What is this “abundance” thing that progressive economists are suddenly banging on about after reading the latest American pop economics book? At last, one of them has explained it.

He is Dr Andrew Leigh, Australia’s assistant minister for productivity, competition, charities, treasury and the kitchen sink. In short, he’s the assistant assistant treasurer. Leigh is a former economics professor and one of the brightest minds in the government.

Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury Andrew Leigh.Credit: Ben Appleton

So why does he have such a rag-bag of a job? Because he’s not a member of either of Labor’s right and left factions, which means that, no matter how capable he is, he gets what’s left after the faction members have bagsed all the top jobs.

This is good, actually, because it leaves Leigh with time to do the government’s creative thinking. He gave a thoughtful speech last week about “the politics of abundance and the perils of zero-sum thinking”. In it, he does a much better job of explaining the relevance of abundance than the authors of the book.

Economics is sometimes defined as the study of scarcity. Our wants are infinite, but the resources available to fulfil those wants are finite, so economists help us maximise the satisfaction we extract from the available resources. But the authors say economists should be on about abundance, not scarcity.

Leigh explains that abundance doesn’t mean everyone gets to be as rich as Gina Rinehart, but that everyone should be provided with the capability to live the life they want. He adds that when the economy is seen as a zero-sum game, ambition shrinks, but when we see the possibility of........

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