Taxing empty homes: a step towards affordable housing, but much more can be done

Jul 18, 2017 14:06 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Vacant housing rates are rising in our major cities. Across Australia on census night, 11.2% of housing was recorded as unoccupied a total of 1,089,165 dwellings. With housing affordability stress also intensifying, the...

Emerging Market Crisis Series

Death toll mounts in Rio de Janeiro as police lose control of the city -- and of themselves

Jul 18, 2017 13:53 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy Life

On June 30, a baby was shot in his mothers belly in Rio de Janeiro. After the rifle fire hit 29-year-old Claudinéia in the hip in the Favela do Lixão neighbourhood, her son Arthur was delivered via emergency...

Fact Check: would banning zero-hours contracts harm more people than it would help?

Jul 18, 2017 13:14 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

So while Matthews report is clear that many workers value the flexibility that zero-hours contracts offer them, and that banning such contracts altogether would harm more people than it would help, it is important that we...

Forget workers going out on strike – in future it should be consumers

Jul 18, 2017 12:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

I belong to a generation that has been told there is no other choice other than to be flexible in the labour market. It means being flexible about where you go to work, when you go to work, and about what you work you are...

How companies should fend of attacks from activist investors

Jul 18, 2017 12:55 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Activist investors are often presented as the bad guys of financial markets. They burst onto the scene, shout loudly their plans and can offer brutal verdicts on the performance of company bosses. Naturally, CEOs would...

Global Geopolitics Series

Counter-terrorism measures permanently reduce international trade: new study

Jul 18, 2017 12:41 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Enhanced counter-terrorism measures help to protect lives, but unfortunately also reduce trade, our study shows. The costs of increased security measures are also not shared equally. While some costs are passed onto...

Mexico: The Cactus Democracy

Jul 18, 2017 12:39 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy Politics

This research note on Mexican politics and society was inspired by a recent visit to Mexico City, Puebla and Oaxaca, as a guest of the countrys Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE). Visitors to Mexico are almost always...