Economic progress, social disquiet: The modern paradox

Surveys of social attitudes are revealing a perhaps unprecedented paradox: a booming economy but persistent community disquiet. The puzzling coinciden ce is fuelling interest in what is perhaps the ultimate public policy quest ion: is life getting better - or worse? The relationship between economic g rowth and human development is not as clear-cut as conventional wisdom and government policy assume. Public opinion surveys suggest that the driving d ynamic in Australia and other Western societies in the early decades of the new century will be a growing tension between values and lifestyles. How t his tension is resolved will fundamentally determine national and global fu tures.