Stephen King - Economics Students Society of Australia

Stephen King

A collection of 5 posts

Is competition regulation an oxymoron?

Is competition regulation an oxymoron?

Competition and markets need rules. Without a framework of property rights and ‘contracts’, trade cannot operate. Where trade occurs outside a normal ‘legal’ framework, for example in markets for illicit drugs, norms of trust and rules of participation develop that enable trade to work. Competition regulation, however, goes much further

Why the federal budget represents the victory of the Baby Boomers over the ‘Alphabet soup’ generations

Why the federal budget represents the victory of the Baby Boomers over the ‘Alphabet soup’ generations

The 2014 federal budget is aimed at cutting back a range of entitlements. But to understand whose entitlements are being cut, and why, we need to look at Australia’s demographics. There are two groups in Australia who are relevant to the federal budget: the ‘Baby Boomers’ and everyone else.

Time for the states to have income tax?

Taxation is something all economists know about. As undergraduates, we learn about the costs created by taxation when it distorts incentives. In first year the cost is represented by a deadweight loss triangle. In later years we learn more about the costs of taxation. We see how taxation can have

Let’s celebrate the fall in global income inequality

Inequality is a big economic issue. For example, Oxfam recently claimed that the world’s 85 richest people, in total, have as much wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion people. Less dramatically, in-country studies show, for example, that the United States has become less equal, on the basis of

John Freebairn Lecture recap

John Freebairn Lecture recap

On Thursday the 19th of September the University of Melbourne hosted the inaugural John Freebairn lecture titled ‘Governing the ungovernable: the market, technology and you’, presented by Professor Stephen King from Monash University. I had the opportunity to attend what was an insightful lecture about how the growing complexity, pace