Hello and welcome to Practical Economics.

Practical Economics is about helping the practically orientated economists solve hard real-world problems.  Or maybe that’s the occasional impossible problem.  Perhaps even create the odd miracle.

You know the feeling.  You’ve been asked whether a policy proposal “gives net economic benefits” or maybe “can’t you just model that”.  Problem is you no idea where to start or if a credible answer exists at all?

The proprietor of Practical Economics has been there and felt that pain.

Practical Economics can’t solve your problems for you, but we can show you the tools and resources for you to solve them for yourself.

Practical Economics will cover topics such as economic modelling, cost-benefit analysis, transport economics, the economics of electricity markets, economic utility regulation, tariffs, industry assistance, economics of major sporting events etc. That’s where most posts and resources on this site will focus.  Perhaps we’ll cover some macroeconomics, most likely from a sub-national perspective.

For the forecasters, we’ll also publish estimates of Australian Quarterly Gross State Product (GSP) as we work it out, industry by industry, State by State, until we have a complete set of consistent accounts.

The Proprietor has a day job in the public sector, so we won’t comment on specific government policy. Our focus is the methods economists might use to justify any given policy, but even then we need to be a bit careful.

Importantly, the aim of Practical Economics is to help you solve your problems, so please tell us what they are.  If you want more information, please leave a comment or contact us on proprieor@practicaleconomics.org .

Practical Economics’ proprietor has 25+ years’ experience in the economics profession, with experience in the Australian and State governments.  The proprietor has worked in tax policy, agricultural economics, commodity forecasting, agricultural marketing scheme assessment and reform, research evaluation, financial regulatory modelling, cost-benefit analysis, linear programming, revenue forecasting, electricity market economics, utility regulation, industry assistance, Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling, macroeconomic forecasting, and econometrics.

Practical Economics hopes to be the mentor you could never find.

Above all, Practical Economics wants to help you provide value to your employer or client.  And to have fun, never forget to have fun.

We hope you have as much fun in your career as we have in ours.