Damien Grant: Is this moment that the PM forces me to eat my words? I hope so

While our collective focus is on the impending economic collapse driven by a lack of petroleum, my attention has been diverted by a speech given by a relatively obscure, but important, government apparatchik. The Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway.

The problem with government economists is their language is constrained by the necessities of convention. They would describe an invasion of Orcs pouring over the balustrades howling with bloodlust as an incoming negative external shock with the potential for adverse economic outcomes in the short to medium term.

Mike's Minute: Here's the problem with the Reserve Bank economists

The problem with people like Paul Conway, who is the Chief Economist at the Reserve Bank, is they “know” some stuff.

They sound good in a speech, but their record exposes them badly.

Paul gave a speech this week to the National Financial Advisers conference.

Michael Reddell: Still avoiding responsibility

I was away when Reserve Bank chief economist Paul Conway gave his recent speech, “The road back to 2% inflation”, and since I didn’t see any material commentary on it I didn’t bother going back to it when I got home. But my son – honours student researching monetary policy (anyone wanting a young economist at the end of year, get in touch…..) – prompted me to finally do so. And since I’ve been quite consistently critical of the lack of serious speeches from the MPC members, I shouldn’t overlook the handful (even if they are just selling a party line, rather than really opening up issues and alternative perspectives) that do emerge.