Congestion pricing is used to good effect in London and Singapore, but most other cities have shied away from the idea. Yet congestion is costing our economies more by the year, so there needs to be some policy changes to stop this problem getting worse.
Philip Manners, senior economist at the Centre for International Economics, says there are several factors that need to be in place for congestion pricing to work. One of them is to get public support — and that means ensuring it’s not seen as just another tax.
He says that congestion could be costing Australia up to $20 billion a year and that’s likely to double over the next decade.
With faster broadband, now more than ever there’s the incentive to influence work behaviour, so some form of congestion pricing is a no-brainer, surely.
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Top 40 Business Tips #14: Don’t Jump to Conclusions
We run businesses based on two key ingredients — information and decisions. Normally we use one to feed the other. Often we use the information to reassure ourselves that a decision is the right one.
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RBA to join the rate-rise race?
It’s anyone’s guess how many rises the Fed will see this year, but NAB’s Tapas Strickland says one is expected for Australia, although don’t expect the RBA to admit it today. A sharp end to QE does seem likely though.
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Confidence versus COVID – the battle continues
The battle between confidence and COVID numbers is being played out in FX markets, says NAB’s Gavin Friend. Europe could have a bigger influence next week, he says.
