Inside Story

National affairs Simpler, fairer and more effective Saul Eslake 25 August 2025 Jim Chalmers’s roundtable cleared the way for much-needed tax reform National affairs High finance Michael Gill 22 August 2025 A burgeoning finance sector has increased the economy’s vulnerability in an era of heightened global risks National affairs Towards a sustainable budget Saul Eslake 15 August 2025 A federal government faced with greater spending demands needs to bite the tax bullet National affairs Productivity puzzles John Edwards 14 August 2025 Should company taxes changes really be a priority at the next week’s economic summit?

National affairs Are pro-natalists living on the same planet? John Quiggin 30 June 2025 Nostalgia-fuelled panic about declining populations doesn’t match plausible forecasts International Benefits and costs Michael Jacobs 29 June 2025 Keir Starmer is paying a heavy price for spending cuts that lacked a defensible rationale Books & arts Are we getting in our own way? John Edwards 24 June 2025 The American bestseller Abundance is making waves in Australia, but its key argument has less force on this side of the Pacific National affairs Taxing times Karen Middleton 20 June 2025 Jim Chalmers wants to “test the appetite” for more ambitious productivity reforms

Books & arts The improvisers John Edwards 8 April 2025 As Australia faces a crisis of orientation, an expatriate argues that being adaptable is better than being visionary National affairs Donald Trump and the ghost of Al Capone Saul Eslake 6 April 2025 Australian exporters might well cope with a 10 per cent tariff, but a worldwide recession is another thing altogether Books & arts Learning from Hefei Michael Gill 5 February 2025 Economic and political pressures are pulling in different directions in Xi Jinping’s China Other Voices Trump starts to break things Noah Smith 3 February 2025 The US president’s tariff decisions will damage not just America’s allies but also its own economy