Fred Argy delves into Northern Europe’'s success in social and economic policy, and asks if Australia will ever give the social investment model a fair go
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Monthly Archives:: July 2006
Federalism: a bulldozer job
The state slice of Australia’s total tax revenue hasn’t just shrunk; it’s been bulldozed. Kirk McKenzie thinks it’s time the states stopped taking it lying down
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Warning: changing the climate could harm your health
Tony McMichael, a nominee to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, describes the health risks of climate change, and outlines eight key steps the health sector can take in response
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Labor’s education policy buried by an untrue tale
In the second of two articles on the myths behind the education debate, Anthony Ashbolt shoots down the ‘hit list’ theory of Labor’s lost election.
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Power to the market
If nuclear power is the answer to climate change, says Paul Gilding, let it fend for itself without government subsidies. If we put a price on carbon emissions we can leave the market to determine the best mix of technologies to solve the climate challenge more
Labour education policy buried by an untrue tale
In the second of 2 articles on the myths behind the education debate, Anthony Ashbolt shoots down the ‘hit list’ theory behind Labor’s lost election more
Policy Snapshots
This week in SNAPSHOTS:
- Special focus on Welfare to Work: principles and realities
- PLUS East Timor's future
- AND Why do people choose private health insurance?
Welfare to Work: principles and realities
WorkChoices the low road to nowhere?
Prime Minister John Howard once called the campaign against WorkChoices ‘Chicken Little’ scaremongering. But the unpopularity of the package may only be part of a wider shift away from neo-liberal policies. Rob Durbridge shows how we can build on this momentum to take a more egalitarian and democratic road to increased productivity.
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What we (actually) do in markets
Much of economics and therefore of public policy is based on assumptions about what people do in markets. Behavioural economics (BE) is a discipline which looks at our actual behaviour in markets, and Louise Sylvan argues that it’s a much sounder economic basis for public policy than abstract theories about rationality
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