What happened to the innovation debate in our lengthy election campaign? This was supposed to be the centrepiece of Australia’s transition to a more balanced and diversified economy. Instead the debate is once again about who can return the budget to surplus and when.
Indonesia’s parliament approved a tax amnesty bill, Korea announced KRW20 trln ($17 bln) in fiscal stimulus, Czech President Zeman said a referendum on EU and NATO membership should be held, Russia ended its tourism ban to Turkey, Brazil’s central bank is sending hawkish signals, Banxico hiked rates by a larger than expected 50 bp to 4.25%
Public debate over how best to manage the interests of foreign investors and host states has resurfaced in Australia. Most of Australia’s free trade agreements (FTAs), like those of many other Asia-Pacific economies, follow a US approach to drafting substantive provisions that liberalise and protect cross-border investment. This includes increasingly detailed provisions for investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS), whereby investors and host states appoint arbitrators on a case-by-case basis.
As a country prone to natural disasters, especially earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons, Japan has a long history of disaster education. However, what does Japan’s public disaster education look like and how should it be further developed?
Broadly speaking, disaster education fits within two categories: publicly funded and voluntarily organised education. Currently, voluntarily organised disaster education is rapidly outpacing its publicly funded counterpart.
American policymakers are pressing for more trade with Mexico and Canada as more Americans lose their jobs. Jobless claims rose 10,000 last week, above expectations and a 3.5% jump from the prior week. The Department of Labor study saw more Americans looking for work, causing the four-week moving average of jobless claims to remain steady.
In the current housing tax debate a number of studies have come out arguing that while prices will fall (by varying amounts) rents will not be affected. That rents will be unaffected is surprising and (in my view) wrong.
Outside of the heat of an election, the Henry Tax Review’s comprehensive review of the tax system argued for lower taxes on savings, a proposition that most economists would regard as unexceptional. (There is now a (small) school of thought arguing for higher taxes on savings but this author for one does not subscribe to that.)
Some observers argue the media and some economists are exaggerating the impact of the UK vote a week ago. They talk about the petition for a second referendum. They talk about Scotland vetoing the decision to leave the EU. They talk about the UK never invoking Article 50 and rehash all the ways the EU has subverted the popular in recent years.
Just as the U.S. Government and Federal Reserve are getting more optimistic about America’s growth prospects, new data shows the housing market may be topping out.
Pending home sales fell a shocking 3.7% in May, versus a 1.1% expectation and a sharp reversal from April’s 3.9% jump. The new study by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) saw pending home sales fall on a year-over-year basis for the first time since 2014, as tapped-out Americans struggle against persistent home price growth.
Prime Minister Abe is attempting to revitalise the Japanese economy after two decades of stagnant growth. In December 2012, he launched the reform program that became known as Abenomics, consisting of monetary policy aimed at reflating the economy, flexible fiscal policy with medium-term fiscal consolidation and structural reform.
Corporations are making less money than they used to, but America’s economic growth gained a bit of ground earlier in the year. Corporate profits fell 4.3% on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter, according to a new study by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Meanwhile, taxes on corporate income rose by $4.4 billion, as a shift towards higher tax industries caused government inlays to improve.
