Author Archives: Gene Tunny

Lack of clarity on due diligence for GBR Foundation grant is a major concern

Posted on August 14, 2018

Today’s Courier-Mail includes opposing opinion pieces on the Turnbull government’s controversial $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, which according to the author of the first opinion piece, Foundation Managing Director Anna Marsden, is the “lead charity” for … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Is the Dutton Park high-rise high school really necessary?

Posted on August 4, 2018

David Gillespie, Brisbane State High School Council Chairman (and author of Free Schools and Sweet Poison) gave a terrific interview on the 612 ABC Brisbane Breakfast program (at 2:18:50) yesterday morning. He argued State High’s over-enrollment problem is due to … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

CIS Ideas post on government size & economic growth paper by Makin et al.

Posted on July 28, 2018

I spent an enjoyable week visiting the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney, and while there I was roped into drafting a short post for their regular Friday Ideas email. My post was on a recent conference paper by Griffith … Continue reading →

Posted in Budget, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

The Andrew Leigh-Sinclair Davidson company tax debate

Posted on July 17, 2018

In March, there was extensive media coverage (e.g. in the Guardian Australia) of shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh’s company tax research which found companies paying lower effective company tax rates (i.e. actual tax paid/profits) did not create more jobs than … Continue reading →

Posted in Tax, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Economics of second best in energy policy

Posted on July 12, 2018

Australia’s energy policy is such a confusing mess that the Australian’s economics editor Judith Sloan actually supports the ACCC’s dubious call (in its Electricity Pricing Inquiry Final Report) for the Australian Government to act as a buyer of last resort … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A question you could ask RBA Deputy Governor Guy Debelle at ESA Qld business lunch on 22 August

Posted on July 3, 2018

Ten years after the 2008 financial crisis, economists are still debating whether the policy response at the time was excessive or insufficient (e.g. the excellent recent Macro Musings podcast with Larry Ball on the Lehman collapse) and whether banking needs … Continue reading →

Posted in Macroeconomy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

My comments in Morningstar article on Australia’s “27-year economic winning streak”

Posted on June 30, 2018

One frequently quoted economic fact I think is a bit dubious is that Australia has had a record breaking expansion of 27 years. Although Australia avoided a technical recession (by not having two successive quarters of declining real GDP) during … Continue reading →

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