This Month
How Australia should respond to Trump’s tariff deadline
We cannot control the trade policies of other countries, but we can ensure our own approach to trade helps the country prosper.
March
Australia must keep its hands clean and walk the talk on free trade
The government is right to reject retaliatory tariffs: international trade and investment are simply too vital to the Australian economy for this to be a good option.
November 2024
Hilmer reforms of 1990s helped lift productivity. We can do it again
Fred Hilmer’s reforms were groundbreaking because a series of small changes had a massive cumulative effect. With changes to competition policy, we could lift Australia’s GDP by up to $45 billion a year.
August 2024
Productivity Commission shines light on economic costs just as Whitlam wanted
Before riding in on a white horse to stage an ‘ESG takeover’, critics should take more than a cursory glance at the work the commission actually does.
July 2024
The public sector is the key to Australia’s productivity puzzle
There is some cause for cautious optimism for increased productivity in the healthcare sector if outcomes can be more accurately measured and assessed.
December 2023
Be alert but not alarmed about post-COVID productivity slump
There is a lot of noise, and various explanations for the short-term decline, but not yet a clear story of emerging structural impediments to growth.
Why we need to overhaul the rules around charitable giving
The proposed changes would refocus the deductible gift recipient system towards activities with a greater public benefit.
September 2023
Busting the ‘wage decoupling’ myth
The link between productivity and real wages is robust. And the idea that productivity-enhancing reforms don’t matter for living standards is wrong.
July 2023
Maintain the free trade rage, like Whitlam did 50 years ago
The economy has changed in half a century. But not the logic that prompted the 25 per cent reduction in tariffs that began the dismantling of Australia’s protectionist regime.