Research

The industry in Australia and throughout the world is dominated by a handful of multinationals that have obtained highly favourable arrangements from governments. This paper analyses the structure, ownership, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions of the aluminium smelting industry to examine the likelihood of its relocating offshore and test the consequences, both economic and environmental, of such an outcome.

The 'ageing crisis' is founded on three main assumptions: that older people are a social and economic burden; that population ageing will result in a serious dependency ratio imbalance; and, that there is a close correspondence between the size of the aged population and increased public expenditure. This paper argues that the transition to an older society will be facilitated by promoting the well-documented benefits that accrue in societies tha...

Clive Hamilton and Hal Turton respond critically to some of the recent claims made in bestselling book 'The Skeptical Environmentalist' by Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish statistician who claims to be an environmentalist. They argue that Lomborg's analysis is both too amateur and too simplistic to be taken seriously.

A report last year by the Allen Consulting Group has played a pivotal role in reinforcing perceptions that cutting greenhouse gases would result in large economic costs and extensive job losses, especially in regional and rural Australia. The first part of this paper exposes a number of serious errors in the Allen Consulting report on job losses, while the second part provides an analysis of the growth and employment opportunities that measures t...

This paper documents the development of the vertical and horizontal integration of the healthcare services sector. It argues that in the Australian context, the private (including the corporate) provision and ownership of health service facilities is more costly than public provision. The paper also demonstrates that, contrary to popular belief, competition does not necessarily benefit the consumer or patient.

This paper shows that instead of encouraging private provision, concessions for private health insurance have been a financial windfall for wealthy households. The existing cash incentives and tax rebates for private health insurance are in urgent need of reform.

Climate change is expected to have severe adverse impacts on the majority of Commonwealth countries, especially developing country members. Australia has displayed a callous disregard for the future well-being of the poorest and most vulnerable members of the Commonwealth.

Proceedings of a conference organised by Manning Clark House and The Australia Institute, held on 26 July 2001. The paper includes nine presentations by speakers at the conference, and is edited by Pamela Kinnear.