After months of hard work and planning, we are proud to present to you ESSA’s fifth edition of Equilibrium. Equilibrium stands as a reflection and testament to another year of ESSA. Another year of engaging economic students, fostering insightful economic discussions and creating a wonderfully warm community. We hope that this publication not only highlights the society’ s achievements throughout 2016, but also demonstrates the dedication within ESSA to embracing economic debate and showing that students care about and have strong opinions regarding global issues and the political economy.

Whilst working across two different university committees on one publication can always pose a challenge, the success of EQ is a testament to the teamwork of everyone involved. With Skype attendees in different countries and cities, countless meetings, and pages of edits, the cooperation and efforts of both Melbourne and Monash committees has paid off to bring this publication to fruition.

This year EQ showcases the passion of ESSA writers who express their thoughts and opinions on economic problems, from the lack of women within the economics discipline to currency crises and all else in between. It is great to see ESSA committee members getting involved as well, by voicing their opinions in EQ’s first ever ESSA Debate. The Debates aim to bring a light-hearted tone to the publication and encourage writers to think outside the box – we hope you enjoy reading them!

Most importantly, a huge thanks to all the 2016 Publications teams from both campuses. To the Publications Directors, Priyanka Banerjee and David Hurley, thank you for all your hard work behind the scenes, to keep ESSA Publications running like clockwork. To all the editors involved – Hugh Oliver, Harry Murphy Cruise, Tom Crowley and Sam O’Connor – thank you for the time and effort you have all put in to ensure that our articles this year have been our best ever. A tremendous thanks to all the writers – student, academic and professional – who have provided us with brilliantly insightful pieces. Of course, EQ and ESSA’s various other endeavours would not be possible without the help of our sponsors. Thank you for your continuous support in fuelling ESSA’s rising success.

ESSA has undoubtedly achieved tremendous goals in 2016, producing quality events, engaging publications and passionate economic minds. We have had a year filled with fond memories as part of #ESSAfam, and we are proud to have been a part of such an impactful society. We hope you find EQ a worthy testament to how incredible it has been to be part of ESSA in 2016. We cannot wait to see how much more ESSA can accomplish in 2017.

With this, we are excited to leave you with the fifth edition of EQ. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

Yael Jacoby & Louise Yun (ESSA Melbourne & Monash Clayton)

Equilibrium Editors 2016