Since Papua New Guinea’s independence in 1975, economic growth has been slow but volatile, with major changes in economic structure and policies, as well as in politics and governance.

This economic history, written to commemorate the fiftieth year of independence celebrated in September 2025 and the first to be produced in some 15 years, divides the half century since independence into four periods: the relative stability but also early struggles of the seventies and eighties; the crises and reforms of the nineties; the boom of the 2000s; and the quiet bust of the 2010s.

Two chapters cover each period’s major economic, policy, institutional and political developments. The final three chapters provide an overall assessment of economic performance and policies since independence and link them with its politics and institutions.

Data-driven, frank, insightful and engaging, Struggle, Reform, Boom and Bust is written by an expert team of economists from the University of Papua New Guinea and The Australian National University under the leadership of Professor Stephen Howes, Director of the ANU Development Policy Centre.