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Category: Economic regulation

Electricity and the perils of second-best thinking – Paul Kerin

In an article in Wednesday’s Australian, Paul Kerin argues that our governments should focus on “first-best” environmental and energy policies to best serve the overall public interest. He warns that the negative consequences of second-best policy choices (such as the large-scale renewable energy target (LRET) and the maximum price cap (MPC) on wholesale electricity) are […]

Posted in Business economics, Economic reform, Economic regulation, Infrastructure, Paul Kerin, Public policy, South Australian economy | Tagged |

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The looming downside of household leverage – Mike Fitzsimmons & Paul Kerin

Today’s Australian contains a piece by Mike Fitzsimmons and Paul Kerin. The authors note the substantial increase is household leverage over the last quarter of a century, particularly the rise  (more than tripling) of household debt relative to cash disposable income. While this may in part be a good thing (reflecting better credit access in […]

Posted in Business economics, Economic growth, Economic regulation, Paul Kerin, Public policy | Tagged |

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Apple tax decision European Commission implied powers – Hein Roelfsema

Although last week’s taxation decision by the European Commission (EC) was widely anticipated, the €13bn size of the Apple ruling last week caused a shockwave within the European Union (EU) as well as between the EU and the US. As a university professor at the start of the academic year, the Apple case provides for […]

Posted in Business economics, Economic reform, Economic regulation, Hein Roelfsema, International trade, Public policy, Taxation | Tagged |

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Beef with knock-back of Kidman sale: a lost foreign direct investment opportunity – Christopher Findlay & Paul Kerin

In their article in The Weekend Australian, Christopher Findlay and Paul Kerin argue that the Federal Treasurer’s rejection of the sale of the S. Kidman & Co. cattle stations to a consortium 80% backed by private Chinese businesses has not been in Australia’s public interest. As well as forgoing the usual benefits that foreign direct […]

Posted in Business economics, Christopher Findlay, Economic growth, Economic reform, Economic regulation, International trade, Paul Kerin, Public policy | Tagged |

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The coming utilities crisis: huge risks for consumers and taxpayers

At last week’s Energy Networks Conference (held in Adelaide), electricity industry leaders were adamant that the future for traditional utility business models was very dim (see, for example, Electricity market smashed by technology). AGL Managing Director Andy Vesey said that business models based on the traditional technology paradigm – large-scale generation, large-scale wires and electricity […]

Posted in Economic reform, Economic regulation, Economic research, Infrastructure, Paul Kerin, Public policy | Tagged |

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$1/litre milk doesn’t hurt farmers at all!

Dairy farmer associations are calling on the Federal government to ban sales of $1/litre milk and, in the meantime, urging consumers to boycott $1/litre milk (sold by Coles and Woolworths under their own brands) and instead buy branded milk (see, for example, “Ban cut-price milk”). However, as I showed in an article over 5 years […]

Posted in Business economics, Economic regulation, Paul Kerin, Public policy | Tagged |

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Going for growth – Christopher Findlay

Australians are asking ‘where will economic growth come from?’  A common response is ‘structural reform’, about which we are likely to hear more and more in coming weeks as the election campaign proceeds. What is that and does it matter?  Structural reform has many dimensions but really it’s about making market works better as they […]

Posted in Christopher Findlay, Economic growth, Economic reform, Economic regulation, Economic research, Public policy | Tagged |

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Another leading economist called for regulated asset write-downs

Leading economist Professor Ross Garnaut has called for the write-downs in the values of regulated electricity networks’ assets. In a recent speech (available here), Garnaut said: “The falling costs of decentralised power and storage open up the possibility of reducing costs of power supply to users of power throughout the State. But only if the […]

Posted in Business economics, Economic reform, Economic regulation, Paul Kerin, Public policy | Tagged |

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Chi-X demonstrates why governments should not protect monopolies

Yesterday, alternative share trading venue Chi-X announced the sale of its operations in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, reportedly for about $570 million (for The Australian‘s coverage of the sale, see here). This serves as a reminded of the benefits of market reform and competition – and of the need to not let vested interests […]

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Taxi regulation in Adelaide – Darryl Gobbett

Regular contributor Darryl Gobbett on taxi regulation: The attitude of the SA Government to the licensing of Uber in SA should get us all thinking about what is the purpose of the regulation of taxis in the SA metropolitan area. (As an aside readers should note Section 45 (2) of the Passenger Transport Act 1994 […]

Posted in Darryl Gobbett, Economic reform, Economic regulation, Public policy | Tagged |

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