There would have been a case for Tony Abbott’s honours system if he had made Bruce Chapman a duke for designing income contingent loans for study

Professor Chapman is still thinking about ICLs, with colleague Dung Doan (ANU) he has edited an issue of the Economics of Education Review, on student loans. It launches at ANU today.  

Chapman and Doan point to problems with student loan schemes across the world, especially in the US where unpaid student debt is close to $US1.6 trillion and 20 per cent of college debtors default on fixed-term loans.

They suggest that ICLs are an answer, but only when customised to national needs.

The journal issue accordingly includes, case studies for Brazil, China, Ireland, Japan and the US, illustrating, “how an ICL could be customised to suit a country’s specific labour market characteristics and idiosyncratic fiscal and administrative circumstances.”