What is the point of Canberra’s 40 per cent emission reduction target? If you thought it was to help reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions then you should probably be far more concerned with the current negotiations between the Gillard Government, the Greens, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor. Put simply, unless those negotiations result in a

Budget one-upmanship in Australia has moved beyond the balanced-budget obsession of the 1990s to the new aim of producing an ongoing surplus, the bigger the better, under which it is taken for granted that everyone will be better off. Despite the recent natural disasters offering good reasons for the Gillard Government to reassess its commitment

Help us raise $40,000 from $20,000  Independent ideas can only come from independent funding, so last month we asked you to help fund such ideas by making a tax-deductible end of financial year donation to the Australia Institute. In exciting news, the Institute has been offered a ‘Challenge Grant’ from a wonderfully generous supporter who

TAIHow many jobs is 23,510, really? Recasting the mining job loss debate, B Chapman and K Lounkaew, 6 June On the wrong track: The case for abandoning the promised $7 billion subsidies to Australia’s dirtiest coal-fired power stations, R Denniss, 25 May The rise and rise of online retail, B Irvine, D Richardson, J Fear

 ‘Only tiny’ carbon tax effect on mining jobs, The Age, 6 June $10b hiding in super overlap: thinktank, The Canberra Times, 7 June The price of shopping online versus the shopping mall, Online Opinion, 27 May Study questions level of carbon tax job losses, ABC The World Today, 6 June Go back to Between the

The Government has struggled to sell its message that households will receive compensation under a carbon price. There has also been far too little explanation as to what a well-designed compensation scheme can achieve. It would seem that some politicians who aspire to being good economic managers do not seem to understand a simple, but

In what appears to be an act of petty political recrimination, the new Victorian Coalition Government has slashed its funding for Environment Victoria, the state’s leading independent environment group (not to be confused with Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority, a statutory body). The recent state budget included no further funding for any of the programs that

It is commonplace in Australian policy debates for groups who think they will be adversely affected by proposed policies to provide estimates of the undesirable consequences of change. A popular and fashionable form relates to predictions of job losses for the groups affected, usually accompanied by counter-claims made by the government of the day or

Independent ideas can only come from independent funding, so last month we asked you to help fund such ideas by making a tax-deductible end of financial year donation to the Australia Institute. In exciting news, the Institute has been offered a ‘Challenge Grant’ from a wonderfully generous supporter who is willing to give us $20,000

We’ve all heard that the Australian Public Service’s superannuation schemes are generous, and a look at the budget papers would seem to confirm this, revealing that the Government is spending $14.1 billion on this entitlement. Put another way, public servants’ super appears to be a staggering 73 per cent of the $19.2 billion spent on

What is the true value of the service we get when buying something at a shop? It can be quite high when the shopping experience adds to the pleasure of the purchase, such as getting you out of the house, friendly sales staff and nice food next door. The value added can be particularly high

While we might not ever be able to agree on whether advertising works or not, or why it is that companies who say it doesn’t are so determined to spend a fortune doing it, it is easy to answer a slightly different question: do politicians think advertising works? Based on the way they conduct election

Help us conduct more ‘research that matters’ with an End of Financial Year donation Richard’s reflections on the federal budget Recent publications Recent media Help us conduct more ‘research that matters’ with an End of Financial Year donation The Treasurer has just done the books for Australia and many of you will be preparing to

Why the obsession with a budget surplus?, The Drum, 9 May ‘Green jobs’ won’t save the debate, Climate Spectator, 6 May Retailers battered by online shopping, ABC Radio National Breakfast, 9 May Dick Smith’s foreign food fightback, A Current Affair, 12 May Go back to Between the Lines

Surplus fetish: The political economy of the surplus, deficit and debt, D Richardson, 9 May The industries that cried wolf, R Denniss, 18 April The price of disloyalty: Why competition has failed to lower ATM fees, J Fear, 17 February Complementary or contradictory? An analysis of the design of climate policies in Australia, R Denniss

Once upon a time the justification for delivering the federal budget speech at 7.30pm was so that the stock market and money market would have time to absorb the information before the next day’s trading began. But these days, with many Australian shares listed on international stock exchanges and the Australian dollar traded just as

The Treasurer has just done the books for Australia and many of you will be preparing to do your own as the end of the financial year approaches. Don’t forget that all donations of $2 and above to The Australia Institute are tax-deductible. Independent ideas can only come from independent funding. While you will be

There has been a lot of talk about the need to ‘reframe’ the debate about climate change among the Australian environment groups who have tasked themselves with persuading our politicians to reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, their attempts to reframe the debate have been as unsuccessful as their attempts to persuade our politicians. The

Australia: a low-tax country The industries that cried wolf High stakes in gambling reform Recent publications Recent media Australia: a low-tax country  The federal budget will be handed down in a fortnight’s time and the Treasurer Wayne Swan has taken to the airwaves to warn us it will be lean and “unpopular”. Predictably, the Government

The high price of ATM promiscuity, ABC The National Interest, 8 April Hiding $50b: down periscope, The Canberra Times, 29 April Revealed: banks escape tough rules, The Age, 27 April Go back to Between the Lines

The industries that cried wolf, R Denniss, 18 April The price of disloyalty: Why competition has failed to lower ATM fees, J Fear, 17 February Complementary or contradictory? An analysis of the design of climate policies in Australia, R Denniss and A Macintosh, 9 February Go back to Between the Lines

No doubt inspired by the success of the mining sector in its fight against the Government’s Resource Super Profits Tax , ClubsAustralia recently tried to flex its muscles by launching a $20 million campaign against the Government’s proposed gambling reforms instigated by Independent MP Andrew Wilkie . The blokey ‘It’s un-Australian’ ad warned punters that

 As a child, the story of the boy who cried wolf would have kept many of us from telling fibs or raising a false alarm. Yet, in the adult world of business it seems Aesop’s fable doesn’t carry much weight, or at least when it comes to discussing the impact of putting a price on

 The federal budget will be handed down in a fortnight’s time and the Treasurer Wayne Swan has taken to the airwaves to warn us it will be lean and “unpopular”. The recent natural disasters have cut $9 billion from economic output and tax collections are down this financial year by $4.5 billion. But, the Treasurer

The Defence establishment must find it pretty hard not to chuckle when they hear people talking about climate change policy. Climate change has been described as a fundamental challenge to democratic decision making. The problem, we are told, is that while the costs are up front the benefits are both uncertain and will arise in

The only thing that big business in Australia wants more than certainty is the certainty that they will get their own way. When they aren’t certain about that, it’s amazing how much uncertainty they are willing to tolerate. It seems it’s better to have a chance of a win than be certain of a loss.

Picking teams in Australian policy debates used to be as simple as picking sides in old movies; the good guys wore white, the bad guys wore black, and the audience knew where everybody stood. But life just isn’t that simple especially when we consider the milk price war that is raging at the moment. Am

Nuclear industry hedging its bets on safety Just how important is the mining sector to Australia? The hidden unemployed Do you or your colleagues need to know more about economics? New contact details for The Australia Institute Nuclear industry hedging its bets on safety As Japan faces the aftermath of the triple tragedies of earthquake,

New courses offered by The Australia Institute The Australia Institute offers tailored courses on understanding economic concepts and how they apply to your specific circumstances. Whether you’re involved in the creation of policy, advocacy or you just need to understand some economics to better do your job the Australia Institute can provide a course to

The official (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate now stands at 5 per cent and there is talk again that Australia has virtually attained full employment. However, other labour market data released in March shows that the official figures hide the real extent of unemployment in Australia.  For example, while the number of unemployed at the moment