Wayne Swan’s Budget speech opened with a commendation of ‘this Labor budget’ and closed with an invocation of the past Labor governments which ‘managed the transition from a closed economy to an open economy competing in the world.’ But does anything distinctively Labor remain in the Gillard government? It’s difficult, from a social democratic perspective, to find much to criticise … more
John Quiggin
Professor John Quiggin is a contributing author to CPD’s recent publication More Than Luck: Ideas Australia needs now. John’s chapter Surviving the next crisis examines the vulnerabilities in our financial system. John is a Federation Fellow in Economics and Political Science at the University of Queensland. He is prominent both as a research economist and as a commentator on Australian economic policy. He is the author of ‘The Risk Society: Social Democracy in an uncertain world‘ for the Centre for Policy Development. He blogs at http://www.johnquiggin.com/Articles by John Quiggin:
Risk and the financial system – time for a People’s Bank? At least it’s time for review
John Quiggin calls for, if not a People’s bank, at least a new inquiry into the financial system. more
The end of neo-liberalism? Implications of the crisis
John Quiggin questions the long- term implications of the financial crisis: The implications of the current crisis seem likely to be as equally profound as those of the 1970s inflationary recession that saw the failure of Keynesian economic management. While most political discussion is premised on the assumption that this is a temporary emergency, to be followed by a return to ‘normal’ conditions as soon as possible, the changes that have already taken place make this assumption untenable. more
The end of Public Private Partnerships?
Centre for Policy Development fellow John Quiggin explains why, in the context of the current global financial crisis, the flow of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects have come to a halt, and are unlikely to be revived. more
Who bears the risk?
In a new discussion paper, ‘The Risk Society: social democracy in an uncertain world’, CPD fellow John Quiggin examines the role of government as the ultimate risk manager. He argues that risk will be the defining concept of the 21st century, the way that globalisation was for the 1990s. more
The risk society
CPD fellow John Quiggin examines the role of government as the ultimate risk manager. He argues that risk will be the defining concept of the 21st century, the way that globalisation was for the 1990s. more
Beer, Cigs, Same — Budget loses the limelight
Budgets used to be the central focus of debate over macroeconomic policy and the likely outlook for unemployment and inflation, writes John Quiggin. This is now done by monetary policy, which has killed off public debate about macroeconomic issues. If things should go badly wrong, the policy debate will need to be restarted from scratch
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