Opinion & Commentary
Opinion and Commentary contains media articles written by CIS researchers.
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Gillard Deal Risks NDIS Timebomb
In its eagerness to lock in the funding and governance arrangements for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the Gillard government seems to have created a fiscal time bomb, where future federal... Read More
Only a super-style savings system now will help Medicare survive
THE intergenerational reports have told us repeatedly that escalating government spending on health is unsustainable in an ageing Australia. But despite the warnings about the future of the health system,... Read More
Increasing the super contribution rate is a second-rate solution
It is timely to re-examine the economic case for compulsory superannuation. Read More
Better ideas than raising super guarantee
Is compulsory super improving retirement incomes and reducing future demands on the budget from an ageing population? Read More
Only migrant workers can fill the gap
Temporary, skilled migration is the only viable solution for the resources sector. Read More
In search of a Greek hero
To escape from its current mess, Greece does not need more Sisyphus work. It needs someone to tackle the Herculean task of cutting the country loose from Europe’s monetary union. Read More
Should Australia’s population be controlled?
Australia should embrace population growth Read More
A few home truths on people and houses
Population growth: starting acting, not discussing Read More
Change attitude rather than limit population
Population growth: starting acting, not discussing. Australia should embrace its population growth . Read More
Sighs of relief heard from the bankers' bunkers
Alas, the GFC showed that it is impossible for democratic governments to let large financial institutions fail, however much they should. It is a government's job to free taxpayers from unwittingly providing... Read More
Wet ink on a euro death notice
The euro has been a moribund currency for years. The remaining options to buy it more time have been blocked by the German constitutional court. To end this farcical tragedy someone needs to put the final... Read More
Same cracks, just a new coat of paint
Analysis of the NSW Budget Read More
Time to revisit RBA board
Union leaders would have you believe that the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia is beholden to the big end of town, but the current unnecessarily tight monetary policy indicates that this is not the... Read More
NSW budget: time to cut and shed Mick Dundee image
With a public service head count just shy of 390,000, NSW puts the Commonwealth government, with a mere 270,000 staff, to shame. Macquarie Street employs 10% of the NSW workforce. Read More
Don't get starry-eyed about housing
In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More
Don't get starry-eyed about housing
In textbook markets there is no need for price forecasts. Prices are determined by the interaction of supply and demand. If you fed a supercomputer with all the relevant information about buyer preferences,... Read More
A miracle that masks a mirage
As it turns out, there is not much in the German manufacturing example that Australia should copy. We would be much better advised to make the best of our own comparative advantages of being a resource-rich... Read More
A poisoned chalice of EU power
Eurobonds had not even been on the agenda (officially, that is), and an EU-wide tax on financial transactions almost certainly will die aborning. In another way, however, the Merkel and Sarkozy show was... Read More
Who needs credit ratings? They should be optional
Banks and investors should thrive or die by the quality of their own assessments of credit risk. They have the most incentive to get it right, writes Adam Creighton, a research fellow at The Centre For... Read More
US Congress swapped a crisis yesterday for a bigger crisis tomorrow
I provoked a tirade of abuse from Crikey readers in the past fortnight when I suggested it would be preferable that the $14.3 trillion United States debt ceiling not be raised. Read More
Dollars must flow if numbers to grow
Debate about Australia's population is framed with national aggregates and ignores how local governments deal with increased population. Part of the reason Australians are averse to more people is because... Read More
Think local and give country towns the freedom to prosper or perish
FOR politicians, and especially for town planners, letting people decide where and how they want to live has never been an acceptable idea. Administrative elites have always been convinced they know better... Read More
Growing anger in local government
So how well are Australian local government leaders really equipped to deal with population growth? Read More
Local councils deserve a better financial deal
Council rates surging to pay for new residents Read More
Council rates surging to pay for new residents
Local Government struggling to pay for new residents Read More
Hey regulators, remember the GFC
Housing sector ignores lessons from the GFC at taxpayers’ peril. Read More
Population debate: we pretend growth is not inevitable
The longer we pretend we can stop population growth, or protest that we don’t want growth to happen, the more difficult the job will become. Read More
Gillard's population policy at sea
Swan’s 16,000 new migration places aren’t really new places, just a reshuffling of the existing quota to induce more migrants to move to regional areas. Read More
Population growth makes us smarter, richer
The economic significance of more people is not in the contribution made by their hands or their mouths but their minds. Read More
The economics of water in a growing population
The water challenge in Australia is not the amount of rainfall but its extreme variability. Read More
Population growth is not all about immigration
Population growth is neither an impending disaster nor something we should blindly strive for—it is simply happening as a result of our economic progress and the collective desires of millions of people. Read More
Population bomb still a fizzer 40 years on
Anti-population growth campaigners like Paul Ehrlich claim to be fighting for the environment and sustainability. In effect, they are actually promoting a new, green version of misanthropy. It is time... Read More
The small Australia nightmare
As one of the very few rich countries that still has a young and growing population, Australia should embrace this opportunity and continue to grow. Read More
Population growth is an age-old problem, get used to it
Population growth will bring challenges, but it will also bring opportunities. Let's hope we can harness our creative potential to meet them. Read More
Taking the boom out of the population debate
Policymakers who think they can avoid the challenges of a growing population simply by cutting migration should think again. Read More
State the obvious in the big Australia debate
Population policy requires a federation fix. Read More
Australia's real challenge is population ageing
We need a mature debate on population growth, says Jessica Brown in The Age (Business), 23 August 2010 Read More