Committee for Economic Development of Australia

The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) is a bipartisan, non-profit, national, independent, member-based organisation providing thought leadership and policy perspectives on the economic and social issues affecting Australia.

Its expressed aim is to "promote national economic development in a sustainable and socially balanced way." Sydney Morning Herald economics editor Ross Gittins has described CEDA as seeking to "inform the public debate without lobbying". It is financed by around 700 members drawn from business, universities, governments and community groups, and by a program of conferences and other events.

CEDA was formed in 1960 by Sir Douglas Copland, one of the most influential figures in Australian economics, and George Le Couteur OBE was President from 1968 until 1974. It was modelled on the US CED (Committee for Economic Development), but is now organised along lines more similar to the US Conference Board and the Conference Board of Canada. It is Australia's third-oldest think-tank, after the Institute of Public Affairs and the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

In 1979, after a debate on CEDA's involvement in lobbying, it established a 'Business Roundtable' as an independent entity which in 1983 was merged into the Business Council of Australia.

CEDA's research program in 2014 concentrates on the issues of federalism, the G20, the economics of climate change and advanced manufacturing. In 2015, CEDA's research program will look at retirement income policy, the economic cost of inequality, and Australia's future workforce through the lens of digital disruption. Rather than identifying strongly with a particular ideological viewpoint in the style of the Centre for Independent Studies, the Institute of Public Affairs or the Australia Institute, it mostly offers conclusions that are near the centre of the policy spectrum. It tends to favour market-oriented or at least price-oriented solutions to issues such as water supply and infrastructure. However, a substantial amount of its social policy work - for instance, on transitional labour markets - is sympathetic to government intervention in appropriate circumstances. It is respected for the quality of its research and its commitment to open debate as a means of identifying good policy outcomes.

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