What would Adam Smith Make of Modern Australia?

<p><span style=color: rgba(105 114 123 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>You would think that Scottish 18th-Century writer intellectual 'Father of Economics' Adam Smith would have lost relevance in our modern society. Quite the opposite according to </span><span style=color: rgba(83 90 98 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Joseph Healy</span><span style=color: rgba(105 114 123 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)> who believes there is much to learn from Adam Smith if we are to strive for a more equitable productive and happier society.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(105 114 123 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>Australia today is prosperous by many traditional economic measures yet getting progressively poorer by other measures of what constitutes a vibrant healthy and good society. And the direction of travel is concerning. Australia's economic pie (GDP) might be growing but too many people are getting smaller and smaller pieces of it and a handful are getting far more than they can possibly eat.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(105 114 123 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>This thought-provoking book explores how our economic progress seems inversely correlated to a decline in important measures of societal wellbeing such as the alarming increase in family dysfunctionality domestic violence the scale and scope of mental health-associated problems and a persistently deteriorating trend in baseline education. In many ways Australia is becoming a divided society and this is a serious trajectory if not addressed and corrected.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(105 114 123 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>With historical and recent references Healy has written an important and engaging discourse for readers keen to understand where our society can improve and how we can assist.</span></p><p></p>