Productivity

As Australia grapples with declining productivity and mounting economic challenges, the government continues to favour gimmicks over crucial reforms to housing, regulation and fiscal policy.

Australia gets less productive; Qatar Airways flies over Qantas' protectionist wall; Xi Jinping's big bazooka; why so many kids have peanut allergies; fraud, fraud, everywhere; AI's huge boom and likely bust; and Australia's boys and young men are struggling.

As Britain grapples with institutional decay and economic stagnation, Australia must learn from its mistakes—especially in housing, infrastructure, and energy—before we face the same fate.

Despite its proximity to the US and abundant natural resources, Canada's economy is hampered by inter-provincial trade barriers, powerful domestic cartels, and declining productivity, leaving it vulnerable to global trade tensions.

Which parts of Australia are the most (and least) productive; why rate cuts are a long way away; immigration and success; woke AI is pretty boring; and neoliberalism is a victim of its own success (but beware what comes next).

New Zealand's economy is in trouble, with a double-dip recession and shrinking per capita growth. The decline stems from a lack of productivity reforms and an excessive focus on equity over efficiency. But Australia isn't much better, and we could easily join them if policymakers get complacent.

Australia’s national accounts were released last week and confirmed that our per capita recession – defined as two consecutive quarterly contractions – didn’t just continue into the December quarter, but deepened: on a per person basis, our economy is now a full 1% smaller than where it was a year ago.