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Showing the benefits of Europe – Hein Roelfsema
There is an atmosphere of cautious waiting in the Brussels air. Major elections to come in France, Germany, as well as here in the Netherlands. But already some very worrying first drops start to come down. A very undecided ‘State of the Union’ speech by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker succeeded in the goal of […]
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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 […]
Call for key reforms in trade negotiations
I was honoured to be one of the economists who put their names to a major feature in today’s Australian, titled “Free trade mythology”. Despite the title, we are very much pro free trade – but we call for a number of reforms to our trade negotiation and communication governance processes and a renewed emphasis on […]
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SME business confidence & conditions up – NAB
The NAB’s June quarter survey of SME businesses (released today) shows both business conditions and confidence up in all states, although SA and WA (in particular) lag behind other states. Nationally, multiple measures of business conditions – particularly trading and profitability – were up, although employment conditions remain “lacklustre”. The business confidence index is up […]
SA green shoots but soft fundamentals – NAB
The NAB’s latest State Update for South Australia and State Economic Handbook (the latter covering all states) both indicate that some “green shoots” are emerging in SA, but SA’s economic fundamentals remain “soft” relative to other states. Both reports are available here. The green shoots include improvements in business conditions, business confidence, household income and […]
EU sanctions on Russia: Quo Vadis? – Hein Roelfsema
A few weeks ago, the EU extended its sanctions against Russia for another 6 months. However, some days before that move Russia had already extended its sanctions on the EU for one and a half years. So, this fight is turning out to be a battle of wills or, better, a War of Thrones. Currently, […]
The three ‘C’s for policies to improve national productivity – Dean Parham
The election showed the electorate is fractious and demanding. With narrow-interest parties now elected to parliament, policymaking in pursuit of the long-term national interest is going to be challenging, if not problematic. This comes at a time when the need for Australia to adjust to more-difficult times has become even more pressing. In the background […]
The Citizens Jury and the Proposed Nuclear Dump – Dick Blandy
“Citizens’ jury questions economics of nuke dump” is the headline to Rebecca Puddy’s article on page 2 of The Australian on Monday 11 July, 2016. Ms Puddy’s article begins: “The bid to establish a nuclear waste facility in South Australia has suffered a further setback, after an independent “citizens’ jury” raised concerns about the economic […]
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Voting again beats minority government – Paul Kerin
In an article in today’s Australian, I expand on the argument I made on the Adelaide Economic Policy Forum article last Monday (available here) that unless one party can form a majority Federal government, it would be in the public interest to go back to the polls. The key point is that a majority government […]
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Governance arrangements and trade negotiations – Bill Carmichael
Bill Carmichael, the legendary former Chairman of the Industries Assistance Commission, was a very influential figure behind major economic reforms that have delivered substantial benefits to Australia. We are delighted that Bill has submitted an important paper titled Governance arrangements for future trade negotiations to the Adelaide Economic Policy Forum. Bill’s paper is about the […]
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