Recent publications in IPA Review article
A 'nudge' in the wrong direction
Like many sinister concepts, the idea of governments ‘nudging' people may seem on first glance somewhat innocuous. Rather than relying on coercion such as using bans, fines and regulation to achieve social change, nudge employs a supposedly...
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 big government merry-go-round
Unintentional self-parody has long being a forte of governments around the world. Yet a movement in recent years to create multi-layered government and quasi-governmental agencies, each existing simply to lobby each other to in turn lobby other...
The life and times of the modest member
The publication of this new biography of legendary anti-tariff campaigner, Bert Kelly, is particularly timely. For it was fifty years ago, in late 1962, that the Australian policy of ‘protection all round', sometimes dubbed McEwenism,...
Should government force companies to be responsible?
Since at least the 1960s, advocates have called for firms to be socially responsible. Governments have responded. But what does it mean for firms to be socially responsible? And do government subsidies and regulations help? Calls for firms to be...
Civil liberties under fire
Attacks on individual freedom in Australia over the past few years have occurred in some unexpected places. Take, for instance, the unprecedented assault on civil liberties we have seen in Australia in recent years. Both the left and right of...
False dawn: the Arab Spring
In a sense, the so-called Arab Spring can be said to have begun on 26 December 2010 in the Tunisian hinterland township of Sidi Bouzid, where a 26-year-old impoverished vegetable seller and father of eight, Mohamed Bouazizi, immolated himself in...
25 more ideas for Tony Abbott
Following on from our 75 ideas in the last edition, John Roskam, James Paterson and Chris Berg offer 25 more ideas to reshape Australia. 76 Have State Premiers appoint High Court justices 77 Allow ministers to be appointed...
A roadmap to peace in the war on drugs
The war on drugs has been raging for decades. Tens of millions of lives have been lost or ruined. Because both the effect of the drugs and the effect of criminalisation have contributed to the toll, both prohibitionists and those for...
Power and the years of LBJ
There is almost a cult amongst readers of political history and biography: those who count down the years until the release of the next volume of Robert Caro's totemic biography of Lyndon Johnson. Commencing with The Path to Power in 1982,...