Pump Up the Volume: Making Health and Wellbeing the Centre Stage of Economic Growth

• Date: 01 June 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.12273
• Author: Anthony Scott
• Published date: 01 June 2018

Policy Forum: ‘Shifting the Dial’, The Productivity Commission’s

Productivity Review

Pump Up the Volume: Making Health and Wellbeing the

Centre Stage of Economic Growth

Anthony Scott*

Abstract

The aim of this article is to comment on

‘Healthier Australians’, Chapter 2 in the

Productivity Commission’s report Shifting

the Dial. The report elevates health and

wellbeing to a central role in lifting the

nation’s productivity. The main recommenda-

tions centre around better information in the

health care system and improving the archi-

tecture of the system to ensure more decen-

tralised decision making. If acted upon, these

solid building blocks could provide signif‌icant

opportunities to save lives and improve the

health of the population and the wealth of the

country.

1. Health, Wealth and the Role of

Governments

The chapter ‘Healthier Australians’is the f‌irst

in the Productivity Commission’s report,

Shifting the Dial, and has been given promi-

nence due to its importance for the wellbeing of

the population. This places health at the centre

of wealth generation and economic growth and

signals its fundamental role in the economy.

The report notes that: ‘Delivering [health]

much more eff‌iciently, and with a serious focus

on what improves outcomes for the users of

these services, will deliver bigger benef‌its than

even traditional industry reform’(Productivity

Commission 2017a, p. 88).

The report also strongly recognises the role of

governments in raising productivity in Australia.

Governments’f‌inance the largest sectors of the

economy, including health, which is now over

10% of GDP. The Commission has chosen the

topics in its report because they affect the quality

of people’s lives from across the income

distribution, and are areas that have in the past

had little exposure to economic reform. These

are also areas where user needs have not been

given priority and where the benef‌its of reform

occur well into the future. Such a long-term and

inclusive view is welcome. The areas chosen,

however, are also the most diff‌icult to change.

The report’s recommendations on health

include four general recommendations and

two which are quite specif‌ic, all supported

by three substantial supporting articles includ-

ing modelling of expected impacts. The four

general recommendations are:

(i) implement nimble funding arrangements

at the regional level;

* Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social

Research, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3053

Australia; email <a.scott@unimelb.edu.au>.

The Australian Economic Review, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 247–52

°

C2018 The Author. The Australian Economic Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The University of

Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research Published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.