Although the 2016 US presidential primaries garnered profound dissatisfaction with the nomination process, leading to widespread accusations of unfairness within both parties, most voters will forget our current system’s issues until the 2020 election. But in a new paper, Brennan Center fellow, Roll Call columnist, and Yale lecturer in political science Walter Shapiro argues that...

The objective of this study is twofold. First, to investigate the extent to which debt loading is potentially being used to reduce tax revenues in Australia, and to compare it to savings from Centrelink’s Enhanced Welfare Payment Integrity measures. Second, to discuss the effectiveness of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, and to compare potential revenues...

While it is clear that administrative regulations can control matters that are morally or politically controversial, the processes by which they are made in Australia do not generally require transparency or public participation, the primary features of deliberative democracy.

Building energy codes lay out the minimum requirements for the envelope (insulation, windows and air sealing), mechanical equipment and lighting of a building (residential and commercial) in terms of energy efficiency/conservation for new construction or major renovations. National model energy codes are updated every three years to incorporate continual improvements in building efficiency in a...

Do industries shed jobs when they adopt new labor-saving technologies? Sometimes productivity-enhancing technology increases industry employment instead. In manufacturing, jobs grew along with productivity for a century or more; only later did productivity gains bring declining employment. What changed? Markets became saturated. While the literature on structural change provides reasons for the decline in the...