Recent publications in IPA Review article
Time to dump costly parental leave scheme
In 1975, Malcolm Fraser's Liberal government had the largest parliamentary majority in Australian history. The story is now well known: Gough Whitlam oversaw a massive expansion of the public sector, increasing government spending by more than 40...
A tribute to James Buchanan
Last month one of the iconic figures of twentieth century classical liberalism, James McGill Buchanan, passed away aged 93. Buchanan has been rightly credited for his leading role in forging the ‘public choice' approach to political...
The economics of food
Have you ever not ordered something at a restaurant because it had strange ingredients, and ordered the roast chicken instead? Ever tried a restaurant because the social vibe of the place made you think it would be a great night out? They're safe...
The Chinese capitalist miracle
The Chinese economic miracle is the latest and most comprehensive success story since the end of World War II. Veteran economists Ronald Coase and Ning Wang explain how in the space of three decades one of the world's poorest countries became the...
Tax reform = growth
Australia's tax system has its problems. Too complicated, too many special allowances and specific taxes, and too much money drained out of the pockets of working Australians. But things could be worse. Australia could have the British tax system,...
17 radical savings
If Tony Abbott is to win office at the next federal election in 2013 he has a massive savings task ahead of him. Despite Wayne Swan's insistence that a ‘wafer-thin' surplus will be achieved in the 2013-2014 budget, Australia will still be in...
The end of money as we know it
The Western world's post global financial crisis stagnation has shaken faith in the idea that central banking and monetary policy activism can resuscitate sick economies back to life. This has been reinforced by the fact that controversial...
An economists' guide to life
If Ian Harper had been American instead of an Australian, and if he been a professor at the University of Chicago instead of the Melbourne Business School, Economics for Life would have been a hit on The New York Times bestseller list. As it is,...
They just don't get it
As a sovereign nation, Indonesia has the right to run its domestic policy as it sees fit. As a democratic country with a free press, we retain the right to express our opinions. But fundamentally, we do not have the right to force another country...
A history of scientific alarms
Dr Kesten Green lists the 20 most unscientific scares. There is a long and dismal history of alarming forecasts that were literally too bad to be true. But many people believed these predictions that human actions would harm the environment and...