An economic and environmental reality check

摘要

The former head of Australia's Productivity Commission, Gary Banks, is an original and very clear thinker. It is a great pity that so few people, especially among Australia's governing politicians and bureaucrats, take the trouble to listen to his common sense ideas. While Australia is in nowhere near the trouble of Europe or even the United States, it is suffering from distinctly declining productivity. In a speech presented late last year Mr Banks included a list of 43 ways that Australia could improve its productivity. Unsurprisingly most of his ideas are just as applicable to most other developed countries. They are relevant to Europe, North America, Japan and New Zealand as a minimum. All are simple and common-sensible. That, of course, makes them very difficult to implement politically.