Recent publications
Did global warming send Lehman Brothers broke
NOVEMBER 2008: There's much debate about the causes of the global economic crisis. According to the popular media some of the chief suspects include ‘greed', ‘obscene executive salaries', and ‘predatory lenders'. But maybe the...
2008 Harold Clough Lecture: 'The Politics and Science of Climate Change: The Wrong Stuff'
The 2008 IPA Lecture was organised in conjunction with the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation. I am pleased to present this lecture today in Perth. I am particularly pleased to find that Perth is still here. I last visited here in 2005 - the...
Shooting down the enemies of progress
Tony Gilland reviews An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming by Nigel Lawson (Overlook, 2008, 144 pages) & The Enemies of Progress: The Dangers of Sustainabilityby Austin Williams (Imprint, 2008, 156 pages) An Appeal to Reason:...
Federal government ads misleading on climate insurance cost
In order to prepare the nation for the introduction of the ETS, the federal government has begun a large advertising campaign to argue that, without action, climate change will have a significant economic impact. In particular one of their most...
Climate change is not our #1 problem
It is easy to forget that climate change is not the only issue facing the world today. In ignoring other problems we run the risk of introducing inefficient solutions that make other problems worse. A good example is the promotion of biofuels...
Submission to the Green Paper on Australia's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Emissions Trading: Towards the biggest economic change in Australian history
‘Placing a limit and a price on emissions will change the things we produce, the way we produce them, and the things we buy', states the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper, which compares the economic impact...
So now you have bought an emissions trading scheme
What is it? The emissions trading scheme, or ‘Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme', is a ‘cap and trade' system. This requires firms to obtain a government ‘permit' if they emit greenhouse gases. The government caps the level of...
Would you swap climate change for acid rain?
‘Climate change is happening so quickly that mankind may need to pump sulfur into the atmosphere to survive', argued Tim Flannery, 2007 Australian of the Year, in May. Flannery has suggested the sulfur be dispersed by jet fuel as a last...
Federal Government's ETS Green Paper is a Recipe for Radical Transformation of Economy
If implemented, the measures to curb Australia's carbon emissions foreshadowed in the federal government's Green Paper will bring about a radical transformation of the economy, according to the Institute of Public Affairs, Australia's leading free...