Financial services

Europe's Greek tragedy has a lesson for Aussies

Created on Friday, 30 April 2010 10:00

Henry comments in The Australian (30 April 2010)

MILTON Friedman was notoriously sceptical of the euro, predicting it was "going to be a big source of problems, not a source of help". When crisis hit, monetary union would prevent the eurozone countries from adopting solutions tailored to their individual circumstances. As large fiscal transfers between countries became necessary, old enmities would resurface and the edifice would collapse.

Though Friedman was not one to rejoice in the misfortunes of others, one can imagine a wry smile as he watches, from wherever he may be, the European debacle, in which the euro bears a central responsibility.

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Europe_s_Greek_tragedy_has_lesson_for_Aussies.pdf

Financial services

Is it Wayne the bold or Swan the Unready?

Created on Thursday, 06 November 2008 11:00

SPEAKING in Brisbane last week, Wayne Swan said that "as Treasurer, I'm effectively minister for markets". His job, he explained, involved more than merely promoting the benefits that markets could bring. Rather, it required taking the lead in "designing markets that can serve the public without blunting the incentives that enable them to allocate resources effectively and generate prosperity". But these needed to be "the right type of markets", which were not "those that reward greed". To that end, they needed to be "creatively constructed and informed by evidence". To read the whole paper click the link below.

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wayne_the_bold_swan_unready.pdf