Saturday Magazine

20 Jul 2014

The mysterious case of small town economics

News & Politics, Podcast, Society & Culture

As Saturday Magazine’s political expert, Chris Weinberg has always had an informative opinion on the state of Australia’s political and economic battle ground. Now, having relocated to Portland, Victoria, he’s focusing his talents on a new challenge.

As part of the Teach for Australia program, Chris has made the leap from economics student at Melbourne University, to a teacher of VCE students at a rural high school. Naturally, the challenges facing small town economies is not far from Chris’s gaze.

“Most country towns are heavily reliant on one or two major industries or businesses for their economic livelihood. The Portland economy typifies this summation,” he wrote for the Economics Student Society of Australia website.

“In a town of 11,000, an employer [i.e. Alcoa] that employs over 700 people is obviously an incredibly influential factor in the state of the town’s economy. Were it to close, it would undoubtedly lead to flow-on effects that would see families move away for work, hurting every industry throughout the town.”

As a special guest co-host with Macca, Chris discusses this issue on this edition of Saturday Magazine. Read Chris’s full article at the Economics Student Society of Australia website.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:30:06 — 82.5MB)

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