This article is reproduced from Workforce
Work Choices is a “complete distortion of the most conservative economic thinking on how you would make efficient bargaining”, according to Harvard University Professor of Economics Richard Freeman. Speaking at a public forum at Sydney University last night, Freeman said it was “a law that does not seem to follow any economic principle for labour institutions in a market”. It represented “outdated” rather than modern thinking, he said, noting previous proponents of the reform principles on which it was based - those of the early 1990s capitalist system - had “already changed their minds”. For example, the OECD in its 2006 economic outlook had backtracked on previous assertions about the negative impacts on employment of employment protection legislation such as unfair dismissal protection, Freeman said. “The outside world is interested in [Work Choices] because this is a unique experiment,” he told the forum. It is unique in that it is large-scale reform that was not precipitated by any economic crisis. Industrial disputes were down, the economy was good, and unions were fading away, he said.