In orthodox theory, oligopolies are big, lean and efficient. Their size and efficiency should produce price cuts. Instead, in the real world, oligopolies undermine economic democracy. They price gouge. They outflank regulatory laws while regulatory cops sit on their hands. Can Andrew Leigh and Jim Chalmers limit the damage economic concentration imposes? (more…)
Frank Carrigan
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The World Cup and the folly of media laws
Long departed architects of media laws have left a lasting stain on the media landscape and the intellectual and cultural milieu of Australia. (more…)
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Reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan, Ukraine will enrich China and US
At this moment in the economic cycle the Chinese economy is stalling whilst the US is experiencing a buoyant phase. However, there is another angle to their strategic rivalry that is more important than ephemeral shifts. Viewed through a longer lens both China and the US have economic aces up their sleeve. Both possess a counterweight that helps insulate them from low-growth traps. (more…)
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No country for old people
An unholy war is brewing. The young and the old are being pitted against each other. Neoliberalism comes in many guises. But this strategy is at odds with how a civilised capitalism should treat people in the autumn of their lives. (more…)
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Coles and Woolworths: The deadly duopoly
Bob Katter is not known for his searching socio-economic analysis, but when he rails in Parliament that it is an indictment of Australia’s banana republic economy that Coles and Woolworths have long toppled manufacturing companies as the largest private sector employers in Australia, it is hard to argue with his logic. (more…)
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What a difference – Joe Stiglitz the economist and Jim Chalmers the treasurer!
In July an Economics Nobel Prize winner took the time to visit Canberra to meet the new Australian Treasurer, Jim Chalmers. Joseph Stiglitz was visiting Australia as a guest of the Australia Institute. (more…)
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The killing of Afghanistan
The core reason for the crumbling of the US empire is a familiar refrain in imperial history. As US economic power declines and continually makes strategic mistakes its military capacity will be jeopardised, and its network of client states will start to challenge its capacity to ensure their security. (more…)
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Frank Carrigan: Putin and the geopolitics of war in Ukraine
Every day, the Western media has been setting out its interpretation of the war in Ukraine. It is a narrative formulated in Washington. Countless times in organs based in countries that are part of the Washington consensus the line spelt out is the culprit responsible for the war is Putin. This approach is achieving blanket coverage. (more…)
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The shadow of Barry Humphries and Morrison’s bid for the outer suburbs
For so long in the middle to latter half of the twentieth century the dwellers of the fringe suburbs of Australian cities were the forgotten people. These suburbs housed the people who clustered around outlying factories making the consumer goods that fed the long post-war boom. (more…)
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Citizen Murdoch and Albanese
First came the puff piece in ‘The Australian Women’s Weekly’ and then the softball profile on ‘Sixty Minutes.’ One could sense Citizen Murdoch and his editors would be observing that Albanese was beginning to look a winner, and Morrison more clueless by the day. (more…)
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The wars our media would rather we forget
What is the basis of the double standards exhibited by the media? The cone of silence about the plight of the wretched of the earth in forgotten war theatres is underpinned by a maze of strategic and financial considerations. (more…)
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The ABC’S Fog of War on Ukraine
The ABC war correspondents had a rich canvas to paint their stories. Yet they got nowhere near the scent of truth. (more…)
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Ukraine: The great game revisited
Just as the history of modern Afghanistan is inexplicable without an understanding of great power politics the same maxim applies to Ukraine. (more…)
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AUKUS, another wrong turn for our foreign policy.
The notion of treating Washington and Beijing in the same manner while pursuing our sovereign interests has been cast to the wind.