Why are retail sales in the doldrums, or headed online? To me, it’s in part because Australian shopping malls are bland, uninteresting containers of branded chain stores and the same old franchises offering…
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Last week’s decision by China to cut interest rates by 0.25% seemed to attract almost as much attention in Australia as the same decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) several days earlier. The…
The grand philosopher of the Commons, Elinor Ostrom, passed away on the 12th June 2012. She was a brilliant, creative polymath; a theoretician of fine precision and great intellectual power; a deviser…
Suppose that in 1901 Australia’s founding fathers had designed the Commonwealth differently. The states were to retain all powers to tax and had to finance themselves (including health, education and social…
Superannuation funds typically invest in the market - ASX 200 companies, property, cash and bonds. These are attractive for several reasons. Management costs are relatively low, the assets are objectively…
The positivity off the weekend’s news that Spain’s banks will receive rescue loans of up to 100 billion euros from eurozone finance ministers appears short-lived. Despite it being well-received in Asian…
A simple line graph of the share of mining investment in Australia’s GDP reveals the scale of what our economy is going through. It shows that mining investment is now twice as large relative to GDP as…
Does Sydney need a second airport? In the the recent furore, Foreign Minister Bob Carr, former Prime Minister Paul Keating, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, former Federal Transport Minister Peter Morris, and former…
The mining industry has been an enthusiastic user of offshore workers through the federal government’s 457 visa program and, more recently, its extension: the enterprise migration agreement (EMA). Gina…
If Australian governments are serious about raising rates of economic growth, they must reform the tax mix and increase the workforce participation rates of women and older people. Each of these reforms…
WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Over the next two weeks…
Just who carries the costs of childcare services has become a visible political issue in the last few weeks, as the federal government confronts its own ideological mess. Concerns over the decreasing affordability…
The quest for equal pay between men and women represents one of the oldest battle lines for feminism. The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) finds that women’s wages are now 17.4…
Qantas has shocked the market with a 90% profit downgrade, causing shares to plunge to their lowest point since privatisation. Tony Webber, formerly the Qantas chief economist and now Associate Professor…
A few weeks ago, a Deakin University academic, Martin Hirst, made some interesting comments about the politics and economics of class warfare and redistribution. He correctly noted that the accusations…
Amid the tumultuous economic climate in the US and Europe - not to mention the tumbling fortunes of our sharemarket - the Reserve Bank of Australia has followed market sentiment and cut the official cash…
All eyes will be on the Reserve Bank of Australia board this afternoon as it meets to decide whether to further cut interest rates. Australian markets tumbled 2% yesterday in the wake of poor US jobs data…
Takeovers are about control. Gina Rinehart’s acquisition of Fairfax Media Limited shares] - and increased stake in the company - has raised several questions about the nature of control in listed companies…
Who has not experienced the scam phone call from someone purporting to want to fix a problem with Windows on your PC, or help you recoup a large sum of money being held in a trust just waiting for you…
The IMD World Competitiveness Rankings released this week are worth reflecting on, not so much because of the relative positioning of various countries - including Australia - but rather because of the…
Last year marked a milestone in China’s several-thousand-year history: for the first time, more people lived in cities and towns than in the countryside. The country’s 690 million urban dwellers now account…
Later today (European time), Irish voters will be asked to vote Yes or No on the Treaty for Stability, Co-ordination and Governance. The Yes campaign, lead by Ireland’s establishment parties, claim a No…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered one of her strongest messages to the mining sector last night, telling mining bosses at a Minerals Industry dinner in Canberra that they don’t own Australia’s minerals…
With almost a billion accounts and growing, Facebook still has as strong a lock on the concept of sharing as Google does on the concept of search. As such, while no company is immune to failure, the current…
Gender equality and female empowerment are development buzz words with bite. And with good reason. Researchers have shown gender inequality in education reduces economic growth and women are typically…