“Ideas are dangerous”, said G K Chesterton, “but the man to whom they are least dangerous is the man of ideas. He is acquainted with ideas, and moves among them like a lion-tamer”.
Australia enjoyed not just rapid productivity growth during this period, but also a substantial increase in exports of elaborately transformed manufactures . Unfortunately, the shift to a more competitive and dynamic knowledge-driven economy slowed under the Howard government due to “policy indolence”, as Keating depicted it, including a lack of commitment to science, technology and innovation.
That is why Chalmers wants us to recognise that “the problem wasn’t so much more markets as poorly designed ones”. He takes from Mazzucato the unexceptional proposition that, “markets built in partnership through the efforts of business, labour and government are still the best mechanism we have to efficiently and effectively direct resources”.
Globalisation is not dead but it’s changing. Australia has the opportunity to create a high skill, high productivity economy by moving beyond its traditional reliance on comparative advantage, based on natural endowments, to a new approach which draws on the experience of industrial policy around the world.
Australia pulls materials out the ground, sends the materials overseas and grows some stuff. That’s it. If it wasn’t for that we’d be in serious trouble. But feel free to shut all that down as well for Capitalism 2.0 🤦🏼♂️
Now only if we had a government to do that. 🤔
Simple follow Qatar and put a 35% tax with no loopholes on gas and petroleum, then we would have lots of cash to do anything.