Exploring Creative Applications of Income Contingent Loans

Abstract

Income Contingent Loans (ICLs) have a long history in labour economics. Indeed, Australian labour economists have played a seminal role in the conceptual development of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) in Australia – a process which demonstrated how such policies can overcome real issues for ICLs in a practical and effective manner. This Issue of the journal examines a range of proposals for applying ICLs in new contexts, with a view to understanding both how such schemes work and what the limits to such policies might be. As argued in the previous issue of The Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), the journal should provide stimulating articles that are of interest to labour economists rather than being solely about labour economics per se. This Issue of the journal clearly fits this description by exploring and developing some creative applications of ICLs.