Mainstream economists and conservative political leaders profess “surprise” at the historically slow pace of wage growth in Australia’s labour market. They claim that wages will start growing faster soon, in response to the normal “laws of supply and demand.”  This view ignores the importance of institutional and regulatory factors in determining wages and income distribution.  In fact, given the systematic efforts in recent decades to weaken wage-setting institutions (including minimum wages, the awards system, and collective bargaining), it is no surprise at all that wages have slowed to a crawl.  And the solutions to the problem are equally obvious: rebuild the power of those institutions, to support workers in winning a better share of the economic pie they produce.

Victoria’s brown coal power plants are a liability for the National Electricity Market, and they’re just going to get worse. Victoria’s brown coal power plants are a liability for the National Electricity Market. Over the 2017–18 summer, The Australia Institute Climate & Energy Program’s Gas & Coal Watch found 16 major breakdowns at Victoria’s three brown

In its desperation to cut the company tax rate the Turnbull government is willing to burden future generations with the kind of record budget deficits it has previously sought to pin on the ALP. As an economic strategy it makes little sense but as a political strategy it makes no sense. Indeed the PM seems so keen

U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent trade policies (including tariffs on steel and aluminium that could affect Australian exports) have raised fears of a worldwide slide into protectionism and trade conflict.  Trump’s approach has been widely and legitimately criticised.  But his argument that many U.S. workers have been hurt by the operation of current free trade

First published in The Examiner, 28 March 2018 On Tuesday, The Australia Institute Tasmania launched a new initiative cheekily titled #WTF2050 – What’s Tasmania’s Future?  The project brings together some of the state’s best thinkers to answer the question –  where do you want Tasmania to be in 2050? What’s your big hairy goal and

WTF2050 asks its guest to pick an idea they would like to see come to life by 2050. In Series 1 we spotlighted Tasmanian change makers and gave a platform for the future ideas that can transform this State. Tasmanians of the Year Rosalie Martin and Scott Rankin shared their ambitious goals, a prison free

The Coalition’s company tax cuts represent one of the largest hits to our revenue in recent times, so it comes as a surprise that the legislation has not even been subject to an inquiry. For those keen to point out that this legislation represents ‘just’ the company tax cuts for big business, and that the

1/ Giving business a $65 billion dollar tax cut means billions of dollars less for schools, hospitals and other services. Giving business a $65 billion dollar tax cut means billions of dollars less for services like schools and hospitals. Treasury modelling even assumes these company tax cuts will be matched by cuts to services and

The Australia Institute and others have made the point that company tax cuts can only benefit foreign shareholders. Australia’s system of dividend imputation means that Australian shareholders will not benefit from reductions in the company tax rate. Australian shareholders would notice any increase in company after-tax profit being matched by a loss in franking credits

All poor people have low taxable incomes, but many people with low taxable incomes are a long way from being poor. [First published in the Australian Financial Review – here] And while the debate about the fairness of abolishing cash refunds for “spare” tax credits has conflated poor people and those with good accountants, the two groups

It’s not an accident that understanding how it all works is boring. The detail of tax is a lot like superannuation. It’s complicated and most people find it boring. The thing is, understanding how franking credits can work as a tax loophole is boring on purpose. It’s important to some people that you think tax

The tax treatment of earnings generated from owning shares is complicated. Because it is complicated most people think it is boring. Because it’s boring we don’t discuss it much. However Australia’s dividend imputation system is important, unique to the world and comes with approximately a $30 billion dollar a year price tag. So whatever you

Dr. Jim Stanford, Director of The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, spoke with the ABC’s Nick Grimm about how changes in technology, along with more flexible yet less secure jobs, will affect the way we work. Okay, the robots aren’t actually coming, but automation and self-driving vehicle technology has many forecasters predicting that workers

Read a pdf version here

To Premier Will Hodgman and Opposition Leader Rebecca White, Public trust in government is at an all-time low around Australia. We are working together to improve accountability and trust in public administration at a state and federal level. After the long-standing allegations about the role of the gambling industry in the fall of the Tasmanian

On Friday 16 February the Australian Financial Review published an opinion piece on company tax and argued that The Australia Institute ‘undermined a policy that woud have created jobs, profits and a bigger economy’. Generally this is a good article which sets out how The Australia Institute undermined the Government’s plan to cut company taxes,

Introduction The proponents of the company tax cut for big business suggest that logic is on the side of the company-tax-cutters and not the critics. We at The Australia Institute take issue with that view. There is an assumption that cutting taxes produce economic benefits as a matter of economic logic. For example often you hear

I’m proud that The Australian Financial Review thinks that my colleague Ben Oquist and I ran a “well-orchestrated thought campaign” against the BCA’s call for a $65 billion tax cut, but, to be honest, defeating it in that debate wasn’t difficult. [First published by the Australian Financial Review – here] Indeed, while Aaron Patrick’s piece titled “How company tax

Chief Economist Richard Denniss talks econobabble with Dr. Karl on his podcast Shirtloads of Science. Most Australians are not economists and neither are our politicians. Despite this, public debate is saturated with econobabble — opaque economic terminology used deliberately to obscure what you think a word means. Subsidies, markets, tax concessions and dividend imputation are all examples of the

Clean energy technology is becoming competitive with fossil fuels, globally. This provides the basis for a new strategic approach to solving the political aspect of the climate threat.This is a speech given at ‘Imagining a Different Future Conference’, Hobart, on 8 February 2018, hosted by the University of Tasmania, the University of Utrecht Ethics Institute,

The word “ideology” has a bad name these days but, as we are beginning to see, it is surprisingly hard to govern a country without one. Take, for example, the ideology of small government often associated with conservative governments like that of Mr Turnbull’s. [First published by the Australian Financial Review – here] Last week

In this week’s Follow The Money podcast Deputy Director at The Australia Institute Ebony Bennett, speaks with Principal Advisor Mark Ogge, about Australia’s ageing Gas and Coal fleet and why they can’t hack the heat. This summer alone we’ve seen extreme heat waves, bush fires and we’ve just smashed the record for the hottest 5 year period globally — for Australia’s

The Fair Work Commission’s ruling to pre-emptively block industrial action (including restrictions on overtime and a one-day work stoppage) by Sydney-area train workers has brought renewed attention to the legal and administrative barriers which limit collective action by Australian workers. The Sydney trains experience is a high-profile example of a much larger trend. Across the

With a seemingly never-ending string of negative narratives about how poorly our politics is performing, we are now overdue for some more structured thinking about what needs to be done. The “anti-politics” sentiment now risks hardening into something more dramatic as the electorate turns away, not just from the current crop of politicians – but potentially from

In the wake of the Trump Administration’s success in pushing a major company tax cut through the U.S. Congress, the Australian Treasurer has stepped up his calls for reduced company taxes here. He claims Australia will bypass the growth-inducing benefits of these tax cuts, but Dr. Anis Chowdhury, Associate of the Centre for Future Work, has compiled the economic evidence.  The U.S. experience shows no statistical evidence of any “trickle-down” growth dividend from company tax cuts.

Just as many politicians choose to ignore the evidence of criminologists when designing crime prevention policy, the majority of Australian politicians choose to ignore economic evidence in the design of Australian energy policy. That’s OK. There’s no mention of role of evidence in the Australian Constitution and there’s no obligation on parliamentarians to base policy

1/ Giving business a $65 billion dollar tax cut means billions of dollars less for schools, hospitals and other government services. Giving business a $65 billion dollar tax cut means billions of dollars less for government services like schools and hospitals. Treasury modelling even assumes these company tax cuts will be matched by cuts to government

A world tackling climate change needs fewer coal mines, not more. Australian governments still refuse to put a moratorium on new coal mines, and our emissions are climbing. However, we’re going into 2018 with a sense of optimism, because 2017 is ending with a rush of good news for #nonewcoalmines. Here are some highlights we

The Australia Institute is one of the country’s most influential think tanks. Based in Canberra, we conduct research on a broad range of economic, social, transparency and environmental issues in order to inform public debate and bring greater accountability to the democratic process. The Australia Institute provides intellectual and policy leadership. We conduct research that