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Fixing Australia’s Infrastructure Problem – Garry Bowditch
Garry Bowditch, Executive Director of the University of Sydney’s Better Infrastructure Initiative, makes the case for reforming our approach to infrastructure investment…
All too often I attend infrastructure forums where policymakers and industry leaders call for the urgent need to fix the infrastructure deficit, by building more assets and deliver more projects. This point of view […]
Brexit: Its not over! – Hein Roelfsema
Hein Roelfsema, a recent visitor to the University of Adelaide and Associate Professor of International Macroeconomics at Utrecht University in The Netherlands, has a unique perspective on the implications of Brexit…
There is no doubt about the significance of the impact of the UK’s choice to exit the EU on its economy. The market’s assessment is […]
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Gender differences in earnings among Australian GPs – Terence Cheng
New research by University of Adelaide economist Dr Terence Cheng and his collaborators has identified substantial gender differences in earnings in the oldest and most prestigious of professions in Australia: medicine.
The study, published in the international journal Industrial Relations, (and available here), analysed data of over 3,400 Australian general practitioners (GPs) from the Medicine in […]
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 […]
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 […]