The rapid expansion and diversification of the economy in the twentieth century brought immense wealth and new opportunities to many Australians. This chapter discusses the story of economic achievement in twentieth-century Australia that has enabled people to become much wealthier and have a far greater choice over how to spend their longer lives. American and Japanese firms transferred skills, technology and organisational thinking that were vital to the modernising Australian economy. Increases in the scale of supply and demand will generate expanded economic activity. One study estimates that two-thirds of Australian economic growth from Federation to 1979 was attributable to factor accumulation and one-third to increased productivity. Australia's relatively better performance in the 1990s and its resilience during the financial crisis might suggest that the achievements of the twentieth century have taken on a self-sustaining nature. However, socioeconomic challenges are likely to operate on the Australian economy including the unfinished business of disadvantaged Indigenous communities.