Struggle, Reform, Boom and Bust

An Economic History of Papua New Guinea since Independence

Stephen Howes with Martin Davies, Rohan Fox, Maholopa Laveil, Manoj K. Pandey, Kelly Samof and Dek Joe Sum

We do not want to build a modern society if that means a society in which only the powerful and wealthy can get the benefits. It is not right for a few to have a fancy car—or even two cars—while most of our people still walk along bush tracks.

—Chief Minister Michael Somare, 1973 (cited in Samana 1985, 210)

Pacific Series

To the people of Papua New Guinea, on the occasion of the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence

Map 0.1: Papua New Guinea

Source: The Australian National University, CartoGIS 12-230 CC BY-SA 4.0.

Published by ANU Press

The Australian National University

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Email: anupress@anu.edu.au

Available to download for free at press.anu.edu.au

ISBN (print): 9781760466992

ISBN (online): 9781760467005

WorldCat (print): 1524051254

WorldCat (online): 1524052506

DOI: 10.22459/SRBB.2025

This title is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence.

The full licence terms are available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode

Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Front cover photograph by Stephen Howes. Back cover photograph courtesy of ExxonMobil PNG Limited as operator of the PNG LNG Project.

This book is published under the aegis of the Pacific editorial board of ANU Press.

Published in 2025 by ANU Press

This edition © 2026 ANU Press