Australia's looming population crisis and how to avert it.Is Australia heading for a population shock? Economist Abul Rizvi examines the long-term consequences of population ageing, exploring the economic and social challenges facing Australia as its population ages.Rizvi argues that current government policies are inadequate to address these challenges and proposes a range of policy reforms to slow the rate of population ageing, maintain economic growth, a...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, updated with a new PrefaceThe essential blueprint for a better future, by Labour's economic mastermind‘Stellar: brilliant, incredibly pragmatic’ Rory Stewart‘Refreshingly optimistic’ The Times‘No one has done more to re-inject sanity into our national policy’ Emily Maitlis'Everyone should read this book if they care...

A blueprint for the nation after the boom.Australians have just lived through a period of exceptional prosperity, but, says influential economist Ross Garnaut, the Dog Days are on their way. Are we ready for the challenges ahead?In Dog Days, Garnaut explains how we got here, what we can expect next and the tough choices we need to make to survive the new economic conditions. Are we clever enough – and our leaders courageous enough – to change what ...

Politicians, financiers and bureaucrats claim to believe in free competitive markets, yet they have built the most unfree market system ever created. In this Gilded Age, income is funnelled to the owners of property – financial, physical and intellectual – at the expense of society. Wages stagnate as labour markets are transformed by outsourcing, automation and the on-demand economy, generating more rental income while broadening the precariat.Now fully updated with an introduction...

In this urgent essay, George Megalogenis argues that Australia risks becoming globalisation’s next and most unnecessary victim. The next shock, whenever it comes, will find us with our economic guard down, and a political system that has shredded its authority.Megalogenis outlines the challenge for Malcolm Turnbull and his government. Our tax system is unfair and we have failed to invest in infrastructure and education. Both sides of politics are clinging defensively to an old mo...

A clear, concise and entertaining introduction to the economics of today, written by Sydney Morning Herald/The Age economics guru Ross Gittins.Drawing on many of Ross's popular columns and the needs of final year high school economics students, Gittins' Guide provides bite-sized, easy-to-follow explanations of the key issues in economics and macroeconomics that shape our world. Featuring Ross's trademark intelligence, clarity and down-to-earth approach, this book ...

The super-rich have never had it so good. But millions of us can't afford a home, an education or a pension. And unless we change course soon, the future will be even worse. Much worse. But things don't have to be like this.In this bold new book, former Treasury Minister Liam Byrne explains why wealth inequality has grown so fast in recent years; warns how it threatens our society, economy and politics; shows where economics has got it wrong – and lays out a path b...

The international financial crisis that has held our global economy in its grip for too long still seems to be in full stride. Former British Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown believes the crisis can be reversed, but that the world’s leaders must work together if we are to avoid a decade of lost jobs and low growth.Brown speaks both as someone who was in the room driving discussions that led to some crucial decisions and as an expert renowned for his remar...

'Free of jargon, obfuscation and interminable subordinate clauses, his prose is just the job' The TimesA fully updated and revised edition of the classic guide.The economy has never been so relevant to so many people as it is now. 'There's no such thing as a free lunch' is the one phrase everyone has heard from economics. But why not? What does economics tell us about the price of lunch - and everything else?Set out like a ...

Countries with smaller governments grow faster.Tobacco taxes are the best way to cut smoking.Government regulation discourages entrepreneurshi****p.Award-winning investigative journalist Tom Bergin digs into eight mantras widely accepted by Western governments and, by talking to the people who promote those ideas and the workers, businesspeople and consumers who have felt their impacts, finds they often don't play out...

The Republic of Ireland, which declared itself in 1949, allowed the Catholic Church to dominate its civil society and education system. Investment by American and European companies, and a welcoming tax regime, created the 'Celtic Tiger' of the 1990s. That brief burst of good fortune was destroyed by a corrupt political class which encouraged a wild property boom, leaving the country almost bankrupt.What Ireland needs now is a programme of real change. It needs to become a fully mo...

When landlords always win and renters pay the price, what can be done?Housing means prosperity and security for some; poverty, precarity and sickness for others. More people live in private rented accommodation than ever before, and rents rise without apparent reason. Homes are smaller every year, and nearly 20 per cent of tenants live in hazardous conditions. Homelessness is at a new high. Yet the government’s only solution is to promote homeownership....