Risk-free is a single, predictable outcome. Risk is the opposite, all the things that might happen and the odds that they will. So begins chapter four of Alison Schrager’s book ‘An Economist Walks into a Brothel’. In the book Schrager finds herself in all manner of situations and environments, including the aforementioned brothel. Her goal? To examine how various people and institutions measure risk and then increase or reduce it according to their preference. In that brothel, Schrager, an economist and retirement consultant, found how risk was being priced for the parties on either side of the transaction. The ‘service…

  The news around COVID-19 continues to move fast. Governments are moving to alleviate the impact on individuals and businesses. Today’s stimulus had the following measures included. SUPPORT FOR INDIVIDUALS Welfare payments: $18.1bn Welfare recipients receive an extra $550 a fortnight on top of their current benefits, essentially doubling the newstart payment. Coronavirus supplement time-limited for next six months. Waiting times and asset tests for JobSeeker Payment waived. Extra one-off $750 payment for welfare recipients and veterans, on top of the $750 announced for them in the last round of stimulus measures. The 2nd $750 will arrive in July. Superannuation:…