In a new report, the Productivity Commission recommends building on our existing laws to regulate AI, before adding new ones.
- Professor of Economics, Monash University
Most of the potential uses of AI are already covered by existing rules and regulations. It’s better to make them work than set up new regulations alongside them.
Put bluntly, Australian businesses as a whole appear to have become slow to adopt world best practice. But if we want to lift productivity, we need to act on a wider suite of solutions.
It was easier to boost productivity when the economy was built around mining and agriculture. Doing it in a service-based economy will require more education, flexibility and an embrace of technology.
A new Productivity Commission report finds prisoners cost Australian taxpayers more than $5 billion per year. The numbers are climbing while offences are falling.
There are many initiatives around Australia designed to keep people with chronic conditions out of hospital. But to take these further, the health system needs a ‘license to innovate’.
What made Facebook grow big wasn’t what its targets would have been without it, it was what they were able to do with it.
As the federal government changes the rules around credit cards, it should force companies to be more transparent about fees.
It’s time that Australians debated the objective of our competition law. It shouldn’t just be left to the courts.
The naiveté of the English! They have voted for Brexit. Now the debate has turned to the ‘conditions’ of exit. But the English are talking as if they will have a choice. They won’t. Let me use a bit of…
A recent legal case illustrates why the government has made a mistake in changing its market misuse law.
Want to check if Australia’s utility regulation is working? To highlight the problems, you need look no further than the recent decisions by the Australian Competition Tribunal on four electricity network…
State governments are now seeking to maximise the price of privatised assets by adding sale terms that restrict competition for the future private owners. That amounts to a hidden tax on consumers.
Payment card fees are ridiculously complex. When you pay by a card, the merchant pays a fee to its bank. Sometimes it will pass some, all, or more of the fee through to you, the customer, through a surcharge…
The ACCC has settled the ‘Informed Sources’ case and this will help empower petrol customers. How does this help petrol buyers? Let’s start with the economics. If businesses exchange price information…
Economists love Uber’s surge pricing. But it is doomed, because customers hate it. Why? Surge pricing occurs when the supply and demand for Uber vehicles becomes unbalanced, for example, due to inclement…
Challenging, inspiring and funny: a handful of our economics writers share the favourite books they read this year.
The debate over two words in Australian competition law could lead to an anti-competitive future for Australian businesses.
Technological change and the move to renewable energy is creating a series of challenges to the electricity sector in Australia. Here are three of them. Managing the generation transition In November this…
The response to the Harper recommendations on competition policy reform was mature and wisely sidestepped the issue that could derail debate on it.
Credit card surcharging is in the news. Apparently consumers are going to benefit by new surcharge limits that will be imposed on retailers. But what is surcharging? And why does it need limits? And is…
Over time, a successful regulator makes themselves redundant. The regulator is not needed when competition in the market is working. But the path away from regulation and towards competition is uncertain…
I logged into myGov last night. This is the federal government website that brings all your government services together. Tax, medicare, centrelink and so on. In my less than 24 hour experience, it seems…
Australia’s new prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has announced what he calls a “21st-century government”. The Conversation continues its series focusing on what such a government should look like, looking…
Smart electricity meters are a great idea. They offer opportunities for consumers and electricity retailers to develop innovative programs to save both power and money. Tied into smart appliances and the…
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