Lynne Chester

Actually Existing Markets: The Case of Neoliberal Australia

Neoliberalism has transformed markets supplying public goods. Analysis of five real-world Australian markets reveals the eligibility rules for access and ongoing participation, interaction of participants, the role of intermediaries and government, the extent of competition, complex regulatory regimes shaping and controlling these markets, and key market outcomes. Contrary to neoliberalisms free market rhetoric and the view promulgated by mainstream economics, a spectrum of market configurations and governance regimes were found along with participation being highly dependent on technology access and skills, market outcomes inconsistent with policy rhetoric, market interrelationships posing adverse cumulative impacts, and government is strongly interventionist through multiple roles.

The privatisation of Australian electricity: Claims, myths and facts

Australia has one of the most ‘liberalised’ electricity sectors in the world. The sale of government-owned electricity companies has contributed to that liberalisation and a quarter of the proceeds of one of the world’s largest privatisation programmes. In 2014, the state governments of New South Wales and Queensland announced further electricity privatisations if re-elected. Advocates claim private ownership will mean more productive investment, lower costs leading to more efficient operations, lower prices for all consumers and better market functioning without government interference. Opponents contend that the true value of government businesses is not being realised at sale, retention can achieve returns greater than those from a sale, and that follow sale, prices will rise and jobs will be lost. This article demonstrates that the claims of either lower or higher prices, of job losses and of more efficient operations are tantamount to being myths of privatisation not borne out by reality.

The Contemporary Growth Regime Has Been Ensured by the Australian State's Mutations (at Least until Now):

With the ascendancy of neoliberalism, the Australian state has not only remained strongly interventionist but has also expanded its sphere of influence and scope of activity. This is contrary to claims of a reduced, withered or slimmed neoliberal state. The Australian states interventions have become increasingly varied in the overwhelming pursuit of structural competitiveness. It has developed an extensive ‘micro-structuring’ role, particularly through the creation of new regulatory instruments and institutions, but has not relinquished its economic ‘macro-structuring’ role notwithstanding changes to macroeconomic policy priorities. The Australian states interventions have shaped all institutional forms comprising the mode of régulation that guides and supports the accumulation regime. This article discusses the reconfiguration of the Australian state and the forms of its ongoing interventions which have secured and sustained the contemporary growth regime.

The Failure of Market Fundamentalism: How Electricity Sector Restructuring is Threatening the Economic and Social Fabric

This paper argues that neoliberalism’s global restructuring of electricity sectors has failed to deliver its proclaimed objectives and spawned threats to economic growth, financial market stability, environmental degradation, and society’s well-being. Using the case study of Australia, the paper’s régulationist analysis reveals the short-term outcomes and longer-term consequences of this restructuring, and concludes that the paradox of this structural change is the creation of inherent risks to the accumulation process. JEL Classification: B52, D02, L94, Z18

Beyond market‐fundamentalist economics: an agenda for heterodox economics to change the dominant narrative

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to introduce heterodox economics as a viable alternative to market‐fundamentalist economics and to outline the articles of the special issue.Design/methodology/approach – This introductory article provides an overview and summary of the contributions in the special issue.Findings – Market‐fundamentalist economics has failed to adequately explain the economy or to provide guidance to policymakers that lead to widely‐shared prosperity and human well‐being. By contrast, heterodox economics offers social and historical narratives of both market and non‐market activities.Originality/value – The article helps general readers to get acquainted with visions and approaches that are alternative to market‐fundamentalist economics. This will allow them to imagine more concretely that a better world is possible.

Dissecting the Conjunction of Capitalism's Environmental, Energy, and Economic Crises: The Example of One Liberal Market-Based Economy

Contemporary capitalism is marked by economic, energy, and environmental crises. This article explores the interrelationships between these crises using the example of Australia, one of the worlds highest per-capita carbon gas emitters. In this paper, I consider key features, impacts, and state policy responses to these three crises through the lens of Australias institutional architecture. My finding is that the conjunction of the crises is driven by the dialectical relationship between the three spheres. I conclude that the state, by privileging policy responses to the economic crisis, is aggravating the energy and environmental crises and compounding the economic crisis.

Studying low-income households: challenges and issues

Studying low income households poses a number of methodological issues. Nevertheless, there are a number of measures which a researcher can take to access “hard to reach” low income households using reliable and valid data collection instruments. Drawing on a study which investigated the impacts of rising energy prices on low income Australian households, this paper discusses the suitability of a mixed methods approach to study low income households along with the strengths and weaknesses of the chosen data collection methods of an online survey, focus groups and interviews. Observations are drawn about the use of intermediaries to recruit low income households, the potential barriers to participation, the impact on the conduct of research by ethics committee requirements, the use of participation rewards and the need for a research design which takes all these issues and more into account.

To Change or Reform Capitalism

As I write this review essay in late December 2012, the prospects for reversing – or even slowing the pace of – capitalism’s ecological degradation are bleak. The much-heralded flagship for carbon pricing, the European Union’s carbon scheme, is teetering on the brink of collapse. Without action by national governments and the European Parliament, the huge surplus of emission allowances will mean the price on carbon will be so low that it will not encourage investment decisions in “greener” energy solutions. Nearly three years on from the worst oil spill in history, BP has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges and pay billions in economic and property damage claims although the company’s liabilities for medical and other civil claims as well as claims for damages to natural resources under the Clean Water Act remain unresolved. The United States faces automatic spending cuts to hundreds of government programs, all with environmental impacts, to reduce a budget deficit of over

Challenging the Orthodoxy: The Contributions of Frank Stilwell to Political Economy

1 trillion. This fiscal cliff, arising from the Budget Control Act of 2011, may be averted if Congress reaches a compromise by 31 December. Nevertheless, the situation is a salutary reminder of the ecological being subordinate to the economic decision making by nation-states. There is also the agreement of the United Nation’s (UN) 18th conference on climate change to continue the Kyoto Protocol until 2020 which will not contain global warming at two degrees Celsius given the record level of greenhouse gas emissions in 2012 and the warning of the UN’s Environment Program of the widening gap between government commitments to cut emissions and the scientific evidence of necessary cuts (UNEP 2012).

Book Review: The Hardship of Nations: Exploring the Paths of Modern CapitalismThe Hardship of Nations: Exploring the Paths of Modern Capitalism. CoriatBenjaminPetitPascalSchméderGeneviève (eds.); Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2006, 347 pp., ISBN-13: 978-1-84542-705-4.

After more than 30 years of existence the neoliberal paradigm is being questioned as a viable approach to economic and social policies. A key question is, if it were to be replaced, what could it be replaced by? To date this is a question that has generated considerable debate without a definitive answer. However, what seems clear is that, broadly speaking, there are two possible paths—an even greater reliance on ‘free’ markets or a shift towards greater social cooperation.