanation of why he was preparing mortgage borrowers for yet further interest rate increases didnt quite add up. There seemed to be something he wasnt telling us and I think I know what it was.

Blindly following our political masters? Pearls and Irritations can help

Blindly following our political masters? Pearls and Irritations can help

Pearls and Irritations provides informed alternative perspectives on policy issues to those provided by the conventional-thinking mainstream media.

An apology to my grandkids for not fighting in the war of our times

An apology to my grandkids for not fighting in the war of our times

While I was on holiday, I noticed a tweet that left me in no doubt about the subject of my first column back. It said: I genuinely think the next generation will not forgive us for what we have done to them and the world they will have to live in.

Better, not smaller government: confessions of an econocrat-watcher

Better, not smaller government: confessions of an econocrat-watcher

Econocrats have spent too long struggling ineffectively to achieve smaller government, while doing little about what should be their real concern: not smaller government, but better government.

Labor will struggle with deficit and debt until it raises taxes

Labor will struggle with deficit and debt until it raises taxes

Theres something strange about the recent federal budget. It reveals remarkably quick progress in getting the budget deficit down to nearly nothing. But then it sees the deficit going back up again. Which shows that, as my former fellow economics editor Tim Colebatch has put it, Rome wasnt built in one budget.

Why Albanese needs to protect capitalism from capitalists

One of the first things Anthony Albanese and his cabinet have to decide is whether the government will be pro-business or pro-market.

Planes, trains and autocues: Pollies on script with wasteful vote-buying plans

Planes, trains and autocues: Pollies on script with wasteful vote-buying plans

The capacity of our politicians to take a good economic policy idea and pervert it into a partisan waste of taxpayers money never ceases to appal.

Scott Morrisons budget report card: could do a hell of a lot better

Scott Morrisons budget report card: could do a hell of a lot better

Prime Minister Scott Morrison's determination to win elections exceeds his commitment to businesslike management of taxpayers money.

How flimflam politicians cultivate a culture of business greed

How flimflam politicians cultivate a culture of business greed

The outsourcing of crucial government services to private operators in the name of efficiency has often resulted in a shameless chase for profit with taxpayers left counting the cost.

Why journalists have a trust problem

Why journalists have a trust problem

If there was a time when journalists had great credibility with audiences, it's less so today. In this speech delivered to a university media seminar, The Sydney Morning Herald's economics editor Ross Gittins explores why.

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