Australia Stopped Investing—and Productivity Flatlined | Chris Bradley

Chris Bradley, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, tells Claire Lehmann that Australia has had almost zero productivity growth for a decade—and that the cause isn't mysterious. We stopped investing, and nobody legislates for growth anymore. He also argues the next 75 years could still deliver universal prosperity: every country living like Switzerland does today.

Chris Bradley is a co-author of A Century of Plenty: A Story of Progress for Generations to Come (McKinsey Global Institute, 2026): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G66Z5Y4D?tag=quillette-20

0:00 Teaser

0:34 Introduction

1:00 Why McKinsey wrote it at 100

2:15 Our grandparents' century

4:30 The machine of progress: energy, capital, cities

7:00 The firm: prosperity's unsung hero

9:15 What went wrong in Australia

14:00 Giving up on growth

15:00 Luxury beliefs and 'economic measles'

19:00 Zero-sum thinking and the magic of 1 and 2 percent

27:20 Art downstream from technology

29:30 The few firms that drive productivity

33:40 Capital gains tax and talent flight

38:40 Switzerland vs Burundi

44:30 Australia in 2100: AI, energy, earning optimism