A ‘Sustainable’ Population? – Key Policy Issues

Abstract

In March 2011, the Productivity Commission hosted a roundtable on the theme A ‘Sustainable’ Population? — Key Policy Issues. The proceedings have been released to enable public access to the papers and discussion, and insights that emerged.

In his opening remarks, Productivity Commission Chairman, Gary Banks observed that recent debate about a 'sustainable' population has not always been well-informed. He noted the importance of clarifying the policy objectives and understanding the forces at work in assessing policy options. Papers presented at the Roundtable cover the key economic, environmental and social dimensions of population and immigration growth.

Roundtable participants included senior government officials, academics, consultants and representatives of non-government organizations. Keynote addresses were presented by Professor Richard Arnott (University of California) and Professor Barry Chiswick (George Washington University).

This publication complements other work by the Productivity Commission on the impact of population growth and immigration, including a Commission Research Paper Population and Migration: Understanding the Numbers, released in December 2010.

Keywords: sustainable population, population, productivity, participation, immigration, migration, population growth, ageing population, policy, economic

JEL Classification: J11