Editors' Picks - 22 June 2014
This week, we highlight the change in e-commerce, energy subsidies and a debate regarding economic ‘hysteris’.
‘Google Schmoogle’ – how Yellow Pages got it so wrong – John Rice and Nigel Martin
“The economics of information is changing rapidly.” Can directory businesses such as the Yellow Pages continue to attract advertisers and thrive in a world of internet and e-commerce?
Reforms in energy subsidies are underway around the world. It has been found that the consequences of implementing subsidies outweigh the good intentions of such programmes.
Memo to the IMF: there is no housing bubble – Ross Guest
Ross Guest, professor of economics at Griffith University, believes that IMF’s Global Housing Watch has painted the wrong picture of Australia’s housing market. He believes that, contrary to IMF’s analysis of the data, there is presently no housing price bubble in Australia.
Hysteresis -Will the world every fully recover from the recession? – Jordan Weissmann
Economists are on the fence about whether the GFC has irreversibly scarred the economy. Some believe that there is nothing man can do to remedy what has been done, while others think that policy can be a game changer in the path to full recovery.