(Routledge Focus on Economics and Finance) 1st Edition
by Beth Webster (Author), Bill Scales (Author)
This
book is a series of vignettes about changes to Australian institutions,
organisations and systems that have significantly improved economic and
social well-being for Australians. Economic system innovations have had
a profound impact on our lives, from the invention of banking in the
middle ages to the organisations established by the United Nations
post-WWII. However, their intangible nature means that few people
identify these changes alongside physical inventions.
Although
invention is normally an incremental process, with copying and adaption
being the norm, the authors focus on reforms that were principally new
to the world at the time of implementation. The book is not about the
reforms and how well they worked, per se, rather about the people and
the political struggle to get them adopted. The authors have chosen to
focus on the stories where Australia has either taken a global
leadership role or made a considerable advance in a particular new
institution. What these stories show is that leadership in institutional
innovation can come from many quarters: academia, the community,
politics and the bureaucracy. Often the most successful teams combine
people from all quarters albeit with support from the fourth estate. The
work shows how many reforms began with modest beginnings, often an
ordinary person with a vision, and how it takes several attempts to get
change accepted.
This key volume can be used to
teach students of economics, political economy and politics. It
illustrates the type of networks, actions and advocacy that is needed to
get reform started and implemented and is written in a style to engage
policy and think-tank audiences.
