An income-contingent loan system like HECS helps the market weave its magic, ensuring the price mechanism works even better. It’s time to stop apologising for it, argues Richard Holden.
A lower Aussie dollar is good news for exporters. But it’s bad news for home owners, and consumers and business that source inputs from abroad, writes Richard Holden.
The biggest swing factor in the budgetary outlook is not the terms of trade, but labour productivity. And it is arguably the factor that’s hardest to predict, writes Richard Holden.
If you make school funding contingent on achieving good numeracy and literacy test scores then those thresholds will likely be met. The trouble is it might not be because of any genuine improvement, writes Richard Holden.
What’s next for Qantas? A great deal of uncertainty about its ownership, operational structure and the possibility of support from government. The only certainty is that 5,000 staff will lose their jobs, writes Richard Holden.
Financial markets provide a useful reminder of just how humble we economists should be about our understanding of the world, write Richard Holden and Justin Wolfers.
