As commenter Richard notes, Oznomics author Andrew Charlton has an op-ed in today’s SMH arguing that:

The most popular misconception in economics and politics is that if the economy is humming along, the government must be doing a good job – it must be a capable economic manager and its policies must be working. … The truth, however, is that politicians have much less control over the economy than they would have us believe.

But what does the public actually believe? Increasingly, it seems, they have become sceptical of claims that the government deserves credit for a strong economy. At each of the last six elections, the Australian Election Survey has asked:

[compared with 12 months ago], what effect do you think they [the government] have had on the general economic situation in Australia as a whole?

At each election, the proportion saying ‘not much difference’ has increased, starting at 39% in 1990 and reaching 57% in 2004. In the same time, Continue reading “Are people taking economic growth for granted?” →