--- canonical_url: "https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-5/productivity-and-policy-reform-in-australia/" title: "Productivity and Policy Reform in Australia" author: name: "CSLS" url: "https://csls.ca/author/cslc/" date_published: "2026-07-13T05:42:48+00:00" date_modified: "2026-07-13T06:41:25+00:00" post_type: "ipm" summary: "" ipm_issue_period: - "Fall 2002" ipm_keyword: - "Australia" - "GDP per capita" - "labour productivity" - "MFP" - "OECD" - "policy reform" - "productivity" - "regulatory reform" - "trade liberalization" ipm_research_theme: - "Policy and institutions" - "Productivity trends and comparisons" ipm_country_focus: - "Australia" - "Canada" - "OECD" - "United States" featured_image: "https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/IPM_50_banner.webp" status: "publish" --- # Productivity and Policy Reform in Australia Canonical URL: https://csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-5/productivity-and-policy-reform-in-australia/ # Productivity and Policy Reform in Australia [Download full PDF article](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-5-4-Parham.pdf) Cite this article × Cite this article as: Parham, Dean. 2002. “Productivity and Policy Reform in Australia.” International Productivity Monitor, No. 5 (Fall 2002): 53–63. https://www.csls.ca/ipm-archive/issue-5/productivity-and-policy-reform-in-australia/ ## Author: - Dean Parham Productivity Commission, Australia ## IPM Issue 5 Fall 2002 pp. 53–63 ## Related IPM articles [Is the SNA Still Useful? 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Australia’s GDP per hour worked rose from 74 per cent of the U.S. level in 1990 to 83 per cent by 2001, catching up with Canada over the same period. The article traces how regulatory reform, trade liberalization, labour market flexibility, and infrastructure privatization drove a marked acceleration in multifactor productivity growth, particularly in the first half of the 1990s, and discusses the sustainability and generalizability of the Australian experience. Cet article examine les solides performances de productivité de l’Australie dans les années 1990 et les attribue à une réorientation de la politique gouvernementale vers une économie plus compétitive, ouverte, flexible, innovante et résiliente. Le PIB par heure travaillée de l’Australie est passé de 74 % du niveau américain en 1990 à 83 % en 2001, rattrapant le Canada sur la même période. L’article retrace la manière dont la réforme réglementaire, la libéralisation des échanges, la flexibilité du marché du travail et la privatisation des infrastructures ont entraîné une nette accélération de la croissance de la productivité multifactorielle, en particulier dans la première moitié des années 1990, et examine la durabilité et la généralisabilité de l’expérience australienne. [Download full PDF](https://csls.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/IPM-Issue-5-4-Parham.pdf)