I warmly welcome you to Short Supply, an annual publication of the Economics Student Society of Australia. It has been an absolute honour working with our dedicated team to produce the third edition of this magazine, as well as on all of our other projects this year. In 2017 we have continued to publish high-quality online pieces, introduced debate-style articles to further encourage economic discussion, and expanded to include Monash University’s Caulfield campus. Looking ahead, we have exciting plans for semester two, including the long-awaited reboot of ESSA TV!

The third edition of Short Supply focuses on the Global Financial Crisis. In particular, it provides an in-depth exploration of the crisis’ causes, responses from different nations, individuals and firms, and the crisis’ ongoing fallout. Our authors take a magnifying glass to each aspect of the crisis, to assess how it was managed, and the current fallout from this significant economic event. The magazine aims to encourage discussion about significant failings leading up to and during the crisis, and to determine what the future should hold for economic and financial policy.

We are grateful to have contributions from leading Monash University academics in this year’s magazine. Dr Giovanni Caggiano, Dr Gennadi Kazakevitch, Dr Ratbek Dzhumashev and Dr Rodney Maddock all generously lent their extensive experience and valuable time to this year’s Short Supply, and we sincerely thank them for their contributions. If you are a Monash University student with a passion for writing, we would love to hear from you! Please see the inside back cover of this magazine for details on how to join our team.

I would like to express my deep gratitude for the team behind this magazine. Our editorial team – Eddie Go, Solomon Zhang and Suvi Lokuge – worked tirelessly to ensure the quality of this publication. Likewise, to our staff of writers, for their diligent work on their magazine articles as well as their constant commitment to ESSA and our goal of promoting economic debate. It was great to have such a diverse team contributing to Short Supply, with writers spanning Clayton and Caulfield campuses and ranging from esteemed professors to second-year students. The efforts of our graphic designer, Zoe Smith, are also much appreciated in designing such a beautiful magazine, along with posters and banners for our events. Further, I would like to thank the ESSA Committee for their continued support of the publications department and all our endeavours. This magazine would not be possible without them.

I would like to give a message of thanks to our sponsors. The Monash Business School, in particular the Department of Economics, has been a long-time active supporter of ESSA. We thank the faculty very much for their ongoing commitment to our endeavours. We would also like to thank our corporate sponsors for their constant support, which has ensured the quality of this magazine.

Lastly, a personal thanks to you, the reader. Without you, there would be no-one to write for, and no publications department at ESSA. Thank you for picking up this magazine. I sincerely hope you enjoy it and that it encourages you to become more involved in economics.

Nicolas Alexiou

Director of Publications (Monash) 2017