Pitch Engine
The Property Pack

.

Don't worry about the debt: we need more stimulus to avoid a prolonged recession

  • Written by Danielle Wood, Chief executive officer, Grattan Institute
Don't worry about the debt: we need more stimulus to avoid a prolonged recessionShutterstock

After two decades equating budget surpluses with good economic management, it might seem convenient that the federal government has changed its fiscal strategy just before the budget to focus on jobs over keeping the deficit in check.

But it’s the right move. The world has changed in ways that make government spending more...

Read more: Don't worry about the debt: we need more stimulus to avoid a prolonged recession

More Articles ...

  1. The Brussels Finance Conference of 1920: a lesson in the perils of focusing on the past
  2. Big budget spending isn't new: it's a return to what worked before
  3. The bad bits of ParentsNext just came back
  4. Vital Signs: how to time a bombshell like Trump's tax returns
  5. The 5-prong plan for a budget that will set us up for the future
  6. Meet the Liveable Income Guarantee: a budget-ready proposal that would prevent unemployment benefits falling off a cliff
  7. Which Australian destinations lose, and which may win, without international tourism
  8. Each budget used to have a gender impact statement. We need it back, especially now
  9. Going cashless isn't straightforward. Ask Sweden, or Zimbabwe
  10. It's about to become easier to lend irresponsibly, to help the recovery
  11. We're facing an insolvency tsunami. With luck, these changes will avert the worst of it
  12. Top economists back boosts to JobSeeker and social housing over tax cuts in pre-budget poll
  13. Frydenberg is setting his budget ambition dangerously low
  14. Google and Facebook shouldn't subsidise journalism, but the government could
  15. Testamentary trusts are one of the last truly outrageous means of avoiding tax
  16. Keating is right. The Reserve Bank should do more. It needs to aim for more inflation
  17. New Zealand companies lag behind others in their reporting on climate change, and that's a risk to their reputation
  18. It's not only Westpac. What's behind the biggest fine in Australian corporate history
  19. More neurotic, less agreeable, less conscientious: how job insecurity shapes your personality
  20. 'If JobSeeker was cut, the unemployed would be picking fruit'? Why that's not true
  21. Why do bankers behave so badly? They make too much money to ask questions
  22. The major parties' tax promises are more about ideology and psychology than equity or fairness for New Zealanders
  23. Yes government debt is cheap, but that doesn't mean it comes risk-free
  24. Athlete activism or corporate woke washing? Getting it right in the age of Black Lives Matter is a tough game
  25. Vital Signs: 50 years ago Milton Friedman told us greed was good. He was half right
  26. Who suffers most from Melbourne’s extended lockdown? Hint: they are not necessarily particularly vocal 
  27. Super funds are feeling the financial heat from climate change
  28. Tasmania's tax system is broken: here are three ways to fix it
  29. 3 keys to meaningful work: an employer who cares about the environment, society and you
  30. In gold we trust: why bullion is still a safe haven in times of crisis
  31. Are your devices spying on you? Australia's very small step to make the Internet of Things safer
  32. The sackings at Rio look like a victory for shareholders, but...
  33. Corporate dysfunction on Indigenous affairs: Why heads rolled at Rio Tinto
  34. Winding back JobKeeper and JobSeeker will push 740,000 Australians into poverty
  35. Vital Signs: batch testing and contact tracing are the two keys to stop the lockdown yo-yo
  36. Relax, losing access to China won't make us the 'poor white trash of Asia'
  37. With their conservative promises, Labour and National lock in existing unfairness in New Zealand's tax system
  38. Clive Palmer versus (Western) Australia. He could survive a High Court loss if his company is found to be “foreign”
  39. China's leaders are strong and emboldened. It's wrong to see them as weak and insecure
  40. Now we'll need $100-$120 billion. Why the budget has to spend big to avoid scarring
  41. The modelling behind Melbourne's extended city-wide lockdown is problematic
  42. Tracking Victoria's job losses: there's no road to recovery without containing COVID-19
  43. Morrison is right. All governments will need to spend more to get us out of the crisis
  44. Vital Signs: How do you fight a recession without precedent?
  45. Have we just stumbled on the biggest productivity increase of the century?
  46. Six graphs that explain Australia's recession
  47. When it comes to economic reform, the old days really were better. We checked
  48. Is ASIC more concerned about relationships with boards than enforcing the law?
  49. 4 things governments can do to help small business
  50. Recovering water for the environment in the Murray-Darling: farm upgrades increase water prices more than buybacks