Henry's op-ed in The Australian this week (11 June 10) is about the spectre of public debt haunting European economies.

Click here to read the article on The Australian website or the link below to download it.

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."


Click here to read the full article on The Australian website or download the pdf from the link below.

Is it Wayne the bold or Swan the Unready?

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".

Pillars of Time

Henry Ergas asks what's so special about the banks and the number four.

On April 23, Dutch bank ABN Amro capitulated to a $US91 billion takeover offer by the UK's Barclays Bank, potentially paving the way for an entity with banking assets of over $US3 trillion - almost three times the asset base of the four major Australian banks combined.