Social Capital and Public Expenditure in Australia

In this paper, attention is focused on the impact of changes in public expenditure on health and education services. Australia's total expenditure on health care has remained roughly constant at around 8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the past two decades, comparable to most other developed countries with the exception of the United States. The mixture of public and private contributions has also remained broadly constant. Broadly speaking, the pressure to cut expenditure has been offset by steadily increasing demand for health services, leading to a situation of chronic near-crisis, manifested in long waiting lists and public dissatisfaction