Fragile Prosperity (Paperback)

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 policies 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, CEO, 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, leaving 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

Stuart Kells is Enterprise Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, University of Melbourne, and has written extensively on economics and finance. He was formerly a member of the Program in Monetary and Financial Economics at the University of Melbourne and advised the Australian Bankers Association during the Wallis Inquiry into the Australian financial system. He won the Desmond Cleary Prize in Financial Economics and the KPMG Prize in Taxation Law at the University of Melbourne. He received the Potter Warburg Scholarship in Economics and Finance and the National Australia Bank Scholarship in Economics. He has twice won the Ashurst Business Literature Prize.