Vital signs

Vital Signs: Google shouldn't subsidise journalism, but the government could

25 Sep 2020

Making Google and Facebook pay Australian news publishers might be good politics, but it is odd economics.

Vital Signs: 50 years ago Milton Friedman told us greed was good. He was half right

21 Sep 2020

Firms should attempt to maximise profits, but if shareholders want it, there's no reason why they can't have other goals.

Vital Signs: Batch testing and contact tracing are the two keys to stop the lockdown yo-yo

11 Sep 2020

Yo-yoing lockdowns are costly and to be avoided if at all possible. Here is what we can do to dramatically improve testing and tracing.

Vital Signs: How do you fight a recession without precedent?

04 Sep 2020

Most recessions are caused by an overreaction to too much inflation. This one is because we are not spending.

Vital Signs: No, we won't change the corporate world with divestment and boycotts

28 Aug 2020

The AMP saga, and new research, shows the power of 'shareholder voice'.

Vital Signs: The Reserve Bank has done as much as it can. Now it's up to the government

21 Aug 2020

The Reserve Bank Australia has exhausted the limits of monetary policy, There's no magic pudding, says governor Philip Lowe.

people making the shape of a mortarboard

Vital Signs: This university funding crisis was always coming - COVID-19 just accelerated it

14 Aug 2020

Australia's higher education sector needs significant reform to remove the perverse incentives that have made universities dependent on revenue from international students.

Vital Signs: Shorter meetings but longer days — how COVID-19 has changed the way we work

07 Aug 2020

Employers have long feared that working from home makes employees less productive. An analysis of 3 million workers in 16 cities during lockdowns suggests the opposite.

Vital Signs: COVID-19 crisis in aged care shows elimination is the only effective strategy

31 Jul 2020

The evidence is in and the answer is clear. We must try and eliminate COVID-19 for the health and economic benefit of Australians of all ages.

Vital Signs: Victoria's privatised quarantine arrangements were destined to fail

24 Jul 2020

Economics tells us that governments privatising services where quality counts is a bad idea.

Vital signs

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