Green Whiskers

SMART Workshop: Infrastructure economics and policy: new tools for new problems

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 08:27:07 PST

SMART Workshop: Infrastructure economics and policy: new tools for new problems

Australia and the world is experiencing rapid growth in demand for transport infrastructure projects – both public and private. These projects are complex. They require expert planning, attract massive investments and carry significant risks. How they are regulated has enormous impact on their ability to attract investment, deliver their objectives and meet the needs of the community or investor... more

Direct support to those industries with a future

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:54:44 PST

Henry in The Australian Mon 4 Feb 2012:

"'A major report released today by Rio Tinto shows just how foolish ACTU president Ged Kearney is to dismiss mining as merely 'digging things out of the ground'."

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required)

Julia Gillard's policy to prop up inefficient firms will be counterproductive

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:40:36 PST

Henry in The Australian Sat 4 Feb 2012:

"According to Julia Gillard, things are difficult for Australian manufacturing as the resource boom threatens "to hollow out other sections of the economy".

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Enforcing one rule of law for all

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:11:05 PST

Henry in The Australian, Mon 30 Jan 2012:

"According to Fred Chaney, the rioters at the Aboriginal tent embassy have no more in common with most Aborigines than the Cronulla rioters have with most other Australians."

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Sub 'self-reliance' a blank cheque to protectionists

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:27:33 PST

Henry in The Australian, Tues 24 Jan 2012:

"No question in defence is more vital than "how much is enough?". But not according to Paul Dibb and Richard Brabin-Smith"

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Collins sham points to enemy within

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:21:40 PST

Henry in The Australian, Fri 13 Jan 2012:

"On August 28, 1993, Paul Keating launched the first Collins-class submarine. The fanfare was impressive. Led by the ABC, the media hailed the event as a triumph. But it was a hoax. "

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Don't just throw cash at universities

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:32:44 PST

Henry in The Australian, Wed 4 Jan 2012:

"The report of the Higher Education Base Funding Review has important things to say: things every university student now basking at the beach should know. And it contains many sensible recommendations. But it concentrates too heavily on increasing funding rather than on incentives for resources to be used efficiently. As a result, its approach cannot durably resolve our universities' problems. "

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Joys and woes of yuletide economics

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:13:36 PST

Henry in The Australian, Thurs 29 Dec 2011:

The good news is that the Twelve Days of Christmas are cheaper than they were last year. Prices, as measured by the Twelve Days of Christmas (12C) price index (for a full explanation see my column of December 23 last year), have barely gone up in Australia despite the consumer price index rising by 3.5 per cent. So in real terms partridges and pear trees are better value, though to buy all 364 presents will still set your true love back $138,059 and 14c.

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Merry Christmas Canberra fat cats

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:49:30 PST

Henry in The Australian, Mon 19 Dec 2011:

"We should pay top dollar for the best bureaucrats but do we need so many? "

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

More Guns Without Less Butter: Improving Australian Defence Efficiency

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:59:24 PST

Henry Ergas and Mark Thomson

"Defence outlays amount to 1.8 per cent of Australia’s GDP. Nonetheless, the processes by which those amounts are allocated, and the efficiency with which they are used, have received very little attention outside of the defence sector itself. This paper identifies the major issues involved in securing efficiency in defence expenditure and surveys efforts to ensure that the Australian defence establishment makes good use of public resources. Recommendations are made regarding the operation of the Department of Defence and the scrutiny of crucial defence decisions."

Published in 'Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform', Vol.18, No. 3., December 2011.

Europe's tough fiscal rules are likely to be broken

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:07:00 PST

Henry in The Australian, Mon 12 Dec 2011:

"So Europe is to get new fiscal rules, imposing tighter constraints on debt and deficits. But Australians don't need to leave home to understand why markets are sceptical as to their effectiveness."

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf.

Expect nothing and avoid disappointment

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 05:26:10 PST

Henry in The Australian Sat 10 Dec 2011:

"Blessed is he who expecteth nothing," said D.H. Lawrence, "for he shall not be disappointed." Lawrence must have had the euro in mind. After four summits in 12 months, a solution to its problems remains elusive."

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf version.

Taxpayers ambushed by government's stand-and-deliver tactics

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:20:25 PST

Henry in The Australian Fri 9 Dec 2011:

"So these are the "substantial cuts" Wayne Swan promised: at $6.8 billion across four years, the claimed savings in last week's mid-year economic and financial outlook weigh in at a mighty 4c in each $10 of commonwealth government outlays."

Click here to read the full article at The Australian's website (subscription required) or on the link below to download a pdf version.

No shelter in euro storm for Club Med

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:08:31 PST

Henry in The Australian Sat 3 Dec 2011:

"With a European summit to be held on December 9, Thursday's headline in France's leading paper, Le Monde, read "10 days to save the euro". Unfortunately, Le Monde has now run that headline four times in as many months, yet the euro looks shakier than ever."

Click here to read the full op-ed at The Australian's website (subscription required)or on the link below to download a pdf version.

Feathering a bed for the return of bludging Fred

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:10:49 PST

Henry in The Australian Friday 2 December 2011:

"In late 1987, John Button, the industry minister in the Hawke government, announced he had discovered Australia's biggest bludger. He was, Button said, a wharfie, call him Fred, who for 20 years had been transported to and from the port by taxi, had clocked on, clocked off, done no work and drawn full pay. All this under union-imposed rules."

Click here to read the full op-ed at The Australian's website (subscription required) or click on the link below to download a pdf.

Eurobonds anything but a panacea

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:05:14 PST

Henry in The Australian Sat 26 Nov 2011:

"The latest pressure point in the European crisis is over whether to issue "eurobonds": bonds, collectively guaranteed by the governments of the eurozone, that could fund public expenditure in the region."

Click here to read the full op-ed at The Australian's website (subscription required).

Broadcasting xenophobia makes little sense in this digital age

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:58:59 PST

Henry in The Australian 24 Nov 2011:

IN 1992, a new Broadcasting Services Act was introduced with the goal of dramatically simplifying media regulation. Two decades and 70 amendments later, the original 100 pages have grown to nearly 1000. The result is a quagmire that is as unsustainable as it is inefficient.

Click here to read the full op-ed at The Australian's website (subscription required).

The Analytics of the Australian Private Health Insurance Rebate and the Medicare Levy Surcharge

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:36:21 PST

Abstract
This paper presents an analytical framework for examining changes in the Private Health Insurance rebate (PHIR) and the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS), and uses it to establish three key propositions. First, increases in the MLS rate tend to reduce the elasticity of demand for private health insurance. Second, simultaneously increasing MLS rates and thresholds has a theoretically ambiguous e!ect on PHI take-up rates. Third, means testing the PHIR can never increase PHI take-up, and will reduce it in some circumstances. The paper concludes with a discussion of the possible consequences of recently proposed policy changes to private health insurance in Australia.

Compelled to reform, unable to deliver

Sat, 19 Nov 2011 16:39:15 PST

Henry in The Australian Sat 19 Nov 2011:

"It is not just Berlusconi financial markets have lost confidence in. It is the sistema Italia -- the complex interplay of economics, social relations and politics that characterises modern Italy."

Click here to read the full op-ed at The Australian's website (subscription required).

MRRT hurts our silicon valley

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:37:14 PST

Henry in The Australian Fri 18 Nov 2011:

"Having given the Greens their tonne of flesh with the carbon tax, Julia Gillard is repositioning as quickly as she can to the middle. The "surprise" trip to Afghanistan, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the proposed uranium sales to India and Barack Obama's visit to Australia all give the government a new, more mainstream gloss."

Click here to read the full op-ed at The Australian's website (subscription required)