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Realising economic reform in China – Christopher Findlay & Chunlai Chen
In an article just published in the East Asia Forum, Christopher Findlay and Chunlai Chen (a PhD graduate of the University of Adelaide, now at ANU) argue that the Chinese economy faces two fundamental challenges. One is the risk of a financial crisis. The other, possibly more difficult to deal with, is resistance by the […]
Free trade gains even greater when allow for employment effects – Benedikt Heid
An article co-authored by the School of Economics’ latest recruit Benedikt Heid has just been published in the leading economics journal, the Journal of International Economics. The article estimates the gains to countries from trade liberalisation when employment effects are explicitly allowed for. For example, the article estimates that the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) […]
Beware of jumping the gun on Arrium in Whyalla – Paul Kerin
In his article in today’s Australian (available here), Paul Kerin argues that governments must be weigh decisions to assist private businesses very carefully. When businesses are about to be sold through a competitive tendering process, governments jumping the gun can simply waste taxpayer dollars for no benefit. Governments must also critically assess claims about the […]
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Government financing smoke and mirrors – Paul Kerin
In his article titled “Government resorts to smoke and mirrors” published in today’s Australian (available here), Paul Kerin explains the arcane world of government finances and shows that the Queensland government’s claims the it is reducing debt is really just smoke and mirrors.
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 […]
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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 […]
Boost infrastructure investment through key reforms – Darryl Gobbett
In a recent speech to the 2016 South Australian Infrastructure Conference in Adelaide, Darryl Gobbett made several recommendations to help improve South Australia’s economic performance, including: Boost infrastructure investment that focuses on cost-reduction, output, exports and regional SA; Establish a SA Productivity Commission to determine investment and other priorities; and Fund investment priorities though a broad-based […]
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 […]
Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission – Final Report
The Final Report of the South Australian Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle has just been released and is available here. The Final Report found that a waste disposal facility would have the potential to generate significant value for south Australia. It did not find that other nuclear activities (such as a nuclear electricity […]
How do elections affect business behaviour?
Now that a long Federal election has been called, what impact will this have on business behaviour? The answer from economic researchers around the world is: quite a lot – particularly in closely-fought contests like the one we are expecting in Australia. As I wrote in my column in Company Director last December (available here), […]
