Economic Policies
The Nobel Prize winning economist James Tobin once said that the study of economics “offered the hope, as it still does, that improved understanding could better the lot of mankind”. One of the ways in which it does this is through the implementation of economic policy that helps to ameliorate boom-and-bust cycles, reduces unemployment, contains inflation or lifts people’s living standards in sustainable ways.
The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump – for the US, and for Australia
Economic Policies, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy | 18th June 2025Presentation to an ‘Island of Ideas’ forum hosted by the University of Tasmania in Hobart on 18th June 2025. There is a podcast of the forum here : Australia and the Trump Effect – YouTube (Saul’s presentation starts at about 20:00 minutes in).
Tasmania’s next government needs to have credible plans to return the budget to a cash surplus and reduce debt
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Publications, Tasmania | 17th June 2025Unfunded pork-barrelling accounts for more than three-quarters of the increase in Tasmania’s ‘general government’ net debt between 2017-18 and the forecast for 2027-28. During the campaign for the election to be held on 19th July (the third in four years, the fourth in seven) someone needs to say, echoing Kevin Rudd during the 2007 Federal […]
Inequality in the Distribution of Wealth – An Inter-Generational Perspective
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Publications, Taxation | 5th June 2025Article published by Inside Story and Pearls and Irritations in June 2025 , based on Saul’s talk to the Business Breakfast hosted by the Tasmanian Division of the Salvantion Army on 19th May 2025 for the launch of their Annual Red Shield Appeal.
Tasmanian Government Privatisation Assessment – ‘Stage One’ Report
Economic Policies, Publications, Tasmania | 1st June 2025In March this year the Premier of Tasmania, the Hon. Jeremy Rockliff MP, asked Saul to give his Government “high level” advice on the possible privatization or divestment of 16 different government business enterprises (GBEs), state-owned companies (SOCs) and other entitites. The terms of reference called for the advice to be presented in two stages, […]
Tasmania’s 2025-26 State Budget puts the main task off to another day
Economic Policies, Tasmania | 29th May 2025The 2025-26 Tasmanian State Budget, presented on 29th May 2025 by Treasurer Guy Barnett, does nothing to prevent or forestall a further deterioration in Tasmania’s financial position. Despite picking up some of the recommendations in my Independent Review of Tasmania’s State Finances published in August last year, the job of putting Tasmania’s public finances on a […]
Is the United States about to step over a dangerous financial precipice?
Economic Policies, News, The Global Economy | 24th May 2025Interest rates on US Federal Government debt are on the cusp of exceeding the growth rate of (nominal) US GDP – an unusual situation, and one which challenges what has been the ‘conventional wisdom’ in economic policy-making circles for at least the past six years that government deficits and debt may not matter as much […]
Government’s proposal to increase the tax on superannuation
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Recent Media Interview, Taxation | 22nd May 2025Saul Eslake talks to Radio 2HD Newcastle’s Brent Bultitude about the Government’s proposal to increase the tax on superannuation balances of more than $3 million, including by taxing unrealized capital gains in those funds
The funding of greyhound racing in Tasmania
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Publications, Tasmania | 22nd May 2025Saul Eslake’s report on the financing (overwhelmingly by the Tasmanian State Government) of greyhound racing in Tasmania: Note: this report was funded by private individuals associated with 12 charities and community groups campaigning for greyhound welfare. However none of those individuals sought to influence the content of this report, the responsibility for which rests entirely […]