February
Milton Friedman warned about budget problems such as Musk and DOGE
Special interest groups have always been a headache for government deficits and efficiency. Now they are running Washington.
January
How China will dodge Trump’s tariffs again
American first protectionism won’t bring manufacturing jobs back to the US. Chinese foreign investment will just increase in imports from the lower tariff countries.
October 2024
Why mining lies at the heart of Australia’s productivity problem
Australia badly needs to diversify towards more productive industries. The politically privileged position of the mining industry is one of the obstacles.
July 2024
Why does France’s far right get stronger with each election?
The Western nation has not responded well to the challenges of globalisation, which is a problem that also applies to the whole of Europe.
February 2024
Optimists about China bouncing back are just hoping
The problem is that China isn’t just another member of the global community and bad economic policy is not punished at the ballot box.
Why central bankers are right to push back on rate cuts
Trying to rig economic growth by slashing interest rates ignores the forces that really decide what levels rates will be.
December 2023
Tip private schools out of boardrooms for a more productive Australia
Favouring the wealthy over innate talent in the education system is no way to filter what a country’s human capital might have to offer.
November 2023
How disinflation is driving more social inequality
Letting central banks prop up fiscal spending and households was an idea that should have stayed in the dustbin of history.
October 2023
How an Australian coal tax can help save the world
This country’s grip on world coking coal supplies means we are well-placed to force up prices and discourage coal use.
September 2023
China learns nothing from the financial crises of others
Beijing’s reluctance to bite the bullet on bad assets looks like an error that the whole global economy may pay for.
July 2023
Labor is failing to learn the lessons of rigid France
The French same-work, same-pay system promises equality – at the cost of a huge cohort of people left outside the labour market.
There has to be more to Australia’s fortunes than miners
Mining might be Australia’s most profitable industry. But it can’t be the answer to the economy’s biggest problems unless it is taxed properly.
May 2023
Now it’s China on the losing side in the art of the trade war
China’s ancient military sage would not be impressed with how Beijing has been playing the modern game of trade strategy.
Why US inflation will defy gravity this time
Financial markets should get ready for rates higher for longer than hitherto anticipated due to the absence of factors to cause a sharp slowdown.
March 2023
Why the writing was on the wall for the Swiss banking sector
Swiss bankers kept subsidising high-risk investment banking products with their consumer business. And the authorities let them do it.
The SVB collapse gives no cause for the Fed to pause
The real story here is about keeping monetary policy separate from the need for further regulatory reform to achieve the most sustainable outcome in the end.
February 2023
Why student loans don’t address elitism in universities
Australia needs a long-term plan that should include means-tested, free and better quality higher education.
January 2023
There is chance to bring global interest rates back to reality
Global rates have been torn away from the fundamentals of economics and productive investment. Now is the time to put them back.
December 2022
Don’t go down wobbly path of Arthur Burns-like inflation errors
There are worrying parallels with the flawed New Deal thinking that led central bankers to let the inflation genie out the bottle in the 1970s.
November 2022
Coal exports are the elephant in the climate policy room
Australia’s carbon reduction targets are dwarfed by the coal shipped to be burnt elsewhere. Taxes are the only answer.