Australian policy should be judged by our own priorities and circumstances, not the OECD average.

More money alone cannot overcome educational disadvantage.

Universities need competition, not central planning.

Hedge funds need regulating like banks to avoid financial instability.

Third-party access to pipes would open the way to more innovation and competition in water supply and disposal.

Until the islands establish the rule of law, they will continue to suffer from the 'dark side' of globalisation.

Gregory Clark's book shows how important attitudes are to economic growth.

Peter Saunders talks with Timbro CEO Maria Rankka about personal liberty and the welfare state in contemporary Sweden.

In his critical review of The Loss of sadness: How psychiatry transformed normal sorrow into depressive disorder by Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield (Oxford University, 2007), Will Wilkinson doubts we have an epidemic of depression.

The Rise of the Unelected: Democracy and the New Separation of Powers by Frank Vibert (Cambridge University Press, 2007).

The Logic of Life: Uncovering the New Economics of Everything by Tim Harford (Random House, 2008).

Love & Money: The Family and the Free Market Quarterly Essay by Anne Manne (Black Inc., 2008).

The Stillborn God: Religion, Politics and the Modern West by Mark Lilla (Knopf, 2007).

Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again by David Frum (Doubleday, 2007).

The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines a Community by Stephen A. Marglin (Harvard University Press, 2008).

Minimum parking regulations ensure there’s plenty of space for our cars at the shops but we pay a hefty price for it.