IPA Review Articles

20 October 2023

The courage to admit prevailing predictions of the Earth’s future climate are far from certainties makes Judith Curry a rare model scientist, writes IPA Visiting Fellow Stephen Wilson. Judith Curry has been on a remarkable journey. In 2005 Curry was a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, a climate scientist then 23 years on from earning her PhD in

17 October 2023

A remarkable new book explains how the USA became the Promised Land for its Jewish citizens, writes former intelligence analyst Paul Monk. American academic and author Walter Russell Mead has devoted his career to the close study of the Anglo-American world order, rather as American political scientist Aaron Friedberg has done. The scholarship Mead has produced makes him an authoritative

2 October 2023

A new and brave academic publication traces the reasons the civilisation of the West was the first to escape poverty and the Malthusian Trap, writes IPA Research Fellow Kevin You. Palgrave Macmillan’s Debates in Business History series aims to encourage robust discussions among economic, labour, and management historians, and bring to surface diverse perspectives from a broad range of disciplines.

4 September 2023

Greater government accountability could help reduce the massive waste and opportunity cost of white elephant projects, economics professor and former Productivity Commission chairman Gary Banks argued at a recent Melbourne book launch. As observed in my foreword to the new book White Elephant Stampede, the elephant seems to have acquired a special place in the lexicon of public policy. For

4 September 2023

Urgent action is needed to prevent Australia’s construction industry from collapsing under the weight of rising labour costs, red tape, and excess government spending, argues IPA Research Fellow Kevin You. September 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Gold Coast University Hospital: a 750-bed, state-of-the-art health facility next to Griffith University’s flagship campus. The construction of

4 September 2023

Alan Joyce will depart from his role as Qantas CEO in November, leaving as his legacy one of the world’s most woke airlines. Given its impeccable political correctness, it is somewhat surprising that after declaring a $1.4 billion half-year profit, the airline declined to return any of the $2.7 billion dollars it received in government subsidies during the COVID-19 pandemic. For passengers,

4 September 2023

In this edition of the IPA Review you will see important and original research on topics vital to Australia’s future. They are a pointer to future research activities of the IPA. On page 8 IPA Research Fellow Dr Kevin You examines our construction industry with all its issues, and discusses the effect of the changes to industrial relations being introduced

4 September 2023

Even if the Voice to Parliament fails in the referendum the war to divide us will be far from over, warns IPA Director of Research Morgan Begg. One of the best benefits of Australia’s Constitution is that constitutional alterations require the approval of the Australian people at a referendum. The consequence of this requirement is that proposals to change the Constitution

20 July 2023

Energy expert Vaclav Smil clearly explains why ‘net zero by 2050’ is simply impossible, writes public policy analyst Tristan Prasser. Have you ever wondered how the world will transition to an all-renewable future? Or whether it is even possible? Have you ever thought about why we have fewer famines today despite there being more people than ever before, and what

28 June 2023

Three classic tales put voices and faces to Australia’s remarkable pioneers, in this first of a two-part essay by literary critic PETER CRAVEN. What on earth are we to make of the pioneers who settled Australia and made it, for better or for worse, what it is? There is that meditative figure of Frederick McCubbin, pensive and stoical as it