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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 of […]
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 1970s considered the […]
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 […]
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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 […]
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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, […]