Australian workers increased their productivity far less in the past decade than in the previous one. They are also increasingly less productive than workers in most comparable countries. Since rising productivity is vital to a strong economy, the problem is serious, even if its consequences are not yet visible. Until recently the official account held...

On 16 November last year, G20 leaders made a commitment to resist protectionism. According to the World Bank, by the end of February 2009, seventeen of the twenty had already ‘implemented 47 measures whose effect is to restrict trade.’ When the leaders meet in Pittsburgh on 24 September 2009, they will have an opportunity to...