The OECD has found that Australia’s economic performance is not as strong as might be expected given the strength of its economic policy settings. Differences in geography – distance to world markets, natural resource endowments, and population settlement patterns – help explain differences in economic performance across OECD countries. But these findings reinforce, rather than...

Behavioural economics is economists satisfying themselves intellectually of truths about economic agents' behaviour that are readily understood by marketers and politicians. It is the scientific study of intuition which, because of the way the human brain has evolved, heavily influences our decision making. Behavioural economics reveals conventional economics to be normative rather than positive. Economists'...

This paper provides a summary of trends in government spending, revealing strong growth in government spending and the size of government, particularly over the past four years. It also discusses the distribution and sustainability of spending and notes the importance of high quality spending and flexibility in resource allocation in responding to future pressures.

In recent years, employment has grown strongly while output has grown modestly. This implies a weak growth in labour productivity that is difficult to interpret. This article explores some possible explanations for recent economic growth and labour productivity outcomes, with a focus on developments in the composition of growth. It also examines whether recent productivity...

This paper examines Australia's future productivity growth prospects and, specifically, whether it is feasible for Australia to match the performance benchmarks set by other countries now and in the foreseeable future. Key points • International comparisons of productivity at a national level are useful, but should be treated with care. Comparisons of productivity performance are...