One of Australia's leading thinkers draws on a lifetime of research, analysis and commonsense in his blueprint for making a better Australia. Hugh Stretton argues that it is possible to contrive full and fairly shared employment for everyone, to enable most households to own or rent adequate household space and obtain the capital they need to do the things they want to do. He argues that we can continue women's progress to genuine equality at home and at work and reconcile it with parenting that elicits the best from and for our children. He shows that we can determine how best to transfer...

Social science is a social activity as well as a method of discovery. The researchers' values and politics colour their work and so do their choices of scientific method. This book is about both - the technical effects of values and the political effects of technique.

'A brilliant critical and fresh look at the public choice school of thought.' - Paul Streeten This book challenges theories of public goods, public enterprise and public choice on three fronts. Government action reflects wider interests and commitments than just the material self-interest assumed as primary by the three theories. Government contributes to the productivity and quality of the modern mixed economy in ways not captured by theories stressing the inherent superiority of private markets. Lastly, old and new ideas within established traditions of political thought justify government...