Last month, the New Economy Network Australia (NENA) hosted their annual Federal Budget Rundown webinar this year featuring Matt Grudnoff, a Senior Economist at The Australia Institute, who discussed the Federal Budget handed down on the 9th May 2023. The Australia Institute is one of
People often say of LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) “I don’t know why it hasn’t taken off – it’s such a good idea!”
In this opinion piece, I look at what’s holding LETS back, and suggest a solution.
We can buy almost anything with the Aussie dollar, so why do we bother with LETS?
For many of us, the market is an actual gathering of human buyers and sellers, chatting, tasting and sharing produce, which is often fresh and artisanal. At market benches and shop counters, people display and take in a community meal. Mainstream economists turned that market
As Menzies foresaw, we have had economic anarchy, and both security and progress have disappeared. A spirited contest of ideas has already started regarding how we emerge from the coronavirus shutdown. The Prime Minister is talking about ‘snapping back’ to what we were before. Some
Have you had any reservations about the “circular economy”? If so, you’re not alone. Many critics point out that there’s no such thing as a truly ‘circular economy’, due to that pesky reality known as “entropy”. Others say it’s just another ‘green wash’ for business
The gig economy has grown significantly over the past 5 years, in Australia and around the world. The OECD has estimated that on-line platforms for information, goods and services dominate the top 15 of the world’s largest internet based companies; and a European study suggests
This research explores the contributions of the sharing economy to food security in Australia by examining how the sharing economy promotes access to food to a population that is unable to acquire enough healthy quality food to meet their needs. The findings of this research
Workers in the ‘gig economy’ might be delivering your pizza, programming the app that allows the transaction, or own the platform and 15% of each transaction. Like the internet itself, the gig economy is proof that equality of opportunity has no relationship to equity or equality of outcome.
It is easier than ever to own one’s own business – Jeff Bezos does, he owns Amazon. Valued at $156 billion he’s the world’s richest. The median salary of an Amazon employee is $AUS 39000. The bike riders that deliver food get paid as little as $6.70 per hour. In many ways the gig economy represents uber-casualisation and income polarisation of the workforce.
Story by Russ Grayson
HERE’S THE QUESTION: can we build a new economy, a better economy that is different to that dominated by the profit-seeking private sector or the bureaucratic government sector?