The 2025 ACE Committee is extending the call for abstracts for ACE by two weeks to COB Monday 14 April 2025.

The Committee especially welcomes abstracts for papers that fit the Conference theme Economics for a Changing World, that address major current issues, as well as the education of economists, and any papers describing high quality research in economic-related subjects.

Register and Submit your Abstract

The ESAWA hosted a successful breakfast on 11 March 2025 with the first in a new series of events titled Economics on the Swan. The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP was keynote speaker and addressed the topic "Why Competition Reform Is More Fun Than It Looks – and More Significant Than You Thought". 

Poll 66

Top economists say Trump’s policies will hit Australian economic growth and push up inflation and interest rates in the US.

The Economic Society of Australia (WA) had the pleasure of co-hosting the 2024 Shann Memorial Lecture on 16 October 2024.  The lecture was delivered by Chris Richardson at the University of Western Australia and was titled “Australia: Why we are where we are...”.

The 8th Australian Gender Economics Workshop (#AGEW2025) was hosted by the University of Wollongong in partnership with the Women in Economics Network and was organised by Alfredo Paloyo. The workshop took place on 6‒7 February 2025 in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Wollongong is in Dharawal Country.

Poll 65

Panellists are unanimous in believing Australia’s housing market is in crisis.

Offered a choice of 14 measures identified by the Economic Society of Australia as likely to restrain prices for buyers and renters, none of the 49 leading economists polled picked: “do nothing, the market will determine appropriate prices”.

We are delighted that Professor Kenneth Clements of the UWA Business School was presented with the 2024 Distinguished Fellow Award by the Economic Society of Australia at the Annual Conference of Economists in Adelaide on 11 July.

Alison Preston, Professor in the Department of Economics at the UWA Business School and Vice President of the Economic Society of Australia (WA Branch), was awarded the prize for the Best Paper in Economic Papers for her article on “Financial Literacy and Self-Employment” co-authored with Robert E. Wright.

A number of prestigious awards were bestowed upon worthy economists at ACE24, held in Adelaide.  Read on to find out who won the 2024 ESA National Awards.

Poll 64

Panelists were asked to comment on two questions: 

Is the budget likely to achieve its aim of getting inflation back within the RBA target band by the end of this year and back to 2.75% by mid next year?

And

On May 14, the government delivered a budget designed, in the Treasurer's words, to "focus on fighting inflation in the near term and then growth in the medium term " - What grade would you give the budget, given that objective? A, B, C, D, E or F

Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/

The Australian Conference of Economists was held in Adelaide, SA from 10-12 July.  Presented papers will be published on our website in due course. 

Next year's ACE will be held at UTS in Sydney and coincides with the Society's 100 year anniversary.  Preparations are well underway to bring members a very special event - please stay tuned for more details about ACE25.  In the meantime, hold the date of 6-9 July 2025 and register your interest via the dedicated ACE25 website.

The Reserve Bank has been releasing a large volume of digitised archival records to the public through our digital archive (called Unreserved). These records span nearly 200 years of Australia’s economic, financial and social history. The latest release includes records about the work and influence of Dr HC Coombs along with additional records from the Bank’s Research Department, with much of the new information covering the period from the Bank’s ‘separation’ from the original Commonwealth Bank in 1960 through to the early 1970s.

We are delighted to announce the launch of ESA's Twitter account.  Keep up to date with economics-related topics and be part of the conversation.

A number of prestigious awards were bestowed upon worthy economists at ACE2023, held in Brisbane.  Read on to find out who won the 2023 ESA National Awards.

The WA Department of Treasury has kindly advised that it has released a discussion paper on international trade that is of some importance to the Western Australian economy.  The paper reviews the gains from trade and considers recent developments in global trade.  In particular, the paper considers the implications for Western Australia of the current US-China trade dispute.

Applications for the 2023 Mannkal Student Scholarship Program are now open.

Participation in a one year Mannkal Scholarship Program includes 10-12 local seminars and events, entrepreneurship training, employability skills development, conference opportunities and an invitation to apply for internships both domestically and abroad. Mannkal covers the full cost of these opportunities.

The Economic Society of Australia’s WA Branch has established a new podcast series ‘Economics Supplied on Demand’.

Episode 3 in our podcast series - Economics Supplied on Demand -  is about the importance of studying economics.  Click here to listen.