This discussion paper from the Australia Institute outlines how Australia could emerge from the COVID-19 crisis as one of the richest countries in the world, while gaining long-lasting benefits from economic stimulus projects and a renewed faith in the effectiveness of democratic governance.

Australians can lay to rest concern over incurring and repaying government debt, as new research shows urgent spending required in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will not create a debt burden, and therefore should not provoke future austerity measures to ‘repay the debt.’

New Zealand is now on a dangerous path to higher public debt and unprecedented money printing, with no credible plan for unwinding the situation before the next crisis, warns this report by the New Zealand Initiative.

This paper argues that Australia's fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic leaves an economically threatening legacy of high budget deficits and public debt.

This report surveys the likely effects of the pandemic crisis on state budgets and then looks at the outlook for state fiscal aggregates as they were before the pandemic hit. It also traces the pre-crisis trends and trends and possible impacts of the crisis in the states individually, and concludes by discussing the policy options...