A co-edited book with Connor Court (co-edited with Chris Berg)

Red tape costs the Australian economy as much as $176 billion a year. Governments create and enforce thousands of regulations on our workplaces and our communities. These rules slow and prevent businesses forming, people from flourishing, new technologies from being adopted, and hold back Australia’s global competitiveness. Australia’s Red Tape Crisis is an exploration into the economics, politics and culture of over-regulation. How should we structure our federation to achieve reform? Why should political responsibility sit with the elected? Does Australia have a deep desire for a federal bureaucracy? What is the future of red tape reduction policies? Together, the contributions of economists, philosophers, politicians and lawyers help define a path for overcoming Australia’s red tape crisis.

Book Contents

1. Introduction (Darcy Allen and Chris Berg)
2. Regulation in a small open economy (Chris Berg)
3. The big picture (David Kemp)
4. Australia’s economic malaise (Michael Potter)
5. Some (micro)economics of regulation (Sinclair Davidson)
6. The politics of red tape (Georgina Downer)
7. A regulatory culture? (Matthew Lesh)
8. 1901: Federation as bureaucratisation (William Coleman)
9. Red tape: Tethering Australia to the world (Greg Melleuish)
10. Environmental regulation and red tape (Daniel Wild)
11. Housing affordability and red tape (Ashton de Silva)
12. Over-criminalisation and red tape (Andrew Bushnell)
13. Over-regulation in public sector services (Aaron M. Lane)
14. Red tape reduction: A new approach (Darcy Allen)
15. Regulation and technological change (Darcy Allen and Chris Berg)