Past Programs
Economics - 2008
2008 Boyer Lectures - A Golden Age of Freedom, Lecture 6: The 21st century: comforting the afflicted. And afflicting the comfortable
07/12/2008
The Oxford of Rupert Murdoch's youth was one of the most privileged places on earth. But freedom and information have changed the order of things. On a global scale more people than ever are taking advantage of the revolution. And that's how it should be.
2008 Boyer Lectures - A Golden Age of Freedom, Lecture 5: The global middle class roars
30/11/2008
Rupert Murdoch's recent trips to China and India have convinced him of one thing: there is no alternative to economic growth as a remedy for poverty. Caste and communism have condemned hundreds of millions to wretched lives.
2008 Boyer Lectures - A Golden Age of Freedom, Lecture 1: Aussie rules: bring back the pioneer
02/11/2008
Hear all six Boyer Lectures on Big Ideas, starting this week. The 2008 lecture series, A Golden Age of Freedom, is presented by Mr Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation.
The first lecture in the series will also be broadcast on ABC1 on 2 November 2008 at 10.15pm -- a special presentation of ABC FORA.
To complememt the lectures we present, in the second half of the hour, in-depth discussions with scientists, writers, researchers, and general big thinkers, conducted by Robyn Williams. This week we meet Simon Winchester, expert on the fascinating work of China scholar Joseph Needham.
The great divide
26/10/2008
Underneath the economic storm clouds lies a nation deeply riven. The richest country in the world is experiencing inequality in wealth and opportunity on a scale that rivals any other time in the past century. But is it as simple as redistributing wealth? Ironically, it may just be the American Dream that gets in the way.
By 2020 only the rich will be at home in Australia
03/08/2008
Are you feeling flush with funds after the decade-long commodities boom? Or is the cost of housing, groceries and petrol making you feel like a pauper? Today a flashpoint between those who believe we have never had it so good and those who reckon the dream has become a nightmare. The third Intelligence Squared debate spares no argument in its quest for the truth about debt stress.
Reith Lectures 2008 - Chinese Vistas : American Dreams
20/07/2008
Once the US stood head and shoulders above China. But the dynamics of this relationship is rapidly changing . In his third lecture, Professor Jonathan Spence traces the two centuries in which the United States gradually moved from being a dominant beacon of freedom and democracy for China to a more demanding global rival.
Anne Manne - Love and Money
08/06/2008
What ever happened to the barbecue stopper? The term has made it into the dictionary. But the issue it originally described in 2002 remains rare on the back burner. The work-home bind stalks the modern family, and in particular women who carry the brunt of care. Can love and money strike a balance? Anne Manne considers the shadow economy, and what it might take to broaden the definition of equality to include dependency and the care of others.
The Logic of Life
02/03/2008
The age of the pop economist has dawned. Since Freakonomics was published in 2005 a new breed of media savvy expert has come forth. It turns out that life can be understood through a prism of daily cost-benefit analyses. In the age of homo economus this makes perfect sense. Today we meet one of the leading practitioners of low brow economics. Tim Harford works for the Financial times (UK) where he runs a blog called The Undercover Economist. His raw material comprises the everyday - from relationships and marriage to crime and overpaid bosses. In his reckoning it all makes sense in an economic sort of way. Join Tim Harford for an entertaining look at the logic of life.
Global finance: big, bloated and dangerous? Read Transcript
03/02/2008
Is it possible that global finance rivals climate change as the biggest challenge facing humanity? So goes the thinking of Dr Paul Woolley. He's no stranger to the industry, a veteran of merchant banking and global finance with over three decades experience. And yet not even he can fathom its spectacular growth. After all, as he says, it's supposed to be just a go-between, servicing the productive parts of the economy.
Yet the figures bear out an amazing leap in prominence in a relatively short time. Forty years ago the industry accounted for 10% of corporate profits. It's now close to 40% and growing. It is easily the largest single corporate sector. Received wisdom holds that capital markets are supposed to be lean and efficient. How then can bloated profits, price bubbles, and periodic blow-ups be properly explained?
Dr Paul Woolley is very worried; so much so he has set up three global centres studying capital market dysfunction, including one here in Australia. Today on Big Ideas we hear his powerful speech, putting the dangers before us, recorded at the launch of his centre in Sydney.
