Static vs Dynamic – should we care?
The new model allows researchers and policymakers to track the economic effects of an underlying shock to changes in the circular flow of income among the different agents in the economy. The recent development of a Static Computable General Equilibrium model for Malta, jointly between the Central Bank of Malta, the University of Malta, and the University of Macerata, has added a useful tool to the armoury of models employed by the Ministry of Finance...
Voices
The silly season
The Partit Laburista and the Partit Nazzjonalista are engaged in a life-or-death struggle where no quarters are spared. The new editor of The Journal saw fit to invite me to start writing again now that The Journal is being revived. I presume he thought I might have something relevant to say, or perhaps he thought he would challenge a 78-year-old to come up with 800 words which...
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The Miracle of Work
How Labour changed Malta’s growth into employment. Economist Frans Camilleri writes. In a previous opinion, I had written about the Labour Government’s stellar performance in achieving unprecedented economic growth over the past decade. Today, I write about a...
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Cash for poor mothers?
Should higher children’s allowance be paid to vulnerable children & families? Should it be paid directly to mothers? FRANS CAMILLERI WRITES. Recently I came across a reproduction of a painting entitled “The Drunkard” by Eugène Laermans, a Belgian painter...
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[ANALYSIS] The energy crunch: how bad is it?
Prices for electricity and gas skyrocketed in Europe last year and this winter, inflating energy bills for households and businesses, prompting governments to introduce relief measures while wondering how to counteract the underlying reasons for the energy crunch in...
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A vote for sale
A major dilemma in democratic policy-making is that bad policies can be good politics and good policies can be bad politics. For instance, broad public policies such as universal education or health care may be good for growth but may be electorally ineffective. On...
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The secrets behind Labour’s transformation of Malta’s economy
With the general election round the corner, at the end of the Labour Party’s second legislature, it is only natural that one should look back and assess whether the Labour Governments of the last 10 years have delivered on their promise of a strong economy. And my,...
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How are we even functioning?
We need to start now: the pandemic has driven numerous changes to economic activities and the way that societies function, bringing the role of the social economy to the fore. What should our response be? FRANS CAMILLERI WRITES. The COVID-19 pandemic has raised...
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Looking beyond the pandemic
Malta’s response to the COVID pandemic was not just a public health success, but a social and economic one as well. Of course, that’s not to say that we did not suffer negative consequences, like all the rest of the world did. The success comes from the fact that on...
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Who is Mr Average?
On average, it takes a person 11 minutes to walk one kilometre. On average, a Maltese person lives 82.6 years life, earns €18,660 per annum, spends 13.3 nights on foreign holidays, spends €24 a week in restaurants, and has a 27% chance of dying of cancer. But who is...
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When inflation rears its ugly head
People expect prices to continue rising this year. They feel that their wages ought to rise accordingly to protect their living standards. They must rise by even more if their happy experience of rising living standards in recent years is to continue. Of course, the...
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Dialogue of the Deaf
If I were to suggest just one word which we should use more often this year, it would be “listen”. It’s one of those quiet words which contrasts with the words that defined last year, the shouts and roars, the bray and bluster. Listening is hard when the sounds around...