Vital Signs: it will take more than asking for a pay rise to fix Australia's wages problem
Vital Signs is a weekly economic wrap from UNSW economics professor and Harvard PhD Richard Holden (@profholden). Vital Signs aims to contextualise weekly economic events and cut through the noise of the data affecting global economies.This week: a break from data reporting to focus on Australia&rsq...
How to ask for a pay rise
Despite what RBA chief Philip Lowe says, asking for a pay rise isn't so simple for many employees. ShutterstockWhen Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe argued that the real source of workers’ unhappiness was an unwillingness to lobby for higher wages, he overlooked a key tenet of negotiation: we...
From gay Nazis to 'we're here, we're queer': A century of arguing about gay pride
This month, hundreds of thousands of people around the world will join gay pride marches in cities big and small. In many cities, pride marches are controversial. In some – like Moscow – they are even banned. But for many people in North America, parts of Europe, Latin America and elsewh...
It's easy to do business in New Zealand but it needs to be easier
New Zealand is one of the easiest places to do business.ShutterstockNew Zealand is still topping the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, a ranking of how easy it is to do business in 190 economies and cities. But even though New Zealand is ranked first in half of the criteria, the index...
Are LGBT Americans actually reaping the benefits of marriage?
For decades, researchers have studied the benefits of marriage, finding that married people are likely to be healthier, wealthier and wiser than their unmarried peers. But these studies reflected those who were allowed to marry. Only recently – when states started passing laws guaranteeing sam...
Teaching machines to understand – and summarize – text
Can artificial intelligence help us stop drowning in paperwork?Jiw Ingka/shutterstock.comWe humans are swamped with text. It’s not just news and other timely information: Regular people are drowning in legal documents. The problem is so bad we mostly ignore it. Every time a person uses a store...
Drew Faust and old, white men: The changing role of university presidents
If your perception of higher education is that it’s led by aging white males, you’re right. According to a report released this week by the American Council on Education (ACE), the average college president in 2016 was a 62-year-old married white male with a doctorate.One recent exceptio...
Why the latest wave of terrorism will get worse before it gets better
The latest attacks in London and Manchester – like last year’s attacks in Orlando, Florida and St. Cloud, Minnesota – epitomize what I call the newest form of terrorism.The newest terrorists aim to kill as many people as possible, as frequently as possible, as horrifically as possi...
Why cash remains sacred in American churches
Why do people need cash in churches?Billion Photos/ShutterstockOn Tuesday, June 27, it will be 50 years since the first automated cash dispenser – which came to be known as an automated teller machine (ATM) – was inaugurated in London.Just thinking about it brings a smile to my face. I ...
Even ugly animals can win hearts and dollars to save them from extinction
It can be easier to raise money to aid animals like these African elephants than species that are more threatened with extinction but get humans less excited. www.shutterstock.comThe Earth is home to millions of species, but you wouldn’t know it from the media’s obsession with only a few...
Government action isn't enough for climate change. The private sector can cut billions of tons of carbon
Businesses can make up for inaction on climate by government by investing in energy and fuel efficiency. Walmart/flickr, CC BY-SAWith President Trump’s announcement to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, many other countries around the world – and cities and states within ...
Business Briefing: following the money in cricket
Cricket Australia has been unable to broker a new pay deal with the Australian Cricketer's Association. EPA/DAVID JONESRather than just admiring a good hit or delivery, there’s another way to analyse what’s happening on a cricket pitch. Cricket players are actually business people, in th...
Marine Le Pen didn't win over women. Can anyone on the far right?
A Le Pen campaign rally in Villepinte, France on May 1, 2017. REUTERS/Charles PlatiauMarine Le Pen has gone from potentially being elected the first female president of France to barely keeping her party alive. In early May, Le Pen was one of two candidates to advance to the second round of the pres...
Can yoga be Christian?
Julie Pimentel, CC BY-NCInvocations of Jesus, images of the cross and biblical scripture are unlikely to be what we envision when we think of yoga.Yoga is typically seen as either a Hindu practice or, more recently and popularly, “spiritual but not religious” or, even more commonly, a fo…
What happened to the openly gay athlete?
St. Louis Rams draft pick Michael Sam speaks during a news conference at the team's practice facility in May 2014.Jeff Roberson/APFrom late April 2013 to early May 2014, gay and lesbian athletes welcomed breakthrough after breakthrough in the historically closeted world of sports.Journeyman basketba…
Challenging the status quo in mathematics: Teaching for understanding
How can we change math instruction to meet the needs of today's kids?World Bank Photo Collection / flickr, CC BY-NC-NDDespite decades of reform efforts, mathematics teaching in the U.S. has changed little in the last century. As a result, it seems, American students have been left behind, now rankin…
Reverse engineering mysterious 500-million-year-old fossils that confound our tree of life
Here's the fossil... what can you tell about how this animal lived?Matteo De Stefano/MUSE-Science Museum, CC BY-SAPaleontologists like us are used to working with fossils that would seem bizarre to many biologists accustomed to living creatures. And as we go farther back in Earth’s history, th…
ATMs dispense more than money: The dirt and dope that's on your cash
Those keypads are teeming with microbes.AP Photo/Charlie RiedelWe live in a dirty world. Wherever we go, we are among microbes. Bacteria, fungi and viruses live on our phones, bus seats, door handles and park benches. We pass these tiny organisms to each other when we share a handshake or a seat on …
Most expensive race in House history turns out nearly 58 percent of Georgia district's voters
Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth District congressional seat Karen Handel declares victory with her husband Steve.AP Photo/John BazemoreI’m a political science professor living in Georgia’s Sixth House district, where Republican Karen Handel eked out a victory of nearly four poin…
The CPA saga demonstrates why Australia's corporate governance code needs replacing
The CPA were a part of the committee who originally wrote the ASX Code.AAP Image/Alan PorrittThe ongoing saga involving CPA’s board of directors and CEO Alex Malley highlights the need for a new corporate governance code in Australia. The CPA, while not a publicly listed company, adheres to th…
Fixing a toxic culture like Uber's requires more than just a new CEO
A toxic corporate culture may begin at the top, but it doesn't end there. AP Photo/Eric RisbergIn times of organizational crisis, some companies are able to right the ship, while others sink under the pressure. Recently, Uber has been under fire for a bad corporate culture, which promoted, among oth…
