Andrew Leigh

Canberra

Host at The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation

Labor MP in the Australian Parliament. Dad of 3. Economist. Triathlete. Author of 'The Shortest History of Economics', ‘Randomistas’, ‘Reconnected’ and more.

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Articles

Ban PwC from government work until it gets the all clear, committee says

Nov 6, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Tom Ravlic |Peter Gearin |Andrew Leigh |Ed Chung

A powerful parliamentary committee has called for the government to ban PwC Australia from tendering for government work until it demonstrates it has fixed its practice. Members of the parliamentary joint committee on corporations and financial services have finalised their unanimous report into accounting, auditing and consulting firms, with the first of the 40 recommendations being a demand for a tendering ban on the global accounting firm.
Australia’s constitutional dilemma, part 4: Who are we?

Oct 31, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Sean Innis |Tom Ravlic |Stephen Bartos |Andrew Leigh

If Australia’s constitution were drafted today, it would be very different to the document we seem to hold so sacrosanct. Some of the content would likely be similar. But some would likely not. The context in which it is written would also be very different. Even the process for drafting the constitution would be very different. Women and Australia’s First Peoples would play major roles in the process, rather than none at all.
Praise the economy and pass the ammunition: Conroy primes weapons export plan

Oct 30, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Julian Bajkowski |Zoe Rose |Tom Ravlic |Andrew Leigh

If you’ve been watching footage of the war in Ukraine and the Middle East and wondering if combatants will ever run out of the ordnance that wreaks utter havoc, you are not alone. Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy has delivered the Albanese government’s most strident defence yet of its pivot to local munitions manufacturing, citing a rise in so-called ‘hot wars’ as a key reason to roll your own ammo and missiles as conflicts overseas burn through stocks.
Upgraded APS snared in Qantas Chairman's Lounge scandal

Oct 28, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Julian Bajkowski |Tom Ravlic |David Adams |Andrew Leigh

Up to half of the ostensibly ‘free’ business class seat upgrades gifted through Australian Public Service Band 2 Senior Executive Service and above’s costless membership of Qantas’ invitation-only ‘Chairman’s Lounge’ could remain undeclared thanks to cozy loopholes in official hospitality declaration requirements.
Treasury beefs up integrity and ‘active bystander’ training

Oct 20, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Tom Ravlic |Andrew Leigh |Thea Snow |Ed Chung

Federal Treasury has bumped up its training of department staff to include more sessions on integrity, governance and ‘active bystander’ training, according to its 2023-24 annual report. Instruction in being an active bystander involves providing people with the confidence to take appropriate action when they witness inappropriate or concerning activity to prevent situations from escalating further.
The call for evidence-based development

Jul 24, 2024 | devpolicy.org | Andrew Leigh

This is an edited extract of an address to the Asian Development Bank Institute research conference on efforts to increase inclusive economic growth, in honour of Dr Peter McCawley, in Manila, The Philippines on 24 July 2024. Thank you to the Asian Development Bank Institute, the Asian Development Bank and the Australian National University for hosting this conference on inclusive economic growth.
June 2024

May 26, 2024 | themonthly.com.au | Laura Tingle |Katherine Wilson |Andrew Leigh |Fiona McGregor

Essays The Nation Reviewed Vox Arts & Letters Noted Life sentences Essays The Nation Reviewed Vox Arts & Letters Noted Cartoon Essays Federal politics Discourse correction The erosion of civility in the public sphere, and what it means not just for politics and the news media but for the kind of society we are becoming Environment Combative nature A rare legal win for an ecologist over a violent confrontation with NSW loggers exposed years of intimidation from corporate forestry...
The empirical evidence route to policy design

May 23, 2024 | themandarin.com.au | Andrew Leigh

One morning, an American woman by the name of Anita Kramer woke up and could not move her left arm. Kramer called 911 and during her assessment, doctors discovered she had a narrowing in a major blood vessel in her brain. She had an intracranial stent inserted. Less than a week later, a second stroke left Kramer more disabled than the first. Stenting was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2005, following a promising study that did not use a control group.
Homeownership, homelessness & housing supply

Mar 25, 2024 | abc.net.au | Andrew Leigh |Andrew Bragg |Max Chandler-Mather |Rose Jackson |Catherine Liddle |Cameron Murray

Home ownership is deeply embedded in Australian mythology. But for many the dream has become a nightmare. Owners are under significant interest rate stress. Buyers feel locked out of a red-hot market. Renters have copped savage increases amid record-low vacancies. Australia needs millions more homes to meet population growth. Governments are investing big — but not enough to hit their own targets and fighting fierce resistance to higher density living. How did we get into this mess?
Ten lessons for economic policymakers

Nov 5, 2023 | themandarin.com.au | Andrew Leigh

The assistant minister for competition, charities and Treasury and assistant minister for employment’s speech to the Economic Society of Australia. John Maynard Keynes once wrote ‘The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else.’In academia and parliament, I’ve certainly found that to be true. Economics is surprisingly powerful as a tool for public policy.