Peter Martin

For price gouging by supermarkets, there’s not a lot the government can do, apart from launching an inquiry. But for banks, it’s altogether different.

The prices quoted on the Australian Securities Exchange implied a 52% probability of an increase in the Reserve Bank cash rate next Tuesday and a 48% probability of no change.

SUVs are outselling standard cars three to one in Australia, even though they cost up to 25% more to run. Why?

If the Reserve Bank does push up interest rates again, the most likely next date is its next board meeting, on Melbourne Cup Tuesday.

Movie tickets are nearly always the same price, no matter the movie. Why? And how much has the cost of a trip to the movies risen over the past 20 years?

The Australian government hasn’t wholeheartedly and publicly committed itself to full employment since the 1945 Full Employment White Paper.

What if the Reserve Bank achieves something truly remarkable – a steady decline in inflation without further interest rate increases, and without bringing on a recession?

The Reserve Bank decided to keep interest rates on hold at 4.1% because it thinks there’s a chance – just a chance – it has lifted them all it needs to.

The 59 leading economists surveyed were asked to pick from a list of 13 options (many of them identified in the government’s 2022-23 Tax Expenditures and Insights Statement) and reply as if political constraints were not a problem.

The latest 0.25 percentage point rise adds $90 a month to a $600,000 variable mortgage.

You might not know it from reading Tuesday’s statement announcing Australia’s eighth consecutive increase in interest rates, but our Reserve Bank might finally have done enough.

There are several reasons to think Australia might be able to escape a global slide into recession — though it will need careful management.