Inflation & the Australian Economy

About this event

In this session our panel explores economic issues that impact all of us including inflation, housing, jobs interest rates and more through the lens of data science.

You will hear from:

• Catherine Smyth – Acting Director, Consumer Price Index, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Professor Adam Clements – School of Economics and Finance, QUT
• Associate Professor Connie Susilawati – School of Economics and Finance, QUT
• Dr Katherine Uylangco – School of Economics and Finance, QUT

The discussion will be moderated by Centre Director, Distinguished Professor Kerrie Mengersen.

More about the topics

Catherine Smyth

Advances in the Australian CPI: Big data has transformed how prices are captured by the ABS for large portions of the CPI. Now, this data is enabling the delivery of more timely inflation statistics. This discussion will cover how the ABS utilises scanner and web-scraped data, and plans for the release of a monthly CPI indicator later this year.

Professor Adam Clements

Given recent changes in economic conditions, detailed information about the state of the economy is crucial for informing policy responses. Real-time measures of economic activity will provide policy makers with a more up-to-date picture of economic conditions. This is important for measuring the response to recent policy changes, and help anticipate the next steps ahead. This is especially topical as policy makers are currently raising interest rates to help combat inflation but want to avoid tipping the economy into a recession. A range of possible sources of real-time information will be discussed.

Associate Professor Connie Susilawati

The 2021 Census data provided insight into mortgage payments and housing affordability. These impact owner occupiers, investors and tenants. An increase in interest rates has caused an increase in mortgage repayments, making homes harder to purchase. This also has an effect on investors who may exit the market and have increased capital gains. Many home owners are now adapting their homes to be more energy efficient as a way to decrease costs in the future.

Katherine Uylangco

Will speak about Economic forecasting. What does the future hold?