The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Thursday, June 16, 2011

New data source: is Australia's unemployment rate about to step down?

Long-time readers may recall that in years past I leveraged off Google Trends and Google Labs data relating to specific search terms (eg, first home owners grant) to gain some real-time insights into housing market dynamics. The uber-right-wing interest rate strategist, aka Ricardian Ambivalence, has done the same in the context of the unemployment rate. And the results are surprisingly strong. Check out this chart, and have a read of R.A.'s full text here:

"Google got the recent flat spot right, and now their search results suggest the unemployment rate is about to head lower."

at 9:46 AM