Fragile Prosperity

Description

Fragile Prosperity presents a new perspective on the past five decades of economic policy in Australia. This book shows that in important respects the basic pillars of this policy are misconceived, resting on fundamental misunderstandings of money, taxation and fiscal accounting.

Monetary and fiscal policy in Australia are reappraised, along with the nation’s program of financial deregulation: a gigantic experiment in modern money. A new understanding is presented of the causes of inflation in Australia and the drivers of house price growth, along with associated impacts on wealth distribution and inequality.

The implications are stark. While successive federal governments and Australia’s central bank have given up the means to directly control the principal cause of inflation, the current method of inflation control operates like a dead hand on the non-bank economy. Australia now faces a terrible conundrum in public policy and macroeconomic management, one with urgent implications for countries with similar regulatory settings, such as Canada and New Zealand. Further afield, the story of Australia’s experiment with modern money is a cautionary tale for all advanced economies.

‘Many younger Australians no longer feel that hard work brings a better life. In this timely book, Kells reveals the deeper, actual reasons Australia is no longer a land of economic opportunity.’
Thomas Walker, Think Forward

‘The thrust of this excellent work is that the process and consequences of the generation of money have been widely misunderstood by regulatory and government bodies, leading Australia unwittingly clinging to a “fragile prosperity”. Kells sets about offering practical solutions.’
David Merrett, Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne