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Peter Smith

Peter was CEO of Australian Payments Clearing Association Limited for 14 years. Beginning in 2005, he consulted on payments matters. Before that he was chief economist at the State Bank Victoria; economic adviser to the Australian Bankers’ Association; and headed the department responsible for monetary policy in the public service of Papua, New Guinea. He has a first class honours degree in economics (University of Western Australia) and a Ph.D. (University of Adelaide). He tutored part-time and full-time for five years at the Universities of Western Australia and Adelaide. He has published in professional journals on economics and payments matters, including a number of articles on Keynesian monetary theory, and has spoken at a large number of economics and payments conferences and seminars within Australia and overseas. Retired, he blogs and writes regularly for Quadrant and authored the book Bad Economics, published by Connor Court in 2012.

Recent Articles by Peter Smith

  • Robots will not create a workless world

    “…Most of us will have less and less money to buy the dazzling array of products and services spawned by blockbuster technologies - because those same technologies will be supplanting our jobs and driving down our pay.” –  Robert Reicher (March 16, 2015).

    The latest industrial revolution is afoot. Artificial intelligence (AI) is its defining ingredient.  Some think it will bring superabundance. Some think it will bring lasting job losses and lower pay. Some think it will bring both. Neither outcome is plausible.

    Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov has a new book out called Deep Thinking. Losing to the computer “Deep Blue” gave Kasparov a close encounter with a member of the race of “intelligent machines.” Despite this experience he tends to see promise rather than threat in their growing power. I do too, but not quite in the same way. This is what he wrote in the Wall Street Journal (April 14, 2017) in an essay adapted from his book:

    Machines that replace physical labour have allowed us to focus more on what makes us human: our minds. Intelligent machines will continue that process, taking over more menial aspects of cognition and elevating our mental lives towards...