Henry in The Australian, Thurs 29 Dec 2011:

The good news is that the Twelve Days of Christmas are cheaper than they were last year. Prices, as measured by the Twelve Days of Christmas (12C) price index (for a full explanation see my column of December 23 last year), have barely gone up in Australia despite the consumer price index rising by 3.5 per cent. So in real terms partridges and pear trees are better value, though to buy all 364 presents will still set your true love back $138,059 and 14c.

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Joys_and_woes_of_yuletide_economics_29_Dec_2011.pdf

Henry Ergas and Mark Thomson "Defence outlays amount to 1.8 per cent of Australia’s GDP. Nonetheless, the processes by which those amounts are allocated, and the efficiency with which they are used, have received very little attention outside of the defence sector itself. This paper identifies the major issues involved in securing efficiency in defence expenditure and surveys efforts to ensure that the Australian defence establishment makes good use of public resources. Recommendations are made regarding the operation of the Department of Defence and the scrutiny of crucial defence decisions." Published in 'Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform', Vol.18, No. 3., December 2011.

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More_Guns_without_Less_Butter.pdf

Henry Ergas laments the absence of public debate on defence spending. Last year was not a good year for the business of equipping and arming Australia's defence forces ? at least in PR terms. Not only did long?troubled projects like the guided missile frigate upgrade and the replacement of the RAAF's air defence command and control system make headlines for all the wrong reasons, but several more recent defence projects went off the rails.

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InTheDark.pdf

Defence is and will in the foreseeable future continue to be a large consumer of Australia's resources. Efficiency in defence procurement, and notably in major weapons acquisition programs, make is crucial to ensuring both the effectiveness of Australia's defence and that the community gets value for money from defence outlays. How Australia should manage the weapons systems acquisition process is therefore examined in a paper by Henry Ergas. Henry's paper, "Some Economic Aspects of the Weapons Systems Acquisition Process", was presented at a Commonwealth Treasury seminar in Canberra and reviews what light economics can cast on the weapons systems acquisition process.

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some_economic_aspects_of_weapons_systems_acquisition_HE_Aug_03.pdf