How bad chocolate and Buddhism shaped Shane Oliver's views on economics
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver is constantly looking for the right balance.
It was a bad bar of chocolate in the Soviet Union during the 1980s that convinced Shane Oliver excessive government control wasn’t the best way to run an economy.
“People looked all downtrodden and unhappy. The shops didn’t have much choice,” he says.
Today, Oliver is financial services giant AMP's chief economist. But, back then, he was a student at Macquarie University visiting Russia for a Contiki tour.
This holiday reaffirmed his position that a market economy promoting competition and innovation is required to get the best results for a society.
