#83: The Silent Hero Of The Australian Economy – Ian Macfarlane

2 min read
#83: The Silent Hero Of The Australian Economy – Ian Macfarlane

Ian Macfarlane was Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia from 1996 to 2006. He is the author of The Search For Stability and Ten Remarkable Australians.

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Topics discussed

  • Why did Ian write Ten Remarkable Australians? 5:26
  • The state of Australian biography. 9:49
  • Harry Hawker, the young aeronautical genius. 11:16
  • George “Peking” Morrison, the well-connected adventurer. 13:56
  • Frederick Septimus Kelly, the concert pianist who rubbed shoulders with prime ministers and died on the Somme. 17:21
  • Why does only one woman feature in Ian’s book? 21:59
  • How does Ian view his role as a historian/biographer? 23:39
  • Why did Ian study economics? 25:38
  • When the RBA rejected its future Governor. 27:10
  • When Ian got FOMO. 28:14
  • The boom and bust of the 1980s. 30:02
  • Whose fault was “the recession we had to have”? 34:51
  • Are bubbles caused by credit supply shocks or crazy beliefs? 37:07
  • The stud budgie bubble. 39:41
  • What did Ian learn from the 1980s booms and bust? 40:40
  • The mechanics of central banking. 44:54
  • The RBA’s objectives. 51:11
  • Should the current RBA use the wealth effect as a channel for monetary policy? 51:56
  • The intergenerational implications of housing booms. 55:00
  • The early-2000s housing bubble. 57:08
  • Defining “bubble”. 58:11
  • Ian’s fateful decision to begin “leaning against the wind” in 2002. 1:04:21
  • When Ian sent junior RBA staff to attend property spruiker seminars. 1:08:06
  • Can you actually make much money betting on property price growth? 1:10:51
  • Did Ian prevent an out-of-control housing bubble? 1:13:43
  • Should central banks “lean against the wind”? 1:14:37
  • The poignant truth of public policy and silent heroes. 1:16:30
  • Did Ian see the global financial crisis coming? 1:20:24
  • Was the 2012-2017 run-up in house prices as bubbly as the early-2000s run-up? 1:23:05
  • How America’s teaser rate loans got “lost in translation” and overlooked by the Aussie regulators. 1:24:59
  • Does Ian see risks in today’s housing market? 1:28:58
  • The Melbourne land bubble of the 1880s. 1:30:54
  • Did the biographical subjects of Ten Remarkable Australians, all born in the late nineteenth century, view themselves as “Australian”? 1:33:13