It’s the love child of economics and psychology – behavioural economics. It tries to explain people’s rational, or better irrational, behaviour when it comes to financial decision-making and consumption patterns. On Big Ideas, two experts outline the main lessons of behavioural economics and discuss the ways that it has affected policymaking in Australia. Could it...

Australians are paying too much for power. Over the past five years, the average household power bill has risen 85 per cent. The prices you pay are also unfair: some people are paying too much, others too little. It’s to do with electricity networks catering for peak demand power and the way they charge customers...

Overview: To those in the advertising business, political parties are ‘brands’, like Coke or Pepsi. Whom you choose to vote for is akin to deciding which brand of toothpaste you’ll purchase. Dee Madigan has been in the ad game for 18 years and has worked on 5 ALP election campaigns. She reveals the tricks of...

Food dominates the cultural landscape yet it is also public enemy number one when it comes to public health. A growing number of consumers are concerned about where their food comes from, how it is produced and whether it is sustainable. Then there are the political debates over food labelling and whether ‘junk food’ should...

The Australian federal system has adapted and changed since 1901 with the balance of power and responsibilities shifting between the States and the Commonwealth. Council of Australian Governments Chair John Brumby gives his view of the strengths and weaknesses of the federal system.