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Category: Paul Kerin
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 […]
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), election […]
SA ranked equal last state economy: Commsec
Commsec’s latest State of the States report (released today and available here) ranks SA equal last (with Tasmania) on economic performance. SA’s best ranking across the 8 indicators was 4th on equipment investment, but it ranked 7th on unemployment and 8th on dwelling starts and retail spending. However, the report noted that SA’s job market […]
Another leading economist called for regulated asset write-downs
Leading economist Professor Ross Garnaut has called for the write-downs in the values of regulated electricity networks’ assets. In a recent speech (available here), Garnaut said:
“The falling costs of decentralised power and storage open up the possibility of reducing costs of power supply to users of power throughout the State. But only if the pricing […]
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Chi-X demonstrates why governments should not protect monopolies
Yesterday, alternative share trading venue Chi-X announced the sale of its operations in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, reportedly for about $570 million (for The Australian‘s coverage of the sale, see here). This serves as a reminded of the benefits of market reform and competition – and of the need to not let vested interests […]
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