It’s the love child of economics and psychology – behavioural economics. It tries to explain people’s rational, or better irrational, behaviour when it comes to financial decision-making and consumption patterns. On Big Ideas, two experts outline the main lessons of behavioural economics and discuss the ways that it has affected policymaking in Australia. Could it...

Unprecedented infrastructure spending by states and territories is largely responsible for a $106 billion decline in their finances since 2006, argues this report. Overview Australian government budgets are under pressure. Without tough decisions, they risk posting deficits of around 4½ per cent of GDP within 10 years. The problems have got worse since our first...

This report argues that a reform package could add about $37 billion a year to Australian government budgets and help to tackle Australia’s growing budget crisis. Overview Australian governments must make tough choices to balance their budgets. They face a decade of deficits, the result of big ticket spending initiatives, rising health costs, pressure on...

Australian government budgets are under pressure. In the next 10 years, they are at significant risk of posting deficits of around 4 per cent of GDP. That means finding savings and tax increases of $60 billion a year. This alarming task is not impossible, but it will require tougher choices than those made over the...

This publication accompanies the main report, Game-changers: Economic reform priorities for Australia. The Supporting Analysis of this publication comprises two sections: Section 1: Analysis of economic reform priorities for Australia (Pages 5 – 55) Detailed material on each of the 25 issues considered in the main report, providing analysis that supports the placement of each...