Introduction to Economics – a webinar for students in Year 9 and 10, featuring Tanya Livermore

Summary

This script offers an engaging introduction to economics, discussing its role as a problem-solving tool across various domains like gender equity and environmental issues. It highlights the work of Nobel laureate Esther Duflo and her experimental approach to alleviate poverty. The speaker, an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia, explains the bank's function in monitoring and influencing economic performance, focusing on inflation and interest rates. The talk concludes with resources for further learning and encourages students to explore economics for its wide applicability.

Takeaways

• 📚 The speaker is an economist with a master's degree from the London School of Economics and has worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia for 11 years, currently managing a team focused on educating students about economics and the role of the Reserve Bank.
• 🔍 Economics is defined as a field of study, a set of tools and frameworks, and a way of thinking about problems and solutions, applicable to a wide range of questions from job retention during the pandemic to gender wage gaps and environmental policies.
• 🧐 The speaker highlights the work of Esther Duflo, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, who uses experimental approaches to measure the effectiveness of policies in alleviating global poverty, such as improving teacher attendance and student test scores in rural India.
• 💡 The script encourages students to think of a question they want answered and consider whether it's a global, national, or individual issue, emphasizing that economics can provide tools to address these questions.
• 📈 Economics helps in decision-making by weighing the benefits and costs of various options, as illustrated by the example of higher pay rates for teachers improving student outcomes in rural India.
• 🌐 The economy is described as a group of decision-makers, including global, national, and personal economies, all interconnected and influencing resource allocation.
• 💼 The speaker explains different sectors of the economy, such as households and the financial sector, and how they make decisions that affect the overall economy, using the circular flow model as a framework to understand these interactions.
• 📊 The Reserve Bank of Australia's role is to monitor economic conditions and influence performance to achieve goals such as low unemployment, steady economic growth, and controlled inflation.
• 💰 The Reserve Bank uses interest rates as a primary tool to affect inflation, adjusting them based on economic performance to either stimulate or cool down the economy.
• 📉 The current Australian economy, as of the script's date, is in a contraction phase with low GDP growth, low inflation, and high unemployment, prompting the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates.
• 📝 The speaker directs students to the Reserve Bank's website for more resources, including videos, interactive tools, infographics, and information about careers in economics.

Q & A

What is the speaker's background in the field of economics?

The speaker grew up in Wollongong and initially did not study economics in high school. They discovered their interest in economics during their first year at the University of Wollongong, where they studied commerce. They later completed a master's degree in economics at the London School of Economics and have worked as an economist at the Reserve Bank in Sydney for 11 years, currently managing a team focused on educating students about economics and the role of the Reserve Bank.

What is the main topic of the speaker's presentation?

The main topic of the presentation is economics, including its definition, how an economy works, and the role of the Reserve Bank in the economy.

What is the definition of economics according to the speaker?

According to the speaker, economics is a field of study, a subject or topic area, a set of tools and frameworks, and a way of thinking about problems and solutions.

How does the speaker describe the approach of economist Esther Duflo in addressing global poverty?

Esther Duflo uses an experimental approach to economics, applying tools of experimentation to human behavior. For example, she conducted an experiment in rural India to improve teacher attendance by installing cameras and offering higher hourly pay rates for better attendance, which resulted in increased teacher attendance and improved student test scores.

What is the role of the Reserve Bank in the economy?

The role of the Reserve Bank is to monitor the conditions of the economy, influence its performance, and aim for a steady growth with low unemployment, stable inflation, and controlled interest rates to maintain a healthy economy.

How does the speaker explain the concept of inflation?

The speaker explains inflation as the change in the prices of goods and services that people buy. If the cost of a basket of goods and services that cost 100 one year ago now costs 105, this represents an inflation rate of 5%.

What is the current state of the Australian economy according to the speaker?

According to the speaker, the Australian economy is currently in a contraction phase due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with negative GDP growth, low inflation, and an increased unemployment rate.

What is the Reserve Bank's inflation target range for Australia?

The Reserve Bank's inflation target range for Australia is between two and three percent on average over time.

How does the Reserve Bank influence interest rates to achieve its economic goals?

The Reserve Bank influences interest rates by adjusting the cash rate and using other tools in its toolkit. Lowering interest rates can boost the economy, while raising them can cool down activity and control inflation.

What resources does the speaker recommend for students to learn more about economics?

The speaker recommends the Reserve Bank's website for education resources, including videos, digital interactive tools, infographics, and information about careers in economics. They also suggest following the Reserve Bank on social media and subscribing to their YouTube channel for new explainer videos.

How can students explore different sectors of the economy using the Reserve Bank's resources?

Students can explore different sectors of the economy through the learning activity on the Reserve Bank's website, which covers five different sectors: households, firms, the financial sector, the government sector, and the overseas sector.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Introduction to the Speaker's Background and Economics

The speaker begins by expressing excitement about discussing economics and shares personal background information. They grew up in Wollongong and only discovered their interest in economics during university, leading to a major in the subject and a Master's degree from the London School of Economics. With 11 years of experience at the Reserve Bank in Sydney, the speaker is now a manager focusing on educating students about economics and the Reserve Bank's role. The session's agenda includes defining economics, understanding how economies work, and the Reserve Bank's role in the economy. The speaker invites students to take notes and engage with the material.

05:00

📚 Defining Economics and Its Applications

The speaker provides a simple definition of economics as a field of study, a set of tools and frameworks, and a way of thinking about problems and solutions. They illustrate the broad applicability of economics by listing various questions that economists seek to answer, such as job retention during the COVID-19 pandemic, wage gaps, economic disparities between countries, and environmental incentives. The speaker introduces Esther Duflo, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, who uses experimental economics to address global poverty, specifically by improving teacher attendance in rural India, which in turn improves student test scores.

10:01

🧑‍🏫 Encouraging Students to Apply Economic Thinking

The speaker prompts students to think of a question they are curious about and encourages them to consider whether it could be addressed using economic tools. They explain that economics aids in decision-making by weighing benefits and costs. Using the example of Esther Duflo's work, they show how higher pay for better teacher attendance can improve student outcomes, and how decision-makers can use this information to implement policies. The speaker also touches on the broader implications of economic decisions, such as the effects on local businesses and families.

15:03

🌐 Understanding the Concept of an Economy

The speaker delves into the concept of an economy, describing it as a group of decision-makers that includes global, national, and personal economies. They use the example of lettuce demand and supply to illustrate how resources are allocated in an economy. The speaker explains that resources are scarce and that economists focus on efficient allocation. They also introduce different economic models, such as government-controlled and market-based economies, with Australia being an example of the latter, where demand and supply drive production and consumption decisions.

20:04

🔄 The Circular Flow Model and Economic Sectors

The speaker introduces the circular flow model, which tracks money's movement through the economy, affecting its size and output. They categorize economic decision-makers into five sectors: households, firms, the financial sector, the government sector, and the overseas sector. The speaker focuses on households and the financial sector, explaining their roles in spending, working, saving, and borrowing. They also mention an interactive tool on the Reserve Bank's website for further exploration of the other sectors.

📉 The Role of the Reserve Bank in Economic Monitoring and Policy

The speaker outlines the Reserve Bank's role in monitoring the economy's performance and influencing it to achieve steady growth, full employment, and stable inflation. They explain the concept of inflation and the Reserve Bank's target range for it. The speaker describes how the bank uses interest rates, particularly the cash rate, as a tool to adjust economic activity. They discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian economy, noting the negative GDP growth, low inflation, and high unemployment rate, and how the Reserve Bank has responded by lowering interest rates to stimulate the economy.

📈 Economic Data Analysis and Reserve Bank's Response

The speaker analyzes recent economic data, indicating a contraction in the Australian economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with negative GDP growth, low inflation, and increased unemployment. They explain that the Reserve Bank has lowered the cash rate to a historic low to combat these economic challenges. The speaker also promotes the Reserve Bank's educational resources, including videos, interactive tools, and social media channels, as valuable aids for students interested in economics.

Keywords

💡Economics

Economics is a field of study that involves analyzing the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. In the video, economics is described as a set of tools and frameworks that help to think about problems and solutions, such as determining how to keep people employed during the COVID-19 pandemic or why women earn less than men.

💡Economy

An economy refers to a system in which people make decisions about how to use resources to produce and distribute goods and services. The video discusses different types of economies, including the global economy, national economies like Australia's, and personal economies. The economy's functioning involves decision-makers who allocate resources based on demand and supply.

💡Reserve Bank

The Reserve Bank is a central bank responsible for managing a country's monetary policy and ensuring financial stability. In the video, the Reserve Bank's role in monitoring economic conditions, setting interest rates, and maintaining inflation within a target range is highlighted. It aims to influence economic performance to achieve steady growth, low unemployment, and stable prices.

💡Inflation

Inflation is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services rises, eroding purchasing power. The video explains that the Reserve Bank targets a 2-3% inflation rate to maintain economic stability. An example is given where a basket of goods costing $100 one year costs $105 the next, representing a 5% inflation rate.

💡Interest Rates

Interest rates are the cost of borrowing money and the benefit of saving. The Reserve Bank influences these rates to control inflation and economic activity. For instance, lowering interest rates can boost the economy by making borrowing cheaper, while raising them can cool down an overheating economy by making borrowing more expensive.

💡Business Cycle

The business cycle refers to the fluctuations in economic activity over time, characterized by periods of expansion and contraction. The video discusses how the Reserve Bank monitors these cycles, noting that during expansions, unemployment decreases and wages rise, while during contractions, the opposite occurs.

💡Scarcity

Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having limited resources to meet unlimited wants. The video emphasizes that economists spend much time figuring out how best to allocate scarce resources, such as deciding how much land to devote to growing different crops.

💡Experimental Economics

Experimental economics involves using experimental methods to study economic questions. The video mentions Esther Duflo, who applied experimental approaches to address issues like teacher attendance in rural India, showing how economic experiments can test policies' effectiveness in real-world settings.

💡Circular Flow Model

The circular flow model is a framework that illustrates how money moves through an economy, linking different sectors such as households, firms, and the government. The video suggests exploring this model to understand how decisions in one sector affect the entire economy, including spending, production, and employment.

💡Global Poverty

Global poverty refers to the state of having insufficient resources or income worldwide. The video highlights how economists like Esther Duflo use economic tools to measure and find solutions to alleviate global poverty, such as experimenting with policies to improve education and economic outcomes in developing regions.

Highlights

Introduction to the speaker's background in economics and their role at the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Economics defined as a field of study, a set of tools and frameworks, and a way of thinking about problems and solutions.

Examples of economic questions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, gender pay gap, and environmental incentives.

Esther Duflo's Nobel Prize-winning experimental approach to economic questions, particularly in global poverty alleviation.

A case study on improving teacher attendance in rural India through increased pay for higher attendance rates, resulting in improved student test scores.

Invitation for the audience to consider their own economic questions and consider the global, national, or individual scope of these questions.

The importance of decision-making in economics and the framework of weighing benefits and costs.

Economic frameworks to consider the knock-on effects of decisions on individuals, communities, and society.

An explanation of the economy as a group of decision-makers and the concept of scarcity of resources.

Different economic models, including government-controlled and market-based economies, with examples of resource allocation.

Introduction to the five sectors of the economy: households, firms, financial sector, government sector, and overseas sector.

The Circular Flow Model as a framework to understand the flow of money through the economy.

The role of the Reserve Bank in monitoring and influencing economic conditions, with a focus on inflation and interest rates.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Australian economy, including GDP contraction, low inflation, and increased unemployment.

The Reserve Bank's response to economic conditions, including lowering interest rates to stimulate the economy.

Resources available on the Reserve Bank's website for further learning about economics, including videos, interactive tools, and career profiles.

Transcripts

good afternoon everyone i'm very excited

to have the opportunity to speak with

you today about economics

and

before i do i would like to just tell

you a little bit about myself

okay so about me um i grew up in

wollongong near the beach

uh i didn't study economics in year 11

and 12. um at that point i didn't even

know what economics was about and

wouldn't have even thought about

choosing it as a subject

i went to the university of wollongong

and i studied commerce in my first

ending my first year there in commerce i

discovered that i actually liked

economics and so i decided to major in

it

i have since gone on to do a master's in

economics in london at the london school

of economics

and i'm gonna have worked

as an economist at the reserve bank here

in sydney for the past 11 years

and i'm now a manager of a team

and the job of my team is to focus on

helping students such as yourselves

learn about economics and the role of

the reserve bank

okay so what will we cover today

we're going to talk about what is

economics

uh what is an economy how does an

economy work and what is the role of the

reserve bank in the economy

so if you have a pen and paper handy or

a word document that you can open on

your laptop there are a few points

throughout where i'll ask you to jot

down some of your thoughts

okay so starting with what is economics

so there are a lot of definitions of

economics out there if you were to put

into google what is economics you would

get a bunch of definitions but what i

find is that they can be hard to

understand unless you already know a bit

about what the terms in the definition

mean and to do that you need to have

already known a little bit about

economics

so what i wanted to do was to just pair

it right back to some kind of definition

that doesn't richly require you knowing

anything about economics up front

so economics is a field of study it's a

subject or a topic area

it's a set of tools and frameworks

and it's a way of thinking about

problems and solutions

so economics can help you answer lots of

different types of questions

um

let's look at a few of what those might

be

how can we help keep people in their

jobs during the cover 19 pandemic is a

question that a lot of economists have

been asking and seeking answers to over

the past 12 months

including here at the reserve bank

another question that economists might

ask is why do women earn less than men

why are some countries rich and some

countries poor

should brisbane bid for the olympics

and how can we provide the right

incentives for businesses to reduce

pollution and introduce greener products

so you can see that these questions span

a lot of different areas we've got

things on the environment on health on

gender equity

um poverty

things like olympics i'm not sure what

category that fits into maybe sports

um

but all these can be answered with

economics tools and frameworks

so let's look at how a a particular

economist has used economics tools um to

answer some big questions

so this is my favorite economist her

name is esther duflo and she's the

co-winner of the nobel prize in

economics in 2019

so her and her colleagues use economic

tools to measure what works and what

doesn't work in alleviating global

poverty

so the approach the tools that esther

uses

is something called an experimental

approach to

answering economics questions

so when i say experiment the first thing

that you might think of is being in like

a science lab where what you want to do

is to measure the effect of one variable

on something holding everything else

constant

so for example you might want to see

what does the effect that changing the

temperature have on a particular

substance so you would keep everything

the same except the temperature that

you're dialing up and down

so while we don't have a science lab

what we're doing with economics is

looking at human behavior

so esther has applied the tools of

experimentation to a human behavior

context

now a good example of where she's done

this is by looking at answering the

question of how to get teachers in rural

india

to attend school every single day so

there was a problem identified that in

some parts of rural india it was hard to

actually get teachers to turn up to

school every day normally we're thinking

about the students not turning up

but in this case

the teachers were a problem

um

so what they decided to do was to run an

experiment

so they thought if we were to put into

some of these schools

cameras to monitor whether the teachers

were attending and also

give the teachers a higher hourly pay

rate for the more

days of the week they they show up to

their school

so that is not just that uh giving them

higher pay because they've worked more

hours but actually

meaning that they get paid more per hour

the more they're in attendance so they

come to school three out of five days

they might get paid twenty dollars an

hour if they come to school five out of

five days they might get paid thirty

dollars per hour across the whole week

so they implemented this in some schools

and not in others

and what they found that was in the

schools that they had this approach

that teachers attendance rates increased

by 20

and

the students test scores also increased

substantially

so they found that basically by doing

this they improved the problem that they

were trying to address

now by having this information decision

makers that are responsible for

schooling in rural india could decide to

roll this out across the board and they

could feel confident that it will

improve outcomes for students

so now it's your turn

i'd like you to think of a question that

you would like to answer

and jot it down on your piece of paper

or on your laptop or device

and this could be any kind of question

it might be something

to do with

the environment something to do with

global affairs something to do with your

subjects that you're going to choose

next year

something to do with what job you might

want to get anything at all

what's the top question that you would

like an answer to

so now you've got something in mind i'd

like you to think about whether this

question

is something at the global level

something at the national

australia level

or something about your family or

individual life

so whatever the question is chances are

that there's a way that economics tools

and frameworks

can be applied to answering it

so an important reason for having

answers to questions is decision making

so typically when there is a question or

a problem to solve there are a set of

options that can be taken and it can be

difficult to know which one to choose

so economics provides a way to weigh up

various options

a simple framework that we use is

considering the benefits and the costs

of each

so in the example earlier esther duflo

found that by paying teachers in rural

india a higher pay rate the more days

they attended school that this had a

significant impact on students test

scores

now the education decision makers can

weigh up the additional cost of paying

higher pay rates

against the additional benefit of the

value that they place on better test

scores for students

and if the benefits outweigh the costs

then they would choose to put the policy

in place

economic frameworks also help to

consider how the decisions of one person

or group of people

can affect the decisions of others

so if i take a hypothetical example in

making a decision to set a higher rate

of paid for teachers the more they

attend school the economist would also

consider the

knock-on effect of this for example

what might the impact of these teachers

having higher pay have on the local

shops and businesses that they might

spend this extra income at

or what implications might it have from

them working more

for the children that they themselves

take care of at home or for early

parents that they might be carers for

an economics also considers how the

decisions of individuals and a community

add up to affect a society as a whole

for example if students in rural india

have better education what impact might

this have on their job prospects

and the skills that they may bring then

to the workforce that improve

productivity for the country overall

so that is economics but what about an

economy

so an economy is a group of decision

makers

so when we looked at questions at the

global level a few slides earlier

um that the australia level and at the

individual level we were actually

looking at different types of economies

we have the global economy the national

economy and the personal economy

and these three all linked together

in the economy decision makers affect

how resources are allocated

for example say that you like eating

salad sandwiches and there are a bunch

of ingredients that go into making it

like bread lettuce carrot whatever you

like to put on there

so let's take one of these ingredients

say lettuce

in economics language

by buying the sandwich you are creating

demand for lettuce

this influences then the supply of

lettuce that's required

so by demanding lettuce you are

influencing the resources that need to

be allocated for lettuce to be produced

so what are resources

resources are things like land

people who use their time to work or

come up with ideas on how to best

allocate resources and raw materials

so in the case of lettuce there would be

the land where it's grown the people to

tend to it and machinery or other

materials to harvest it

the main problem that economists have to

solve is that resources are scarce

most resources are limited or finite but

of course our wants can be endless or

infinite

economists spend a lot of time thinking

about the best way to allocate resources

so think about for example if there was

one piece of fertile land and you had to

decide which crops to grow on it you

might wish to grow every kind of fruit

and vegetable that you can think of

but you would need to make a choice

about the best way to divide up your

land so you produce the crops that you

most valued

so different countries have different

economic models

in some countries the government has a

prominent role in deciding what goods

and services will be produced and how

they'll be allocated

continuing our lettuce example the

government might decide how much lettuce

is to be produced

the australian economy

on the other hand is market-based

so most decisions to produce or consume

goods and services reflect demand

so what people actually want to buy

and supply

how much businesses can provide in the

market

that is if a lot of people want a lot of

lettuce then the price of lettuce will

be such that farmers have an incentive

to grow it because it is more profitable

than growing something else that fewer

people demand

so how does a market-based economy work

exactly

well the short answer is it's very

complex

but the good news is that economists

love to simplify things and to do this

we use frameworks

so let's organize decision makers in the

economy into a simple framework

we can group decision makers based on

the type of decisions that they make

and then we call these groups sectors of

the economy

so we have five different sectors of the

economy in this framework

we've got households firms the financial

sector government sector and overseas

sector so i will talk about two of these

and i'll leave the other three for you

to look into you in your own time

so the household sector

is made up of individuals like you and

me

they make decisions about how to spend

their time how much to work and how much

to do other things

they then make decisions about how to

spend the income that they earn working

and whether or how much to borrow

so think about some of the kinds of

decisions that you make do you have for

example a part-time job if so you're

deciding how much to work

in order to earn some money

and how do you decide how to spend

your money and how much to save

and what are some of the spending

decisions you've made recently

how do you decide between buying one

thing over another thing

so let's look at the financial sector

so this sector is made up of banks and

other financial institutions in the

economy

these institutions make decisions about

how much savings which we call deposits

they need from households and businesses

they also decide how much to lend to

households to buy things like houses or

apartments and how much to lend to

businesses to buy things like equipment

so an activity that you might like to do

with your teacher or in your own time is

the sectors of the economy activity that

can be found on our website on the

education section of the reserve bank

website here you can explore the other

three sectors the firms the government

and the overseas sector

so how do these sectors relate to one

another

a simple framework that economists use

to link the sectors together is called

the circular flow model which measures

how money flows through the economy

again i won't have time to go into

detail about this today but i did want

to flag it with you and suggest taking a

look at the learning activity on the

circular flow model again that's on our

website

the flow of money through the economy

determines how the size of the economy

changes over time this is a way to

summarize how goods and services are

produced to meet demand in the economy

and economists call this output

the way that this output changes over

time is called the business cycle so you

can see on the the graph that we have on

the screen there output goes up and down

over time

so at some times the economy will be

expanding that means it's getting bigger

in these times we will see a decrease in

unemployment

increase in wages which is how much

people earn

and an increase in consumer spending

at other times we will see the economy

contracting which is getting smaller

when we have this we will have an

increase in unemployment

smaller increases in wages and a

decrease in consumer spending

so what is the role of the reserve bank

in all of this

well our job firstly is to monitor the

conditions in in the economy so we're

keeping an eye on how it is performing

and where the economy is in that

business cycle

we will ask questions like

how much spending is there in the

economy

how much

prices are the things people buy

changing

how many people have a job

and how how much are these people with

jobs working

once we have a clear picture of how the

economy is performing our next job is to

influence that performance

what we want to see at the reserve bank

is lots of people in jobs

the economy growing at a steady pace and

the prices of things we buy

not increasing too rapidly or too slowly

so to help the economy achieve this we

pay particular attention to the change

in the prices of things household buy

this is a good indicator of the healthy

economy

now another word that economists use for

the change in the prices of things

people buy is inflation

so let's have a bit of a look at

inflation

so let's say you had a basket or a

collection of goods and services that

you bought last year

and to buy all these things cost 100

now let's say that to buy the exact same

amount of and collection of items or

goods and services this year you would

have to pay 105

this would represent an inflation rate

of five percent

so the rba's goal is to keep inflation

between two and three percent on average

over time

so how does the rba actually affect

inflation

because if it's our objective and we

want to achieve it then we have to have

a way to actually influence it

so what how we do this is we first

influence interest rates

so to give you a definition of what

interest rates are

the most simple one i can think of is

interest rates are the cost of borrowing

and they measure the benefit of saving

and these two things the cost

of borrowing the benefit of saving

influences people's behavior on whether

they spend their money or not and if

they do spend their money how much

so the rba has a toolkit of ways in

which we can influence interest rates in

the economy

the main one of these is something

called the cash rate

i won't go into these in detail today

but you can learn all about them in our

videos on interest rates

now through setting interest rates um

the reserve bank will keep an eye on

predominantly on inflation as i said

with the inflation target so if

inflation is too low

the reserve bank will lower the interest

rate

and this then in turn will boost the

economy

and the same thing on the opposite side

if inflation is too high the rba will

raise the interest rate which then cools

down activity in the economy and brings

inflation back down to that target range

okay so where is the economy at

currently

so when you look at this

business cycle diagram and you can see

that there's periods of expansion

periods of contraction which one do you

think the australian economy would be in

at the moment

and in thinking about that think about

what's been happening over the past 12

months the biggest event in the economy

of the past 12 months is of course being

the covert 19 pandemic which has

predominantly been a health crisis but

has had a big impact on the economy

so to see where we're at in the business

cycle let's have a look at some data

so the first line here is a gdp growth

which is as i mentioned before with the

business cycle where we have output on

the y-axis

you could equally call it output gdp so

gdp growth is the change in output over

time

what we can see is over the over the

year of 2020

that gdp growth was actually negative

so this means that the

size of the economy contracted over 2020

or or the year to september 2020 at

least by 3.8

so that tells us we're in that

contraction phase of the business cycle

we also see that inflation is low at 0.9

over the year to 20 december 2020 that

is um below that 2

bottom of that target range that we have

as australia's inflation target so we

know that 0.9 is quite low inflation

and we also see unemployment rate of 6.6

which compared to where it was a year

earlier at 5.3

is is high

and we know that if everyone in the

economy who could work was working we

would see an unemployment rate uh quite

a bit lower than 6.6

so as a summary

we see that the reserve bank uh

would look to lower the interest rate

because we have inflation that's too low

and economic activity being in that

contraction phase

so that's exactly what we see that the

reserve bank has done over the past year

the cash rate um this time a year ago

was at 0.75

and now we have the cash rate at 0.1

which is incredibly low um it's the

lowest that we've ever had the cash rate

in the history of our country

um

if you would like to play around with

other comparisons of points in time so

in this example i compared what the data

are as at um january 2021 or or nearest

two compared to what the data were a

year ago um you can do these types of

things with our snapshot comparison

digital interactive tool and our website

you can choose different points in time

and different events in recent

australian economic history like the

1991 recession the global financial

crisis um

and a few other things so you can

compare how the economic conditions have

changed between two points in time

so that's all i'm going to cover in

terms of our content today um before i

pass on to q a

but if you want to learn more please

jump on our website at rba.gov.a au

education

we have a whole lot of resources that

are written just for you we have videos

on

many different topics

including things i haven't talked about

today like how to read or interpret

graphs

we have digital interactive tools like i

just mentioned with the snapshot we also

have one that looks at exploring

inflation

we have infographics on things like the

business cycle or unemployment and many

other topics that i think you might find

helpful

we also have information about careers

in economics or things you might like to

do if you were to study economics

so

check this out as well

there's some interesting profiles of

people who have become economists or

using economics tools and frameworks in

a completely different

line of work

and a great way to keep up to date with

new resources or events we are offering

is to follow us on our social media we

have twitter facebook and instagram

accounts

and also if you subscribe to our youtube

channel we're always uploading uploading

new explainer videos which are going to

be very helpful in your studies