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Why the Water Supply Needs a Splash of Competition – Peter Coombes

Why the Water Supply Needs a Splash of Competition The article above was printed in the Australian Financial Review on Thursday 19 January under the same title “Why the Water Supply Needs a Splash of Competition” by Professor Peter Coombes, Urban Water Cycle Solutions, Independent Research and Consulting.  See also the website urbanwatercyclesolutions.com

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Billion-dollar concessional loan a waste of taxpayers’ money – Paul Kerin

In a recent article in The Australian, Paul Kerin presents evidence that the sharemarket expects Adani’s proposed Carmichael mine in Queensland to create substantial shareholder value. This demonstrates that the Federal government’s proposed $1 billion dollar loan to Adani would be a waste of taxpayers’ money. The full article is available here.

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Chief executives and chairs never like short sellers – Paul Kerin

‘Chief executives and chairs never like short sellers’, points out Professor Paul Kerin in an article in The Australian this week.  He argues however that short sellers provide very valuable public services.  Read the full story here

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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 WTO is important for the world, and good for Australia – Arne Klau

“Time to admit that the WTO’s day is done” was the headline on a piece by Zoe McKenzie in this newspaper last week. Certainly, nobody would deny that progress in the Doha Round has so far been unsatisfactory and that there is more scepticism about trade liberalisation in many parts of the world than 25 […]

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Labor market reform – Bill Carmichael

The proposal to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) is under attack from the Opposition, the ACTU and the CFMEU.  Opposition Leader Shorten has confirmed he will respond “like a union organiser.” Their reaction has been to shoot the messenger rather than engage with the message, as they have  done with the moderate […]

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View the 2016 Harcourt Lecture presented by Professor David Vines

There was a great turnout for the 2016 Harcourt Lecture hosted by the School of Economics, with many braving the weather to hear from Professor David Vines from the University of Oxford. Professor Vines gave a special lecture on ‘Individuals, Institutions and Ideas: Australia’s Macroeconomic Policy-making System from Federation to 2020. Watch the full video […]

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Nobel Prize in Economic Science awarded to Oliver Hart of Harvard University and Bengt Holmström of MIT

This year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Science was awarded to Oliver Hart of Harvard University and Bengt Holmström of MIT for their contributions to contract theory. Contracts play an important role in many economic relationships between employers and employees, firms and consumers, and etc. Contract theory studies the optimal way to design contracts to ensure that both parties take mutually beneficial decisions when they have different interests. Holmström’s theories in the […]

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Benefits of free trade and better FTA governance – Paul Kerin on Alan Jones

Paul Kerin appeared on Alan Jones’ radio program yesterday making the case for free trade and the need to improve governance arrangements that would help ensure that future Free Trade Agreements deliver more of the considerable benefits that are potentially available. This follows on from the article that 7 leading economists (including former Industries Assistance […]

Posted in Business economics, Economic growth, Economic reform, International trade, Paul Kerin, Public policy | 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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