How to make the Australian economy more productive and shock-proof
A lot of reforms of recent times have produced little relief for working families. In a new book, Andrew Stone asks where government could most effectively apply policy solutions.
For many Australians the past dozen years have been a difficult period – in contrast to the strong jobs growth and rapid wage rises that marked the Howard government (after a rocky start). Nor can Australians shake a sense that we are more exposed economically to any sudden setbacks in global growth than we were before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).
Since end-2007, annual growth in GDP per capita, one common proxy for living standards, has been anaemic. At 0.9 per cent, it has averaged less than half the strong 2.4 per cent achieved during the Howard government.
