Economics

Adam Smith is the founder of the concept of free trade, in his book "The Wealth of Nations" published in 1776. He came up with theoretical arguments showing that governmental barriers to trade such as tariffs and subsidies are ultimately not in the best interests of either side in a trade agreement. Karl Marx, the founder of communism, vigorously disagreed.

The success rates for entrepreneurs are notoriously low. Furthermore, the reasons for their failure often seem quite predictable. This would seem to indicate that the typical entrepreneur, if they rationally assessed their business endeavor, would be better off being an employee.

Prediction markets allow people to bet money on predictions, with the purpose of providing more accurate predictions for policy and business analysts. Prediction markets are often contrasted with alternative methods used to tap collective intelligence, such as expert committees. Advocates of prediction markets claim that prediction markets are more accurate than their alternatives, but are underutilized due to irrational concerns regarding their accuracy, as well as susceptibility to subversion.

A government can set a minimum wage to legally prevent an employee accepting what is declared to be unfair income from an employer. The strategy is one of many cases of contentious economic regulation, where advocates of free markets may claim its distortionary effects neutralize its supposed benefits.

The two main competing strategies for lowering carbon emissions are a Cap and Trade system and a carbon tax. A Cap and Trade system works by having a government issue a capped number of carbon credits to companies, where the more polluting companies that exceed their quota must buy carbon credits from the less polluting companies that sell their unused quota. Some of its critics suggest that carbon taxation is simpler and that a Cap and Trade system can be gamed and subverted.

House prices as a ratio of household income are at historic highs in Australia. Some people suggest that this is causing a housing bubble, analogous to the United States. Others suggest this ratio is no longer relevant, because other factors have changed.

There is intense debate as to whether Australia has a housing bubble. Metrics such as the historically high ratio of house prices to household income, which were indicative of the U.S. housing bubble, suggest a bubble. However, counterclaims suggest that this ratio reflects a permanent shift in the desires of Australian householders, or that a genuine lack of supply is here to stay. In addition, the cause of such a bubble is itself debated.