Articles
2024
Opinion piece: Building the data to help investors direct their money, and shape the world
Consumers and investors have long understood that what they buy, and the investment decisions they make, have the power to influence social, economic, and environmental challenges.
Opinion piece: How to get money's worth out of programs
Each year thousands of patients miss their hospital appointments.
Opinion piece: Merger policy is critical
Competition is about giving Australians more choice.
Opinion piece: Why many pay too much for flights, and how to make them more affordable
A high‑performing aviation sector is critical to Australia's way of life, connecting people and communities, while supporting economic activity and employment across regions.
Opinion piece: Chocolate, cartels and competition
One of the summer’s box office hits is Wonka – the prequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
2023
Opinion piece: Tis the season to give generously
They called Chuck Feeney the “James Bond of philanthropy”. During his life, he gave away his entire $US8 billion fortune. And he did it anonymously.
Opinion piece: Charity is at the heart of Australia
Across the world, democracy is under pressure. According to one set of experts, the world entered a ‘democratic recession' in 2016 and is yet to recover.
Book review: Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
In 2021, Forbes magazine put cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman‑Fried on its cover.
Opinion piece: Random trials of policy are just what doctor ordered
One of the Australian Government's announcements this year has been the creation of the Australian Centre for Evaluation.
Opinion piece: Start ups, upstarts and competition
Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht started Canva in their early twenties. Ruslan Kogan started Kogan at age 23. At the same age, Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon‑Brookes started Atlassian.
Opinion piece: Competition is a bouquet for small businesses
Suppose you open the first florist in your suburb. As a local trader, you pride yourself on being part of the community.
Opinion piece: Artificial intelligence boom poses big risks for competition
The rise of AI engines has been remarkable. To reach 100 million users, the telephone took 75 years. The mobile phone took 16 years. ChatGPT took two months.
Opinion piece: Albanese Government's Australian Centre for Evaluation to champion high-quality randomised trials
Social workers in schools always boost student outcomes. Drug offenders shouldn't be treated differently. Malaria bed nets are more likely to be used if people pay for them.
Opinion piece: Matildas show the way for Aussie competition
If anyone needed proof that competition drives better performance, you only need to look at the Matildas, whose peak World Cup soccer matches attracted more viewers than any Australian sporting eve
Opinion piece: No child's future should be pre-determined from their birth
A century ago, Banjo Paterson wrote in his poem ‘Boots’:
They called us ‘mad Australians’;
they couldn’t understand
How officers and men could fraternise
Opinion piece: Monopoly makes life harder for central banks
The job of the Reserve Bank is never easy, but it is especially challenging at times when inflation is outside the target band.
Opinion piece: Try it and see
Last year, researchers published a study in which ten different job training programs were evaluated through randomised trials – the way medical researchers test new drugs.
Opinion piece: Rebuilding communities in a 'friendship recession'
How many people can you talk to without having to watch what you say? In 1984, Australian adults averaged nine trusted friends. A generation later it had fallen to five.
Opinion piece: Choosing Openness – Key to Future Prosperity
None of us make our own running shoes, fix our own teeth, or build our own cars.
Opinion piece: Choosing openness in the international economy
The COVID pandemic was good for isolationists and xenophobes, and bad for globalisers and internationalists.