Following in the footsteps of Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, Andrew Leigh’s book Disconnected charts the post-war trends in civic engagement for Australia. Chapters include: ‘Joining, Volunteering and Giving; Politics; Religion; the Workplace; Sport, Culture and Entertainment; Friends and Neighbours; Trust and Honesty; Explaining the Trends; and What is to be Done’. All data in the book is available for download from www.andrewleigh.org.

The author

Prior to being elected in 2010 as the federal member for Fraser, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. Andrew has written extensively on a range of subjects, including education, taxation and social policy. He also writes regularly for the Australian press. Andrew holds a PhD in public policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Law and Arts. He has previously worked as a lawyer (including a stint as associate to former High Court Justice Michael Kirby), and as a principal adviser to the Australian Treasury. Andrew is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and in 2011 received the 'Young Economist Award', a prize given every two years by the Economics Society of Australia to the best Australian economist under 40.