Professor to paint economic reality for world economy

A world-renowned employment and equity expert will deliver the first in the 2013 series of free Professorial Lectures in Darwin next week.

Chair in Economics and Director for the Centre of Full Employment and Equity at Charles Darwin University, Professor Bill Mitchell will deliver an address entitled “Full employment abandoned: the triumph of ideology over evidence” on June 4.

Professor Mitchell’s Professorial Lecture will trace the origins of the Global Financial Crisis back to decisions to substantially deregulate the labour and financial markets.

“After World War II, the advanced economies adopted the policy goal of full employment and actively used fiscal and monetary policy to ensure that goal was achieved,” Professor Mitchell said.

“This policy framework supported sustained economic growth and also reduced income and wealth inequalities. Importantly, it also supported a reduction in world poverty and the economic transformation of the poorer nations.

“The corporate sector and its conservative allies in politics, however, did not support this policy framework. They preferred a larger pool of unemployed people to use as a threat against wage demands.”

Professor Mitchell holds the Research Chair in Economics at the University of Newcastle and is Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE). He has published extensively on wage and price inflation, unemployment, modern monetary macroeconomic theory and policy, and regional science. He has worked in many developing countries with multilateral agencies such as the ILO and the Asian Development Bank.

Through CofFEE, which promotes research aimed at restoring full employment, and achieving an economy that delivers equitable outcomes, particularly for the disadvantaged, Professor Mitchell has worked throughout the world.

Disadvantaged people in South Africa have already reaped the rewards of Professor Mitchell's work after CofFEE assisted a government program to employ more than one million people, lifting them above the poverty line.

Professor Mitchell said he hoped to use his experience to work with CDU staff and government agencies to build capacity within remote Indigenous and Timor-Leste communities, in addition to continuing his work elsewhere.

The Professorial Lecture will be held on June 4 from 5:30pm to 7:00pm in the Nitmiluk Lounge, Level 4, Parliament House. The event is free, but seats are limited. RSVP by 31 May to E: rsvp@cdu.edu.au or T: 08 8946 6554.