This is the week to understand something most people don’t: businesses don’t do productivity. (more…)
Category: Economy
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Modelling consultative ineptitude at the economic roundtable
It’s to be hoped the federal government’s Economic Reform Roundtable being held this week signifies an intention to do more about something that truly matters – better productivity. (more…)
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Know thy neighbour – he’s getting gun-happy
What does Australia’s legacy media think you want to know about Indonesia? (more…)
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The city on a hill
Since President Trump’s inauguration, America’s friends and enemies — categories increasingly hard to define with precision — have been buffeted by the Administration’s policy vicissitudes. (more…)
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Productivity roundtable? Ignoring the elephants in the room won’t help. Let’s get them working for us
We are 105th for economic complexity. And without our incredibly productive mining industry we would be even lower down the scale. (more…)
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The economic reform roundtable and taxation
Taxation is on the agenda of the Economic Reform Roundtable and, despite Albanese’s reluctance to consider tax changes, it will be impossible to achieve Labor’s goals without reform to raise more revenue. (more…)
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Has Labor abandoned major tax reform?
No policy area in Australia is in greater need of major reform than taxation. (more…)
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Labour market data: Complex, imperfect and politically convenient
Labour market data is politically potent, technically complex and often imperfect. Recent US events are a reminder that Australia’s own systems deserve closer scrutiny. (more…)
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A focus on consumption is the wrong way to go
In many countries around the world, from China to the US to Australia, there is concern that people are not spending enough of their money. They are saving it. (more…)
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More fundamental changes to the means test are needed than those intimated by DSS
Based on the redacted version released recently under Freedom of Information( FOI), DSS’s incoming government brief seems overall to be a valuable document, particularly the volume titled, ‘Strategic Considerations’, which canvasses longer-term challenges for the portfolio. (more…)
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Economic reform and the productivity slowdown
The productivity slowdown is mostly due to slower technological progress. The economic reform agenda should focus on measures to improve competitive pressures for firms to innovate and improve. (more…)
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A better and fairer school system? Just look to Canada
Ontario implemented needs-based funding a quarter of a century ago, and the benefits go beyond student achievement. (more…)
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Europe: From great market to satellite continent
The tariff deal between the EU and US signals a major setback for Europe’s autonomy. (more…)
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Prefab housing evolution: Higher quality, greater affordability, broader acceptance
A new kind of residential landscape is taking shape, not with the chaotic clang of construction, but with the rhythm and precision of a symphony – each piece arriving on time, perfectly in tune and ready to play its part. (more…)
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Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas
It’s likely much will be said, but little done, at next week’s economic roundtable. (more…)
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China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations
China’s economy registered a respectable GDP growth rate of 5.3% in the first half of 2025. (more…)
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Trump’s fantasies and the American economy
Donald Trump’s bluster is likely to lead to lower American living standards and higher inflation. But his advisers want to keep their jobs, and won’t tell him that. (more…)
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Most of Trump’s net worth comes from ‘crypto empire’: report
According to an investigation by Accountable.US, 73% of Trump’s net worth may now come from crypto, which his administration is working to dramatically deregulate. (more…)
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Why Western hegemony is over
The tariff truce between China and the United States is set to end in August. What do you forecast will happen after that? And what will happen to trade relations between China and the US for the rest of US President Donald Trump’s second term? (more…)
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It’s official: A cut in company tax will deliver little benefit at best
Be sure your dodgy modelling will find you out. I’m starting to think economists have become so used to pretending to know more about the economy than they really do, that they don’t notice the way they mislead the rest of us. (more…)
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The recession door opens
This past week was punctuated by a perfect storm of negative US economic reports and events. (more…)
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Well-being, health and the Productivity Roundtable
In June 2025 I wrote about the National Well-being Budget and Measuring What Matters. Since then, a lot has happened that deserves attention, particularly with the government’s planned Productivity Roundtable in August. (more…)
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Layered perversion of Australia’s defence policy
An amazing thing has happened. Our taxpayer-funded think-tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has commissioned analysis by Robert Macklin which shows that the public debate on Australia’s defence has been biased. (more…)
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Beijing steps up as Washington steps back
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having two broad impacts on the global economy – they are eroding international confidence in US leadership and disrupting global supply chains, and causing rapid geographic restructuring of international trade. (more…)
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Roundtable will fix nothing unless we can all park our self-interest
I’m not sure if it’s happening by accident or design, but we may be about to convince ourselves that, though our democracy isn’t nearly as stuffed up as America’s, we’re fast making ourselves ungovernable, unable to agree on how to fix our problems. (more…)
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The end of jobs?
By the 2040s, half to three-quarters of human society may be out of work, replaced by AI and sleepless robots. (more…)
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Economists want a carbon price comeback – but does Australia have the political courage?
Bold economic ideas are flowing ahead of this month’s roundtable convened by the Albanese Government, aimed at boosting Australia’s productivity and economy, and repairing the budget. Among the biggest ideas to emerge is: should Australia resurrect its carbon price? (more…)
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Bringing government back – but not all the way
The Albanese Government wants Australians to believe that the era of market dogma is over. (more…)
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The GST — past, present, future — and always tense
There’s little elegance in the way Australia approaches tax reform. It’s never a highway cruise. (more…)
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A fairer tax and welfare system for Australia 2025 with no-one left behind? Only if we act now
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s re-election speech brought a promise many of us hold close to our hearts: “together we are turning the corner, and together we will make our way forward with no-one held back and no-one left behind.” (more…)