Economy
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HAL SWERISSEN and STEPHEN DUCKETT. Is a tax on sugary drinks “bonkers”?
The evidence is that currently there are significant harms and costs associated with the consumption of sugary drinks, both to those who are obese and the community more generally. Continue reading »
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WAYNE SWAN. The blindness of affluence and the need for a more inclusive form of prosperity.
This is a repost from 15 November 2016. Just over two years ago I was in New York working with Larry Summers and Ed Balls to prepare a report for the Center for American Progress on inclusive prosperity. One morning I had the opportunity to walk the High Line and on the side of an Continue reading »
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ALLAN PATIENCE. From America into Asia
As Australia necessarily rethinks its alliance with the United States, it must simultaneously educate itself into Asia. There is just no other way. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Turnbull’s New Year resolution should be a fibre-based NBN for everyone
As we all make our New Year’s resolutions, here’s one for Turnbull: build us a better broadband network. It’s time to allow NBN to dump copper and revert to a fibre-based model. The sooner the better. Continue reading »
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DANI RODRIK. Put globalisation to work for democracies.
A repost from the New York Times, Sunday Review, 17 September 2016. A Chinese student once described his country’s globalization strategy to me. China, he said, opened a window to the world economy, but placed a screen on it. The country got the fresh air it needed — nearly 700 million people have been lifted Continue reading »
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OLIVER FRANKEL. Sharing our space (Part 2) – implications for housing affordability
Sharing our space undoubtedly makes accommodation more affordable for those willing to share, albeit with some sacrifice in privacy. Continue reading »
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OLIVER FRANKEL. Sharing our space (Part 1) – the sharing economy and beyond
Part 1 – Part 2 will be published tomorrow. Space sharing is an important part of the fast-growing sharing economy. New co-living paradigms are emerging which could have significant implications for the way we live and the type of housing we need. … One of the main applications of the sharing economy is in accommodation, particularly Continue reading »
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OLIVER FRANKEL. Exploiting our under-used housing capacity – a way to ease the affordable housing crisis
The substantial under-used capacity within our existing residential built environment offers a quick, and capital light, opportunity to ease the affordable housing crisis. … There are an estimated 90,000 properties empty in Sydney and 83,000 in Melbourne. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL KEATING. Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, 2016
The Government’s Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) released yesterday contains few changes and no surprises. The critical question is whether the path back to surplus is actually credible, especially given the many failed promises in the past. This post examines the government’s economic forecasts that underpin the budget numbers and whether the government’s approach Continue reading »
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MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Packer kowtows after cash cow slough, Macau Crown row.
James Packer’s ignominious retreat from his once-lauded international strategy is continuing apace as 17 staff from Crown Resorts, the company he controls with 48% of its stock, continue to languish in Chinese detention centres. Continue reading »
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QUENTIN DEMPSTER. NBN – Are you one of the lucky ones in Turnbull’s two-speed society?
If Australia was a corporation, we, its shareholders, would be justified in terminating CEO Malcolm Turnbull’s employment contract forthwith. Continue reading »
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DAVID CHARLES. The Re-emergence of Industrial Policy – Theresa May and Donald Trump Style
One of the consequences of the UK Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump as the next US President is the association with the re-emergence of industrial policy in both countries which are important for the development of policy thinking in Australia. This comes at a time when Australia is dealing with the economic Continue reading »
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STEPHEN GRENVILLE. Australia’s AAA credit rating under threat, but who cares?
Australia needs to live within its means, but we can do this without the constant hectoring from agencies whose egregious misjudgements are still fresh in our memories. It’s time to stop genuflecting at the ratings’ altar. Five year ago the Financial Crisis Enquiry Commission, set up by the US Congress following the Global Financial Crisis, described Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. Good, bad and ugly of congestion charging in Melbourne.
Attention to Stockholm’s congestion charging system should be seriously studied in Australian cities. … In roads, we have a pricing crisis rather than an infrastructure crisis. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull blaming everyone but himself.
The constant refrain of economists who get it wrong is that we should never rely on just one set of figures. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. ‘Un-populate or perish’ – rethinking the Whitlam decentralisation vision in a digital age
There’s been quite a deal of media coverage lately about the need for better Internet access in regional, rural and remote Australia. Earlier in the year delegates to the annual Broadband for the Bush conference highlighted the communications challenges facing everyone living outside our major population centres while pointing to opportunities for better delivery of Continue reading »
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BOB KINNAIRD. Indian IT professionals on rock bottom 457 wages undermine Turnbull’s ‘innovation’ dream
The Coalition’s cheap labour 457 visa wage policy is destroying jobs for young Australians lured into studying IT courses under the Turnbull government’s high profile ‘Innovation’ push… Indian 457 visa IT workers are being approved at much lower rates than experienced Australian IT professionals and even new IT graduates. Continue reading »
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DAVID PEETZ. The battle over the Building and Construction Commission isn’t finished yet
Now that the ABCC will mostly be a mere shadow of its former self, the Building Code becomes an even more important point of distinction. … It is the identity and ideology of the Director of the ABCC that matters a lot more than the underpinning legislation. Continue reading »
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WALTER HAMILTON. Education as a way of life
The OECD-endorsed rankings of educational proficiency recently released give the lie to those in Australia who attribute outcomes solely to levels of spending. Throwing more money at the Education Establishment will not automatically produce smarter students. Continue reading »
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SAM HURLEY. Outsourcing doesn’t help our neediest citizens.
Outsourcing of employment services has failed to make significant headway on better outcomes for the most disadvantaged clients. Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Turnbull leads attack on wind as Coalition readies carbon price backflip.
A rebadged carbon tax! In its review of its climate change policies, the government will try to dance its way through internal politics, the demands of the fossil fuel lobby and comparisons with Labor’s proposals. Turnbull and Frydenberg appear to have concluded that the best way to appease the far right rump of the Coalition Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Malcolm Turnbull will do anything to secure an outcome.
Malcolm Turnbull’s experience in negotiation has been in the boardroom of Goldman Sachs, but the atmosphere of the Senate crossbench is more akin to that of the Istanbul Souk. Continue reading »
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OLIVER FRANKEL. When does housing become unaffordable?
Affordable housing has become one of the most hotly debated social problems of our time, yet there is no consensus on how to identify when it exists, let alone its root causes and how to fix it. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. George Brandis is a dead man walking.
What is not clear is whether George Brandis was genuinely ignorant of the implications of the tax case or whether he deliberately ignored them. In either case, he should immediately have resigned. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney, metro again: $10billion more to ‘build something later’?
John Austen suggests that the NSW government’s approach to railways is at least back-to-front and probably misconceived. Continue reading »
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CHRIS BONNOR. School funding: Grattan’s timely circuit breaker
Chris Bonnor contends that the Grattan Institute report has resurrected the missing link in the sporadic implementation of Gonski. Continue reading »
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IAN McAULEY. Holden cars, AWA TVs, Chesty Bonds underwear: Manufacturing and globalisation
Ian McAuley argues that it has not been globalisation and trade that has been the biggest factor displacing jobs in manufacturing. It has been automation. Continue reading »
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LINDA SIMON. NO quorum at COAG! Who cares about VET?
Linda Simon says that the vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia has faced many challenges over a number of years, including cuts to funding, lack of government attention and a system that has enabled students to be rorted by unscrupulous providers. Yet, current events and processes do not give one confidence that this Continue reading »
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LAURENCE TROY. Sydney needs higher affordable housing targets.
The release this week by the Greater Sydney Commission of city-wide draft plansmandating some measure of affordable housing in new developments is a step in the right direction. However, the target of 5-10% on rezoned land is too low to make a serious impact on the city’s affordable housing shortage. It must be more Continue reading »
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TIM HARCOURT. Trump, Trade and jobs
Australia needs to remember that embracing open markets can only be done with well developed market institutions and social safety nets. Whether you love or loathe the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump can get an economic policy issue media attention, as well as himself. Take the issue of trade and jobs, for example. Continue reading »