Policy Monographs
Policy Monographs (PM) are pieces directly commenting on government policy, new programs or legislation.
Categories
Back to the Bad Old Days? Industrial Relations Reform in Australia
Has the Fair Work Act thrown industrial relations back to ‘the bad old days?’ This report analyses the changes in industrial relations reform over the past 20 years and assesses the role in which each... Read More
Compulsory Super at 20: ‘Libertarian Paternalism’ Without the Libertarianism
Examines the economic case for compulsory superannuation contributions and questions whether compulsory super is the most effective way of promoting household and national saving and reducing future demands... Read More
The New Leviathan: A National Disability Insurance Scheme
The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been touted as the biggest social reform since Medicare. Currently, there is only a naive understanding of the scheme. This report makes the case that... Read More
Future Submarine Project Should Raise Periscope for Another Look
Australia should not spend $40 billion to repeat the mistakes of the Collins Class submarine. Nuclear submarines, such as the US Navy’s Virginia Class submarine, would provide a much greater capability... Read More
How the NSW Coalition Should Govern Health: Strategies for Microeconomic Reform
In an ever-tightening fiscal environment, the focus of NSW health policy must be the microeconomic reform of the rigid, public service monopoly model of public hospital care. The adoption of market or... Read More
Indigenous Education 2012
Indigenous Education 2012 reviews the lack of progress by states and territories in improving Indigenous literacy and numeracy. It examines causes of Indigenous students’ success and failure, and the... Read More
Future Funds or Future Eaters? The Case Against a Sovereign Wealth Fund for Australia
This paper considers the arguments for and against greater use of a sovereign wealth fund in Australia. It argues that the existing Future Fund is unnecessary and that greater use of a sovereign wealth... Read More
Price Drivers: Five Case Studies in How Government is Making Australia Unaffordable
Government influences price levels in more ways than is immediately apparent. Through its direct and indirect interventions in the market, government is one of the most important price drivers in Australia... Read More
Working Towards Self-Reliance: Three Lessons for Disability Pension Reform
To successful reduce the number of pensioners on disability support, policymakers must apply the lessons of other welfare reforms. Disability pensioners must be categorised based on their ability to work;... Read More
Hands, Mouths and Minds: Three Perspectives on Population Growth and Living Standards
The long-run relationship between population growth and living standards has been a source of controversy among economists. This monograph examines three perspectives on the issue and argues that population... Read More
Selection, Migration and Integration: Why Multiculturalism Works in Australia (And Fails in Europe)
Australia’s migrants are extremely well integrated by international standards, particularly Europe. The reason why multiculturalism works better in Australia than in Europe may be Australia’s more... Read More
Australia’s Angry Mayors: How Population Growth Frustrates Local Councils
To understand the effects of a growing population on Australia’s councils, CIS surveyed local authorities from all over the country. The results are alarming. The level of frustration with inadequate... Read More
Alcohol Policy and the Politics of Moral Panic
New Zealand’s proposed liquor legislation marks a return to old attitudes towards alcohol regulation that perversely believe, in part due to dubious economic analyses, that placing restrictions on access,... Read More
Why Does Government Grow?
This paper examines some of the stylised facts in relation to the growth of government in the Western world generally, and Australia in particular. It then reviews some of the main theories advanced to... Read More
Droughts and Flooding Rains: Water Provision for a Growing Australia
In the 2010 federal elections, the debate over Australia’s population surfaced once again. Groups concerned with the impacts of a growing population have focused on the life source of any settlement:... Read More
Populate and Perish? Modelling Australia's Demographic Future
Since the publication of the 2010 Intergenerational Report, Australia has been debating its demographic future and whether it is desirable for the nation to grow to more than 35 million people by 2050.... Read More
The Unfinished Business of Australian Income Tax Reform
Robert Carling says the reform agenda for personal income tax should be to cut marginal tax rates; implement automatic indexation of thresholds for inflation; scale back the myriad selective tax breaks... Read More
Indigenous Employment, Unemployment and Labour Force Participation: Facts for Evidence Based Policies
Professor Helen Hughes, Senior Research Fellow at the CIS and Mark Hughes highlight that Indigenous non-labour force participation is a much greater problem than unemployment. ‘Indigenous unemployment... Read More
Like the Curate’s Egg: A Market-based Response and Alternative to the Bennett Report
The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) has acknowledged the need to ensure health services are responsive to the needs of patients, and has recommended some very limited market-based... Read More
Reforming Capital Gains Tax: The Myths and Reality behind Australia’s Most Misunderstood Tax
The implications of the Ralph Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reforms vary widely depending on the type of taxpayer, asset class, and inflation environment. This report examines the CGT and considers possible... Read More
Ending the Churn: A Tax/Welfare Swap
John Humphreys argues that removing middle-class welfare in exchange for income tax cuts, the government could reduce tax and welfare by about $80 billion without leaving anybody worse off. Read More
Fiscal Rules for Limited Government: Reforming Australia’s Fiscal Responsibility Legislation
The paper outlines the rationale for fiscal responsibility legislation and a rules-based approach to fiscal policy. It examines the shortcomings of the existing CBH, showing how it has failed to prevent... Read More
Bubble Poppers: Monetary Policy and the Myth of ‘Bubbles’ in Asset Prices
The monograph considers some of the practical problems that are likely to be encountered in implementing an activist approach to asset prices. These difficulties help explain why historical attempts to... Read More
Radical Surgery: The Only Cure for New South Wales Hospitals
Wolfgang Kasper argues that the hospital malaise can only be remedied by removing the central, bureaucratic control of hospitals and creating opportunities for spontaneous, decentralised and customer-oriented... Read More
A Streak of Hypocrisy: Reactions to the Global Financial Crisis and Generational Debt
Dr Jeremy Sammut says that ‘household savings have collapsed due to an unnecessary dependence on welfare handouts. A new era of thrift is overdue!’ Read More
Harmacy: The Political Economy of Community Pharmacy in Australia
The regulatory environment that governs community pharmacy has created one of Australia’s most protected industries. It is a beneficiary of government largesse and central regulation and control in state,... Read More
Capital Xenophobia II: Foreign Direct Investment in Australia, Sovereign Wealth Funds, and the Rise of State Capitalism
Stephen Kirchner offers a timely analysis of Australia’s foreign investment regime and gives his ideas on how to improve this critical ingredient for Australia's prospective stability, prosperity, and... Read More
The Faulty Arguments Behind Australia’s Corporate Tax
This paper investigates Australian corporate tax and highlights a number of issues that deserve greater public awareness. Read More
The False Promise of GP Super Clinics: Part 1: Preventive Care
Dr Jeremy Sammut examines the evidence for preventive care programs to help make the Medicare system sustainable, given the demands of the ageing of Australia’s population, the rising chronic disease... Read More
State Tax Reform: Progress and Prospects
This paper analyses the state taxation issues in further detail. After reviewing various reform options, it outlines the key features of what a much improved state tax system would look like. Read More
Fiscal Illusion: How Big Government Makes Tax Look Small
Sinclair Davidson in this paper canvasses an issue that cuts across all taxes and all levels of government: fiscal illusion and how it contributes to the growth of the state. Exposing the policies and... Read More
Exploring a Carbon Tax for Australia
It is not a foregone conclusion that we need a carbon trading scheme or a carbon tax. Humphreys provides much food for thought on the nature of the optimal policy response and how it can fit in with broader... Read More
The Coming Crisis of Medicare: What the Intergenerational Reports should say, but doesn’t, about health and ageing
The demographic and medical realities of the twenty-first century mean that Medicare can no longer provide every citizen with ‘free’ access to all the new medicine. Without reform, healthcare in... Read More
Tax Competition: Much To Do About Very Little
Sinclair Davidson challenges the notion of ‘harmful’ international tax competition. He argues that in the sphere of taxation, as elsewhere, competition should be welcomed as a force for good, not stifled... Read More
Tax Earmarking Is It Good Practice?
This Monograph critically analyses the use of earmarked (or ‘hypothecated’) taxes in Australia. Read More
The Organisation of Residential Aged Care for an Ageing Population
At the heart of this new paper is the re-assertion of the need for a system of accommodation bonds. Hogan reiterates that a key factor limiting the supply of extra beds is the high cost of developing new... Read More
The Government Giveth and the Government Taketh Away: Tax Welfare Churning and the Case for Welfare State Opt-Outs
Australians are more prosperous than ever before, so the number of people needing government assistance should be falling. Yet the welfare state keeps getting bigger. The book explores this paradox. It... Read More
State Taxation and Fiscal Federalism: A Blueprint for Further Reform
This paper identifies major structural flaws in our current taxation system and develops a set of radical proposals to put them right. The flaws it identifies lie in the fiscal relation between the Commonwealth... Read More
Reform 30/30: Rebuilding Australia’s Tax and Welfare Systems
John Humphreys has a vision of how the tax and welfare systems could be refashioned to break through the dispiriting problems that currently bedevil them. It is for those who reject this vision to put... Read More
Are There Any Good Arguments Against Cutting Income Taxes?
Sinclair Davidson explains why, in a sharply ‘progressive’ tax system like ours, tax cuts that appear to favour high earners more than low earners are not only ‘fair’ but are to a large extent... Read More
The Costs of Taxation
The question the government needs to ask is not whether it can do good through more spending, but is whether the relentless increase in the personal tax burden needed to finance all this spending is costing... Read More
The Road to Work: Freeing Up the Labour Market
This monograph outlines a framework for a more flexible, deregulated labour market which could strengthen employment, raise living standards and promote workers' wellbeing. Read More
How Highly Taxed Are We? The Level and Composition of Taxation in Australia and the OECD
Rather than establishing the case for even higher taxes on earnings, a careful analysis of OECD statistics shows what many Australian workers and businesses have long suspected; we are being squeezed much... Read More
The Very Idea of a Flat Tax
Lauchlan Chipman questions a key principle that has long been embedded in our system of taxation and which most Australians probably accept as being self-evidently the ‘best’ and ‘fairest’ way... Read More
Will You Still Vote for Me in the Morning? Why Politicians Aren’t Rushing to Increase Taxes
Norton’s review of the evidence does not indicate the existence of a population keen to pay more tax. The politicians know this, which is why the Coalition delivered limited tax cuts (as well as a lot... Read More
Who Pays the Lion’s Share of Personal Income Tax?
Davidson’s paper performs a service by exposing the absurdities of some of the claims that are being made about who pays what. Higher income earners are paying much more than their ‘fair share’ in... Read More
Tax Reform to Make Work Pay
We are paying more tax than ever before. Australia’s tax burden is higher than in the United States and Japan, taxes on incomes are as high as in many European countries, and corporate taxation is higher... Read More
The Taxation of Shared Family Incomes
Terry Dwyer’s paper makes a compelling case for recognising family income sharing for tax purposes, and his arguments and proposals should be central to any future discussion of how to achieve a fairer... Read More
The Tax Wilderness How to Restore the Rule of Law
The importance of Geoffrey Walker’s paper is that it shows the price we are paying as a nation for government’s failure to keep its tax demands within reasonable bounds. It is bad enough that escalating... Read More
Poverty in Australia: Beyond the Rhetoric
This report challenges prevailing definitions and measurements of poverty, and calls for an alternative strategy for poverty alleviation based on American-style welfare reform, lower taxation and job creation. Read More
The Unchained University
Australia's universities are not preparing students adequately for their futures. Report author and higher education expert Andrew Norton argues that universities are failing students in several ways. Read More
Sustainable Immigration and Cultural Integration
Professor Kasper outlines the benefits of past migration. He points out that Australians can be justifiably proud of the successful integration of so many migrants into a decent society, a stable, free... Read More
The Art of Corporate Governance: a return to first principles
Calls for big business to be more ‘ethical’ and ‘socially responsible’ have never been louder, nor more misguided. Samuel Gregg argues these calls come at a time ‘when the public understanding... Read More
Taxing the family : Australia's forgotten people in the income spectrum
Over the last two decades, the tax burden has shifted from taxpayers without to taxpayers with dependent children. While social security expenditure on welfare dependency has risen, spending on family... Read More
Behavioural Poverty
The welfare debate is bedeviled by the failure to distinguish behavioural from financial poverty. The minimum income available to families on welfare are commensurate with those of families on average... Read More
Reforming Central Banking
This book is about which monetary institutions and monetary regimes are most likely to promote price stability. Read More
Working Youth:Tackling Australian Youth Unemployment
Working Youth proposes reforms to the labour market and educationthat would begin the task of creating jobs for Australia's young people. Read More
Corporate Control, Economic Efficiency and Shareholder Justice
This book is an examination of the theoretical background and economics of the market for corporate control. Read More
Private Correspondence: Competition or Monolopy in Australia's Postal Services?
Dr Albon believes that the most important and practical way to improve postal services to the public is to allow competition. Read More
Capital Xenophobia: Australia's Controls of Foreign Investment
An early study by the CIS which supported the lifting of controls on foreign investment in Australia. Read More
The Resource Rent Tax. A Penality of Risk Taking
We see no evidence that the Australian resources industries are not competitive. Therefore if the RRT were a true resources rent tax, with the Government subsidising negative economic rents as well as... Read More
Lessons from the Ord
The Ord Scheme, indeed, offers ample ammunition for those who take the extreme view that responsibility is directly proportional to the taxing power. Certainly even those who hold a less extreme position... Read More
On Buying a Job: The Regulation of a Taxicab in Canberra
Throughout the world, the taxi industry attracts government regulation. Government agencies determine what vehicles may be used, who is eligible to receive a driver's oran owner's licence, where and how... Read More
