Ross Gittins
An appreciation
For quite a while I’ve been meaning to write a piece appreciating Ross Gittins’ 50 year run as Australia’s leading economic journalist. He’s one of the few who is neither an ideologue nor a recycler of corporate talking points (no names, no pack drill, but most of my readers will be able to think of plenty of examples).
This plan was pushed to the top of my agenda when Ross gave an exceptionally generous donation to support my Brissie to the Bay cycle ride in support of MS Queensland. It reminded me of the generosity of spirit Ross has displayed throughout his career.
Ross started writing economic commentary for the Sydney Morning Herald in 1974, the year I started my undergraduate economics degree at ANU. So, I’ve been in a position to follow his entire career, which coincides almost exactly with the rise and fall of the ideology variously called neoliberalism, market liberalism and economic rationalism.
Back in the Whitlam era, “economic rationalist” wasn’t the pejorative term it has now become; in fact, Whitlam saw himself as an economic rationalist. As I wrote quite a while ago
‘Economic rationalism’ then referred to policy formulation on the basis of reasoned analysis, as opposed to tradition, emotion and self-interest. With the exception of support for free trade, there was no presumption in favour of particular policy positions. The views of the first generation of economic rationalists were generally in the economic mainstream of the period — Keynesian in macro terms and supportive of the ‘mixed economy’ in micro terms.
Understood in those terms, Ross was, and remains an economic rationalist. But
During the period of the Fraser and Hawke governments, both the intellectual character and the theoretical and policy content of economic rationalism changed. The critical and sceptical thinking that characterised the first phase of economic rationalism was gradually replaced by a dogmatic, indeed, quasi-religious, faith in market forces and the private sector
Unlike many others, Ross did not follow this path. Instead, he reacted against it, looking for an understanding of economics that was more realistic and humane. This has been a consistent feature of his later writing. Ross has regularly criticised models of economic behavior based on narrowly defined self interest and promoted richer models of people’s goals and motivation.
The other thing I appreciate most about Ross is his willingness to engage with the academic economics profession, rather than taking talking points from corporate and bank economists, like so many other economic journalists. I particularly remember his description of the late Fred Gruen as a ‘useful economist’, that is, one who made serious contributions to Australian public policy rather than focusing on high-status publications in international journals.
I’ve always aspired to follow in Fred’s footsteps in this regard, though I found it necessary to do the international journal stuff as well in order to maintain credibility while pushing leftwing policy views.
More generally, Ross has regularly picked up interesting work by academic economists and explained it to his readers.
Finally, I’ve always found Ross to be a friendly and supportive person. As I mentioned already, he demonstrated this again with a very generous donation to sponsor my Brissie to the Bay ride for MS Queensland.
It’s been a great 50 years for Ross, and I hope for a decade or two more before he, and I, leave the economics scene.
Read my newsletter
Ross was always willing to talk with anyone on economic public policy. Years ago he sent me a talk by email and mail by the late Geoff Harcourt on constructing economic policy. He didn’t not even know me at the time, but the fact that I was interested in Geoff’s work, was enough for him to send me a copy. Australia‘s greatest economic journalist. We need more like him today.
I agree wholeheartedly with your post. When I became an economist teacher in 1977, the uncomplicated publications by Ross Gittins helped my students to understand my theoretical lessons. As a young teacher I tried to impress and astound my students; and forget that my job was to educate them in economics.
Ross Gittins articles were down to earth and gave practical examples. His
budget analysis was always the best I had ever read.
The HSC guides, done yearly by Ross Gittins were one of the best senior student resources published in the 1990s. Many HSC economics teachers owe Ross Gittins a great debt of gratitude.
Later on, the SMH articles by Ross Gittins gave clear and concise explanations of public economics. This was a welcome change from the biased and prejudicial economic statements from media quoted business and financial economists.
Ross Gittins deserves praise for all the above achievements.