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."

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Key today: RBA adds new line abt productivity having to rise to hit CPI target

UBS's Matty Johnson picked up on it:

The RBA tends to hike after rising inflation and cut after rising unemployment (or global growth scares). If the RBA is to ease further, it will take a rising unemployment rate. If they are to return to a tightening narrative, it will take a steady or falling unemployment rate, and a couple of quarterly core inflation prints that exceed 0.7%q/q. The forecast of inflation remaining ~2.5% was made conditional on productivity improving. Expect the weak-productivity narrative to develop if the RBA starts making the case for tighter monetary policy.
at 5:06 PM