Recent meetings between Australian and United States officials resulted in significant developments on two key issues: the unresolved conundrum of the Australian and US strategic relationship vis-a-vis China, and Australia’s deepening integration into US global space-based intelligence and military communications systems. In particular, the ratification of a new treaty to build a new joint facility...

Technology innovation is the key to reducing carbon emissions cheaply, according to this report based on the experience of six pollution pricing schemes in Australia and overseas. In each case, costs to reduce pollution, and actual prices, were much lower than governments and their experts expected. Governments consistently got it wrong when picking in advance...

This paper looks at patterns of own-home wealth across the life cycle in Australia and in several North American and Western European countries and finds that Australia is out of step with comparable countries. In the mid-1990s, the Australian elderly had the lowest relative incomes (compared to national averages) across 19 OECD countries. Including housing...

The reading literacy of Australian 15-year-old students has fallen sharply over the past decade, results from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reveal. The Australian national report shows Australia’s results have also slipped in mathematics but held ground in science. PISA measures how well 15-year-olds from across the globe are prepared to use...

This study is completed. The final research report was released on 13 December 2010. On 27 November 2009, the Australian Government requested that the Productivity Commission undertake a study into the impact of bilateral and regional trade agreements on trade and investment barriers, and on Australia's trade and economic performance, including their contribution to efforts...