Economists do little to promote bank competition
The royal commission into banking, whose public hearings start on Monday, won't get a lot of help from the Productivity Commission's report on competition within the sector. It's very limp-wristed.
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Ross Gittins
Ross Gittins is economics editor of the SMH and an economic columnist for The Age. His books include Gittins' Guide to Economics, Gittinomics and The Happy Economist.
Finally, an Indigenous middle class emerges
It's easy for prime ministers to make big promises at some emotion-charge moment of national attention, but a lot harder to keep those promises when the media spotlight (and that prime minister) are long gone.
The smartest way to spend taxpayer dollars
There are no magic bullets in government spending, but putting money into early education comes a lot closer than most of the other things governments spend on.
Next election will offer voters more genuine, wider choice
Next election will offer voters more genuine, wider choice
Unhappy delusion: Life's less expensive than you think
Ask any pollie, pollster or punter in the pub and they'll all tell you there are no political issues hotter than the soaring cost of living. But this week the Australian Bureau of Statistics issued its consumer price index for the December quarter.
Dawn may break in fool's paradise
So, no train strike in Sydney because unionists were ordered to keep working by the Fair Work Commission. Is that good news or bad? Depends on the point from which you view it – but don't assume you have only one of 'em.
Australia's least-competitive industries earning 'super-profits'
Economists joke that, whereas they are taught that any barriers to new firms entering a market are bad, allowing profits to be too high, MBA students are taught that "barriers to entry" are good, and shown ways to raise them.
Keynes or Keynesian isn't a dirty word
Whenever you meet someone who uses the words Keynes or Keynesian as a swear word – or as synonyms for socialist – know that their adherence to neoliberal dogma far exceeds their understanding of mainstream economics.
Keep calm: reasons to head for the park not the beach
Although holidays in national parks are nice, we need something closer to home.
We'd be mugs to panic and cut our company tax rate
The Americans' decision to drop their company tax rate to 21 per cent from the start of next year is unlikely to overcome our Senate's resistance to cutting our company tax rate to 25 per cent for big business. Which is no bad thing.
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