1,720,996 research outputs found
Genuine progress? Part one
No full textNicholas Gruen likes the Australia Institute\u27s attempt to create a broader measure of economic wellbeing but is disappointed by the Genuine Progress Indicator\u27s left-handed approach to accounting
Geeks bearing gifts: open source software and its enemies
No full textNicholas Gruen discusses the merits of open source software and the counter-arguments of corporate interests, and concludes that Australia should be wary of extending its intellectual property law
Gov 2.0 taskforce report
No full textDr Nicholas Gruen, Chair of the Government 2.0 Taskforce presented a Library Lecture on the Gov 2.0 Taskforce Report on 24 February 2010.
The Government 2.0 Taskforce’s final report, Engage: Getting on with Government 2.0, was delivered to the Australian Government on December 22nd 2009
Tax cuts for growth
No full textThe Australians facing the strongest disincentives to work are mostly on middle and lower incomes argues Nicholas Gruen in this CEDA report. These people are also the ones most likely to respond to the incentive provided by tax cuts. To encourage more work, tax cutting should focus on lowering the bottom (15 per cent) income tax rate, raising the tax-free threshold, and/or introducing a tax device called an "Earned Income Tax Credit" (EITC) for low-income households
Australia in a world of high-cost energy
No full textDr Nicholas Gruen and Kenney Lin of Lateral Economics offer four good reasons for guarded optimism about the impact of rising oil prices, and argue that government policy can help manage the risks.
This article is adapted from CEDA\u27s 2006 Economic and Political Overview (EPO), an annual review of key issues for the year ahead
Tax cuts to compete
No full textCutting company tax appears to offer the most effective means of spurring economic growth through tax cuts. It should be brought back onto the agenda of public discussion for policy makers and commentators argues Nicholas Gruen. This is the lesson from both recent economic theory and from results in high-performing economies such as Ireland. In particular, economic analysis over recent years has made a very strong case that lower company tax rates will drive increased investment, particularly foreign investment. In contrast, cuts to personal income tax rates will drive a small increase in economic growth, particularly if those cuts go to higher income earners
New media in government
No full textAs governments across Australia and around the world seek to use Web 2.0 tools and strategies to communicate with their citizens, this forum explores the role of social media as a means of direct communication, collaboration and engagement between governments and communities.
This event was held at the State Library of Victoria on 17 November 2009 as part of the Big Issues symposium.
An introduction to the New Media in Government seminar by Penny Hutchinson, the acting deputy secretary for the Department of Premier and Cabinet, is included at the beginning of Nicholas Gruen\u27s presentation.
There are three audio presentations available to download
Nicholas Gruen: New Media in Government
Dr Nicholas Gruen refers to new media as a truly transformational phenomenon and discusses the exciting possibilities for using Web 2.0 in government.
This recording begins with an introduction to the New Media in Government seminar by Penny Hutchinson, the acting deputy secretary for the Department of Premier and Cabinent.
New Media in Government was held at the State Library of Victoria on 17 November 2009.
View the slides here
Bill Thompson: New Media in Government
Bill Thompson explains how the social media network creates the possibility of re-thinking government.
Mark Pesce: New Media in Government
Mark Pesce talks about the explosion of communication opportunities that social media has created. He explores the power of the social media platform and how we can use it to amplify our creative and connective capabilities
Paying for Australia's infrastructure deficit
No full textPublic–private partnerships have turned out to be an expensive way of plugging gaps, writes Nicholas Gruen in Inside Story
ECONOMIC reform in Australia has been a triumphant success. From the mid 1980s on, it pulled our relative economic fortunes out of their decades-long decline and propelled us through the Asian crisis. Reform was built on simple and compelling principles, including some that affronted the commonsense beliefs of many ordinary Australians. Surely tariffs create jobs? Well, they don’t – and so we cut them.
But having made such progress, we’ve gone backwards in one area, and all in the name of a kind of faux economic rationalism. Enter fiscal populism. Rather than simply getting budgets into operating surplus – mostly a very good thing – Australian governments have embraced the notion that all debt is bad. But most of the time debt is only bad if it’s used to fund recurrent expenditure…
Photo: Paul Carso
Australia v New Zealand: ideology to the rescue
No full textA new report fails to demonstrate why Australia is doing better, writes NICHOLAS GRUEN, who has a few ideas of his own...
LIKE barrackers watching the Wallabies play the All Blacks, since each became pioneers of economic reform in the mid 1980s Australians and New Zealanders have found something new to barrack for - the fortunes of their respective economies.
Ideological as well as national pride is involved. New Zealand moved further and faster from the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s. Australia’s failure to measure up to New Zealand’s example became a right-of-centre talking point on both sides of the Tasman. But New Zealand’s poorer performance became progressively less easy to disguise by judicious selecting from the basket of economic indicators. And though it continues to be offered, the excuse that Muldoon made more of a mess than Whitlam and Fraser is surely wearing thin. Muldoon’s reign ended 25 years ago.
As someone with an interest in the question, I’ve never read anything that convinced me that the author had really got to the bottom of the mystery of why the two countries’ economic performance has been so starkly different given the broad similarity of their policy trajectories...
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Photo: Mike Bentley/iStockphoto.co
The Public Goods of the 21st Century (Thought Leadership Series)
No full textIn this lecture, Nicholas Gruen, policy economist, entrepreneur and commentator on our economy, society and innovation explores the landscape of the private and the shared in the 21st century. Digital collaboration is burgeoning us with open source software whilst in the ‘analogue’ world the public good of our social fabric is coming under immense pressure. The lecture seeks new ways of understanding these things to help the world we want. Lecture recorded on 21 February 2019
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