HECS-style loans could help reduce the economic shock of COVID-19
The Government’s economic stimulus package will provide much needed relief to the many Australians affected by Covid-19. When more is required, this proposal from Academy Fellows for HECS-style loans to individuals and businesses will allow further financial assistance without impact on the budget bottom-line.
Professor Bruce Chapman is an economist and has worked at The Australian National University since 1984, and been a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences since 1993. He has worked on contingent-style loans for over twenty years, including the initial design of the Australian HECS system. Professor Linda Botterill is the Head of School of Government & Policy at the University of Canberra, and has been a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences since 2015. They have worked with other Fellows of the Academy to explore how “HECS-style” loans could help the economic shock of COVID-19.
Read: Professor Bruce Chapman’s commentary in the Sydney Morning Herald (19 March, 2020).
Read: An article by Bruce Chapman, John Piggott and Madeline Dunk on how income-contingent loans could be used to extend the JobKeeper scheme (Australian Financial Review, 13 March, 2020).
Read: Professor Bruce Chapman’s interview in Campus Review Weekly, (readership over 200,000 per month).
Read: Academy Fellows Professors Bruce Chapman, Linda Botterill, Glenn Withers and Warwick McKibbin explain how giving money now for people/businesses to pay back later could work (from The Conversation – 30 March, 2020).
Read: Professor Glenn Withers on how revenue-contingent loans could be used to support businesses such as Virgin Australia (Pearls & Irritations, 27 April 2020).
Watch: Academy Fellows Professor Bruce Chapman and Professor Linda Botterill discussing how income contingent loans could assist Australia.
To interview Professor Chapman, Professor Botterill or other Academy Fellows on issues to do with COVID-19, contact our Communications Manager.