Major Reports
Mapping Australian higher education
29 Jan 2012 | Andrew Norton | Higher Education
Australia's higher education system is entering one of its most significant years in recent history. To meet a government goal to increase the number of young adults holding a degree, restrictions on undergraduate student numbers have been lifted. Yet despite the system's importance to Australia's economy and society, it is often hard to know what is going on inside it.
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Getting the housing we want
14 November 2011 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
Grattan's new report, Getting the housing we want, proposes a new approach to city planning that allows our cities to grow while giving residents a real say in the future of their neighbourhoods.
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New Protectionism Under Carbon Pricing
30 August 2011 | Tony Wood and Tristan Edis | Energy
The Government's unduly generous assistance to industry under its carbon emissions package may create a new protectionism. The whole community will pay for unjustified subsidies to the LNG and coal industries.
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The Housing We'd Choose - A Grattan Report
20 June 2011 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
The report presents original research on the housing preferences of Australians. The housing they would choose was a much more varied mix than either Sydney or Melbourne currently provides.
The second part of the report examines recent construction trends and argues that there are barriers to delivering more of the housing people say they want.
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Investing in regions: Making a difference - A Grattan Report
24 May 2011 | John Daley and Annette Lancy | Australian Perspectives
A new Grattan report, Investing in regions: Making a difference, shows that unless governments recognize the fast-changing reality of regional Australia, they will continue to both waste money and deprive many citizens of much-needed services.
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Better Teacher Appraisal and Feedback: Improving Performance
18 April 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
A new system of teacher appraisal and feedback in Australia would improve teacher effectiveness, recognise our best educators and lift the outcomes of Australian students to the best in the world.
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Learning the hard way: Australia's policies to reduce emissions
7 April 2011 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Because Australian governments have introduced more than 300 programs to tackle climate change since Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, we can assess the evidence of what works and what does not in reducing carbon emissions. The evidence shows that what reduces emissions most effectively and cheaply is the creation of a market.
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Australia's Productivity Challenge
01 February 2011 | Saul Eslake and Marcus Walsh | Productivity Growth
Australia's productivity performance deteriorated over the past decade, with the broadest measure of productivity growth going backwards over the past five years. A broad range of industries have slowed. In the long run this will impair Australian quality of living, and our ability to respond to everything from an ageing population to climate change.
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Markets to Reduce Pollution: Cheaper than Expected
15 December 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Grattan Institute finds that market driven technology innovation is the key to reducing carbon emissions. Experience shows that markets may not be perfect, but they are consistently effective at identifying lower cost opportunities, promoting innovation, and responding flexibly to changes.
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Investing in Our Teachers, Investing in Our Economy
15 November 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Improving teacher effectiveness would have a greater impact on economic growth than any other reform before Australian governments. The improvement in student learning could lift Australian students to the top of international performance tables.
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Cities: Who Decides? - A Grattan Report
18 October 2010 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
Grattan Institute's second Cities program report is "Cities: Who Decides?". The report investigates decision making in eight of the world's most successful cities, and asks what governance arrangements accompanied their broad-based improvement.
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The Cities We Need - A Grattan Report
28 June 2010 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
This is the first report from our Cities Program, and aims to set an agenda for thinking about the future of Australia's cities. The report asks how our cities meet the individual needs of their residents, both material and psychological, and identifies emerging challenges to meeting these needs.
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What Teachers Want: Better Teacher Management
24 May 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Improving the quality of teachers and teaching should be a central goal of education policy. Evaluating the work of teachers and developing their teaching skills is a key part of improving the quality of teaching. However, an OECD survey reveals that teacher evaluation and development in Australia is poor and amongst the worst in the developed world.
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Restructuring the Australian Economy to Emit Less Carbon
22 April 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Industry by industry analysis shows that an Australian carbon price will not result in widespread job losses or higher carbon emissions. Proposed free permits under the CPRS are expensive and will delay restructuring the Australian economy efficiently to emit less carbon.
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Measuring What Matters: Student Progress
27 January 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
In Australia, a large percentage of students only reach minimum standards of literacy and numeracy. These students are spread throughout Australia's school education systems; there are few schools that do not have poor performing students who would benefit from improved education. Despite decades of increasing expenditure, student performance has stagnated. We have a moral imperative to improve the performance of the 30% of year 9 students who have progressed to only the very basic elements of writing literacy.
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The Rights of International Students
24 January 2012 | Andrew Norton | Higher Education
Public hospitals refusing to admit pregnant international students. Government schools charging fees to the children of international students. International students having to pay full public transport fares. These international student entitlement issues made the news last year. They are all aspects of a much bigger issue: what rights and entitlements should be available to non-citizens with long-term but temporary residence rights?
The Right Way to Value Solar
21 December 2011 | Helen Morrow | Energy
Now is the time to resolve confusion about the value of solar power, "grid parity" and the role of support mechanisms for solar PV. How do we decide what solar PV is worth? What does this mean for feed-in tariffs and the concept of grid parity?
The Future of Gas Power
15 December 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
The past few years have seen the rapid expansion of the coal seam and shale gas industry. Combine this expansion with the recent introduction of a price on carbon here in Australia, and you end up with a bunch of intriguing questions.
Subsidy review plan neither fair nor enticing.
14 December 2011 | Andrew Norton | Higher Education
The latest review of university funding has not come up with a convincing basis for allocating higher education tuition subsidies.
Summer reading list for the Prime Minister
3 December 2011 | Grattan Institute | Australian Perspectives
The list contains books and articles that we believe the Prime Minister - or indeed any Australian - will find stimulating over the break. They're all good reads that we think say something interesting about Australia and its future.
Filling the university information gap
8 November 2011 | Andrew Norton | Higher Education
The Ombudsman claims that international students are being admitted with inadequate English proficiency and sometimes passed when they should fail. More independent information on students' prospects and performance would help protect international students and their future employers.
International carbon markets: what are the implications for Australia?
19 October 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
Don't be misled by the local debate: Australia is not going it alone in establishing a carbon market. From the European Union to parts of the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, emissions trading schemes are either underway or planned. The reason is not surprising: these markets work. Australia's carbon trading scheme would do well to link to them.
Pricing carbon - the money and the myths
12 October 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
The hardest task in climate change is designing effective policy to address it. The forces for change are so weak and the headwinds so strong that there is simply no correlation between the challenge and what is being put into place. Market mechanisms remain the most effective means of meeting the challenge. The biggest risk in the market mechanism is that governments will listen to vested interests and fail to set emissions constraints that ensure their targets are met.
The Rise of University Rankings
12 October 2011 | Andrew Norton | Higher Education
Australian universities hope to improve their positions in world university rankings. But students may pay the price.
Good Jobs Begin in School
10 October 2011 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
The Prime Minister's Future Jobs forum was missing the one minister who would make the most difference to future jobs, the School Education Minister. The economy and the workplace are changing all the time. Government's task is not to dictate their shape or to protect industries. It is to equip Australians to be able to innovate and manage change. The best way to do that is to raise the quality of school education.
The Tax Reform Challenge
21 September 2011 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Adam Smith said that a good taxation system should be equitable between taxpayers, certain in its impact on each of them, simple to comply with and parsimonious in its administration costs. Sadly, the Australian tax system is none of these. In fact, if you hired a consultant to create a system that encouraged the accumulation of wealth through borrowing and speculating while penalising such accumulation through working and saving, he or she would hand you a copy of the Australian Tax Income Assessment Act. Change is desperately needed, but don't bet on it happening soon.
The Resources Boom, Structural Change and 'Closing the Gap'
19 September 2011 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Australia is experiencing what may be the largest and longest commodities boom in its history. Through a sovereign wealth fund built on budget surpluses generated by the boom, we could tackle some of our most intractable problems, including the cost of an ageing population, the transition to a low-carbon economy and the stubborn reality of Indigenous disadvantage. We have an unprecedented opportunity. But do we have the foresight to take it?
What Matters Most? - A Grattan Working Paper
19 September 2011 | Ben Weidmann and Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
What Matters Most? shows that there are real differences in housing priorities across the population. In particular, while young families are focussed on house size and type, older and single-person households are much more likely to think that characteristics of where they live matter more. As the population ages and household size continues to decrease, these differences could result in significant shifts in the mix of housing we want.
Inquiry Won't Stop a Changing World
19 September 2011 | John Daley | Australian Overview
Governments shouldn't intervene whenever the world changes. With restructuring of the steel industry and economic changes in regional areas, government intervention can make things worse. In responding to the impact of the internet on newspapers, the recently announced media inquiry should consider if the best government response may be to do nothing at all.
The University Gender Gap
6 September 2011 | Andrew Norton | Higher Education
Nearly 60% of university enrolments are women, who have improved their relative position in every year but one since 1957. What does this mean for the prospects of young men?
A Predictable and Flexible Carbon Price?
2 September 2011 | Helen Morrow | Energy
There is inherent tension in emissions reduction policies: the desire for both freedom and predictability. Australia's proposed carbon pricing mechanism balances these competing objectives, giving a predictable framework for a flexible response - despite broader political tumult and uncertainty.
Pricing Carbon - the Money and the Myths
1 September 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
The public debate is crowded with well-worn myths. But how does the proposed carbon pricing system actually work, and what happens next? What are the impacts for consumers and small businesses and what does all this mean for electricity?
Pain of Carbon Protectionism
31 August 2011 | Tony Wood and Tristan Edis | Energy
Claims for carbon price assistance signal a new era of protectionism. The federal government's climate change plan grants generous financial assistance to industries that claim the introduction of a price on carbon will hurt their business when they have to compete with overseas rivals that don't face the same cost.
Economics of Pricing Carbon
30 August 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
There is an economic case for acting now as Australia is likely to be impacted more than most regions of the world, and Victoria more than most regions of Australia. The longer we wait, the more expensive it gets as emissions accumlate in the atmosphere.
Accepting Underperformance
30 August 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
"We must sack underperforming teachers." It is something you hear regularly in school education, and is a popular topic for opinion writers and talkback radio. But it misses the point and adds to a longstanding unproductive debate. It jumps to the negative endpoint of teacher appraisal rather than taking an approach that improves student learning.
New Protectionism Under Carbon Pricing
30 August 2011 | Tony Wood and Tristan Edis | Energy
The Government's unduly generous assistance to industry under its carbon emissions package may create a new protectionism. The whole community will pay for unjustified subsidies to the LNG and coal industries.
Time Running out for Nuclear Option
17 August 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
Given lead times, Australia cannot count on a nuclear option towards its 2050 low-carbon electricity targets unless its politicians commit soon.
Productivity - The Lost Decade
16 August 2011 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Australian workers increased their productivity far less in the past decade than in the previous one. They are also increasingly less productive than workers in most comparable countries. Since rising productivity is vital to a strong economy, the problem is serious, even if its consequences are not yet visible. Until recently the official account held that large investments in mining and utilities, and the lag time before they took effect, was driving declining productivity growth, but Grattan Institute research has shown that most industries are suffering the problem.
Turn East and Learn from the World's Best
29 July 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Across the country people are looking for ways to improve school education. But we don't have to look far to learn from the best in the world.
Transparency in Trade Policy
19 July 2011 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
When trade barriers are removed, the country removing the barrier often benefits most. All Australians have benefited from the Productivity Commission's role in persuading policy makers to remove Australia's trade barriers, often unilaterally. The Productivity Commission should also be given a role to review proposed trade agreements. Government fears that the Productivity Commission's "quantitative analysis can be highly misleading" are misplaced.
Achieving Mitigation - Energy and Technology
13 July 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
The energy challenge is more about economics and public policy than technology. We need to create a policy framework that opens options.
Carbon Package Moving in the Right Direction
11 July 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
The long-awaited climate-change package is a step in the right direction as it provides considerable certainty to business and the public and creates a framework on which to build. This framework will be critical for Australia to become a low-carbon economy in the coming decades.
Climate Package: Grattan Institute Response
10 July 2011 | Tony Wood | Energy
Grattan Institute welcomes today's release of the Federal Government's Climate Change Policy Package. Energy Program Director, Tony Wood said "The long awaited Climate Change Package moves in the right direction on many fronts. And it creates mechanisms to do better in future."
Losing the Productivity Race
7 July 2011 | John Daley and Marcus Walsh | Productivity Growth
The construction sector in Australia is only about half as productive as in the US. Like too many other Australian sectors it has fallen further behind over the last decade. Its challenges illustrate why productivity is so weak and what we need to do to reform.
Declining Student Performance
5 July 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
It is difficult to determine which is worse, the declining performance of our students or the lack of a response to it.
Commodity Prices
23 June 2011 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Commodity prices are likely to stay substantially higher than their average between 1980 and 2000, even if they drop from recent peaks. The steady rise in prices since the early 2000s was driven by China and India passing through a stage of economic development that in other countries increased the demand per capita for minerals and food. This stage will probably last for at least another decade in China, and perhaps 20 years in India. Supply may not increase in response as quickly as in previous cycles: the mining industry has become more concentrated, the more easily obtainable deposits of minerals and energy have been depleted, agriculture productivity has slowed, and climate change may be reducing agricultural capacity.
The Housing We'd Choose - A Grattan Report
20 June 2011 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
The report presents original research on the housing preferences of Australians. The housing they would choose was a much more varied mix than either Sydney or Melbourne currently provides.
The second part of the report examines recent construction trends and argues that there are barriers to delivering more of the housing people say they want.
Investing in regions: Making a difference - A Grattan Report
24 May 2011 | John Daley and Annette Lancy | Australian Perspectives
A new Grattan report, Investing in regions: Making a difference, shows that unless governments recognize the fast-changing reality of regional Australia, they will continue to both waste money and deprive many citizens of much-needed services.
Better Teacher Appraisal and Feedback: Improving Performance
18 April 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
A new system of teacher appraisal and feedback in Australia would improve teacher effectiveness, recognise our best educators and lift the outcomes of Australian students to the best in the world.
Why Markets Can Best Cut Carbon
29 March 2011 | John Daley | Energy
There is no magic pudding in reducing carbon emissions. But a market-based approach and good policy design can bring long-term benefits to innovative firms and people and to the Australian economy.
Asian Languages Matter
23 March 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Continuing to neglect Asian languages in our education system we do at our peril. But by improving the quantity and quality of Asian literacy, our current weakness could become a competitive advantage.
My School 2.0 Step in the Right Direction
15 March 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
The new version of My School is an important step forward: it increases transparency and the information available. But the benefits are restricted if the measures of school performance are inaccurate.
Need to Address Productivity Slump
8 March 2011 | John Daley | Productivity Growth
A concerted effort to improve Australian productivity is needed now so that all of us can enjoy the higher living standards this brings.
Finance Data to Help Teachers
4 March 2011 | Ben Jensen | School Education
The inclusion of school finance data on the My School website creates a new paradigm in school education in Australia and has changed the game for all schools. The new paradigm will demand changes at every level of school education and shift the focus to the drivers of performance.
Groundhog Day in Climate Change Policy?
14 February 2011 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Prime Minister Julia Gillard suggested last week that when her government sets a carbon price, big carbon emitters are likely to receive the same level of compensation payouts they were promised under the Rudd government's failed emissions trading scheme. The Prime Minister should think again.
Australia's Productivity Challenge
01 February 2011 | Saul Eslake and Marcus Walsh | Productivity Growth
Australia's productivity performance deteriorated over the past decade, with the broadest measure of productivity growth going backwards over the past five years. A broad range of industries have slowed. In the long run this will impair Australian quality of living, and our ability to respond to everything from an ageing population to climate change.
Congestion Charging for Roads
31 Jan 2011 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
John Daley spoke at a Roads Australia forum about the drivers for road pricing. He noted both the transport and economic benefits of reducing congestion through pricing and the need to win public acceptance by devoting much of the revenue to improve public transport.
Let the Markets Lead the Way
15 December 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Reviews of actual price and trading history compared to original forecasts, across six markets aimed at reducing pollution and promoting cleaner sources of energy in Australia, the United States and Europe, found that government and other experts consistently underestimated how much industry innovates and adapts. As a result government targets to reduce pollution were regularly achieved faster, and at lower cost than originally expected. It also finds that experts were routinely wrong in their predictions about which particular measures would be the lowest cost.
Emerging Economic Powers' School Students Setting Global Pace
10 December 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
There is now a greater and more urgent need to invest in reforms to improve school education across Australia. The performance of our 15-year-olds has significantly declined between 2000 and 2009, according to the latest results from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment. Australia was one of only five countries to show a significant decline during this period.
Australian Business Economists' Annual Forecasting Conference
8 December 2010 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake spoke at the Australian Business Economists' annual Forecasting Conference in Sydney on Wednesday 8 December. His presentation looked at why productivity matters in the current Australian context and what could be done to improve Australia's productivity performance.
Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister
10 December 2010 | Grattan Institute | Australian Perspectives
As well as time to spend with family and friends, summer holidays are great for reflecting upon the year past, considering the year to come - and reading. Grattan has put together a selection of books we think the Prime Minister might find stimulating over the break.
Betting on Nuclear Power
6 December 2010 | John Daley | Energy
Australians are notorious for betting on two flies crawling up a wall. The emerging debate over nuclear power seems to be part of that tradition. We are punting on the cost of building power plants for delivery in 15 years time.
Infrastructure Investment and Productivity - Address to the Economic Society
3 December 2010 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
With Australia's productivity performance continuing to deteriorate, the nation needs to look at how to foster the next round of productivity growth. Grattan Institute's productivity growth program is investigating the reasons for this decline and various remedies for it, including enhancing the quantity and quality of Australia's stock of infrastructure, improvements to skills and vocational training, and the role of innovation.
Nuclear Power in Context
17 November 2010 | John Daley | Energy
Reducing Australia's carbon emissions requires a substantial shift in electricity generation. Acquiring options to roll out any one of a number of technologies is prudent given uncertainties about future technology. Nuclear is clearly a candidate, but it is just one horse in the field - there is no guarantee that it will finish first. On best guess assumptions, Australia cannot count on a nuclear option towards its 2050 low-carbon electricity targets unless its politicians commit soon to building capabilities and planning.
Teach Teachers So Students Can Learn
15 November 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Until we concentrate on enhancing the quality of our educators, there will be no significant improvement in our system. All Australians want to improve the quality of school education. This ensures our children and the next generation have successful lives. And there are growing concerns about how to prepare the economy for the end of the mining boom. Where will our new sources of economic growth come from? What will boost productivity and well-being?
Investing in Our Teachers, Investing in Our Economy
15 November 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Improving teacher effectiveness would have a greater impact on economic growth than any other reform before Australian governments. The improvement in student learning could lift Australian students to the top of international performance tables.
Broadband Won't Drive Regional Business Growth
28 October 201 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
There is a widespread belief that better broadband will drive regional growth. But the evidence suggests that, if anything, broadband will increase the incentives for businesses to set up in large cities rather than in the regions.
Consultation Key to Successful Cities
20 October 2010 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
Big decisions await Australia's cities. The news seems to be that if we want to face our hard decisions in a way that makes our cities better places to live, involving residents is not optional. Our research shows that simply creating a new governance structure for cities will not solve our problems, and our best bet is to give city-dwellers a real say.
Cities: Who Decides? - A Grattan Report
18 October 2010 | Jane-Frances Kelly | Cities
Grattan Institute's second Cities program report is "Cities: Who Decides?". The report investigates decision making in eight of the world's most successful cities, and asks what governance arrangements accompanied their broad-based improvement.
Teachers Key to Learning
12 October 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
International evidence shows that important debates in Australia about school funding are generally misinformed, and that our focus should be on teacher quality rather than class size.
Five Reforms to Improve School Education
25 September 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
Ben Jensen's article suggests five reforms that the new School Education Minister, Peter Garrett, could undertake to improve school education. These focus on methods to improve teacher quality as it is the key to improving schooling. A new approach to school funding is also advocated.
A Hybrid Design for Carbon Pricing
4 October 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Australia should adopt a hybrid design for carbon pricing that puts a floor and cap on the carbon price within the emissions trading scheme. This would actively manage the uncertainty around the cost of abatement and reduce the likelihood of ad-hoc government intervention.
Our Health System Still Needs Change
25 September 2010 | David Penington | Health
Australia, with its advanced economy, deserves health care of a high international standard. Since 1976 we have enjoyed free public hospital care and heavily subsidised access to doctors with good GPs and specialists readily accessible. Our public hospitals, have, however, repeatedly caused concern - for the States to meet ever increasing demand and growing costs, and for the public, repeated failure in quality or safety of services and lack of access to services when needed. If the devolution of hospital management in Australia was reviewed, we might begin to get worthwhile re-direction in our system.
Australia's Productivity Performance
25 September 2010 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake's presentation to the Australian Treasury on Australia's productivity performance.
Hybrid Scheme the Best of Both Worlds for Cutting Carbon
24 September 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
With a new Federal Government in place, political and policy attention has turned again to carbon pricing. We could have a tax, or a "cap and trade" scheme, but Tristan Edis and John Daley argue that a hybrid scheme would be the best solution. It would reduce business uncertainty, and reduce the costs of cutting carbon emissions. the only "danger" is that we might reduce our emissions by more than we planned, at a cost we are prepared to pay.
Australia's Productivity Performance and Drivers of Future Prosperity
16 September 2010 | Saul Eslake and Marcus Walsh | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake's presentation on productivity indicators to the ABS Natstats 2010 Conference.
A Blueprint for the Next Government
20 August 2010 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
Election campaigns are rarely about the tough decisions that will make a real difference to Australia's future. For the Commonwealth Government elected on 21 August, whoever that might be, taking principled but tough decisions that respond to the emerging challenges and endemic difficult problems will define the character of the government and their contribution to Australia's history. In an article published online in the National Times, John Daley reflects on what this might look like.
Teacher Quality Key to Better Student Performance and Productivity
17 August 2010 | John Daley and Ben Jensen | School Education
Better education is the most important single area to get right in public policy. Investing in the quality of teaching will provide greater returns to individuals and the economy than any initiative on the reform agenda today. It also has vital non-economic benefits such as contributing to wellbeing, health, social mobility and reduced crime rates. John Daley and Ben Jensen outline why Australia needs to develop an ambitious evidence-based education reform agenda.
Putting a Price on Carbon
13 August 2010 | Tristan Edis | Energy
Unfortunately, Australian energy efficiency policy to date has been a series of grab-bag ideas, which have not been integrated into a considered and comprehensive strategy. In a three part article published online by the Climate Spectator, Tristan Edis explains why cold, hard statistical evidence suggests carbon pricing should be easy, and why politicians do not seem to believe this, and how we might be able to overcome this impasse.
We Need More Doctors in the House
17 July 2010 | David Penington | Health
In an article published in the Weekend Australia, David Penington discusses the need for health professionals to play a larger role in order to ensure real reform in Australian hospitals.
More Bark Than Bite
22 July 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
Research suggests that Australia can afford to place a price on carbon, even without a comprehensive global treaty. In a PointCarbon article, John Daley and Tristan Edis look at how a price on carbon could impact Australia.
No Action on Emissions is a Costly Option
15 July 2010 | John Daley and Tristan Edis | Energy
The climate change debate is inevitably influenced by the desire to minimise short-term political pain. Clearly, reducing carbon emissions is not going to be painless. However, doing nothing is also going to be painful. And measures that minimise the short-term political pain are liable to substantially increase the long-term economic cost.
A Liveable City
17 June 2010 | Jane-Frances Kelly and Helen Morrow | Cities
Melbourne often 'Tops the Pops' in the Most Liveable Cities of the World charts - but what don't those league tables look at? Jane-Frances Kelly and Helen Morrow explore the question of 'liveability' in an article published recently by the Victorian Council of Social Services.
Submission to Senate Standing Committee
28 May 2010 | David Penington | Health
Professor David Penington made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration for the inquiry into the COAG reforms relating to health and hospitals.
Australia's Health System is Ailing
25 May 2010 | David Penington | Health
In every Western country, health costs are rising well ahead of the consumer price index. The recent COAG health reforms are insufficient to address Australia's ailing health system, writes David Penington.
Our Water Ways for UK
11 May 2010 | Bruce Cohen and Martin Cave | Australian Perspectives
Together with population growth, environmental change is imposing new challenges on the water sector. The impact is already clear in Australia, and as physical conditions change in the UK, Britain looks to Victoria's water management for lessons.
The Australia of Tomorrow
10 May 2010 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
John Daley, CEO Grattan Institute, discussed 'The Australia of Tomorrow' when he delivered a keynote address at the Roads Australia Summit held in Sydney 22 - 23 April 2010.
An Analysis of Victoria's Labour Productivity Performance
15 April 2010 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake addressed a seminar for Victorian public servants from the Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development, Treasury, Premier and Cabinet, and Planning and Community Development where he discussed An analysis of Victoria's labour productivity performance.
NAPLAN Tests Help Champion Equality in the Classroom
15 April 2010 | Ben Jensen | School Education
The Australian Education Union needs to rethink its opposition to NAPLAN, the national testing program being introduced by the federal government.The union has confused the value of the tests with the problems that need to be addressed on the 'MySchool' web site.
Ailing Health System Needs Rudd's Reforms
31 March 2010 | David Penington | Health
There is much to be done in health reform, but the Prime Minister has taken the important first steps, and the states should be collaborating rather than holding back, writes David Penington.
Education Investment Better for Tasmanian Living Standards and Productivity
11 March 2010 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
A sustained focus on year 12 retention rates and school performance is needed to lift Tasmanian living standards. Although Tasmanian's outcomes have improved over the last 10 years, Tasmania has significantly lagged the mainland for decades on living standards, life expectancy, long-term unemployment, and disadvantaged children. A fundamental cause is that Tasmanian productivity is significantly behind the mainland in most industries. Productivity could be substantially higher if Tasmania lifted year twelve retention rates and school performance to mainland levels, along with curriculum reform.
Prime Minister Rudd's Plan for Reforming Australian Public Hospitals
10 March 2010 | David Penington | Health
Kevin Rudd's election commitment in November 2007 to take over the funding of public hospitals and fix them has led to a bold and courageous plan, unveiled after a 15 month review by the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) and further extensive consultations. The real questions are whether the solution offered on 3 March 2010 for public hospitals will work, and what problems will it solve? Further debate is urgently needed.
2% Productivity Growth Target is a Worthy Objective
2 February 2010 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Economic growth, in the sense of growth in the income derived from the production of goods and services, comes from four sources: from population growth; from growth in the proportion of the population employed in producing goods and services; from increases in the hours worked by those who are employed in producing goods and services; and from increases in the value of the goods and services produced by those in employment for each hour that they work.
A Recommended Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister
10 December 2009 | Grattan Institute | Australian Perspectives
As well as being an important break for many Australians to recharge the batteries, the summer is also an opportunity to catch up with some reading. But our country's leaders have less time than most to browse and select their books for the beach. So Grattan Institute is recommending a list of books which we thought might be useful for the Prime Minister, and the political leaders of all parties at all levels of government, in dealing with some of the challenges facing Australia today. And importantly, they are also a good read.
Productivity and Economic Reform - Address to the Economic Society
4 December 2009 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Productivity is, as Reserve Bank Governor put it earlier this year, "the only real basis for optimism about future income". Or, as Paul Krugman famously put it, before he himself became as well-known as his columns in the New York Times and his Nobel Prize have since made him, productivity 'isn't everything, but in the long run it's nearly everything. Alan Blinder and William Baumol explain why: because 'nothing contributes more to reduction of poverty, to increases in leisure, and to the country's ability to finance education, public health, environment and the arts.
Decision Time for Public Hospitals
30 November 2009 | David Penington | Health
On Monday 7 December Kevin Rudd will present to COAG, what recommendations of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC), or what alternatives should be adopted. COAG will reach final decisions at a further meeting in March 2010. In 2007, he had promised to 'fix' the public hospitals, taking them over if the States had not fixed them in a year.
Minimum Price for Carbon
13 November 2009 | John Daley | Energy
Until future carbon prices are assured, banks and investors will be reluctant to add to power capacity, writes John Daley.
After the Crisis: Social Policy Challenges
5 November 2009 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Australian experience of the global financial crisis has turned out to be remarkably benign, both by comparison with that of most other advanced economies and with what was commonly expected in the early stages of the crisis.
CEO Annual Report to AGM
5 October 2009 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
Grattan Institute aims to make a substantial contribution to Australian public life. In our first part year of operation, we have been consciously building an institution, not just an institute. I wanted to review today very briefly what we have achieved already.
National Plan for Health Clusters
1 October 2009 | David Penington | Health
The Rudd government promised to 'fix up' the public hospitals, but the review of hospitals by NHHRC doesn't solve the tough problems: not enough attention was given to quality of care, safety, and innovation. These things are hard for bureaucrats to measure, but they matter a lot.
Key Challenges for Australian Economic Managers
1 October 2009 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Australian economic policy makers face any number of challenges at the moment and it is not possible to do justice to them in 5-10 minutes.
Aftermath of a Financial Crisis
29 September 2009 | John Daley | Productivity Growth
Aftermath of a financial crisis. Annual finsia and MCFS Banking and Finance Conference.
Why We Need to Elevate School Reform
20 September 2009 | John Daley | School Education
Long-term thinking in education will add billions to Australian gross domestic product, writes John Daley.
The Shann Memorial Lecture
19 August 2009 | Saul Eslake | Productivity Growth
Saul Eslake delivers the Shann Memorial Lecture at the University of Western Australia - Aug 2009.
The 10 Numbers Australian Governments Need to Change
10 July 2009 | John Daley | Australian Perspectives
John Daley's presentation to the Adeliade Festival of Ideas - July 2009
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