The Australian Economy
Australia hasn’t had a recession – in the widely used sense of two or more consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth – since 1991. Since then, Australia’s ranking among nations in terms of per capita GDP has risen from 22nd to, in the last four years, either 12th or 13th, behind only the United States, Norway, Switzerland and a number of other smaller states which are predominantly either oil producers or financial centres. Australia’s economic performance reflects a combination of luck and management – the relative importance and quality of which have varied significantly from time to time. Monitoring the performance of and analysing the prospects for the Australian economy has been the major part of my ‘day job’ since I completed my university degree in 1979.
The effective rate of unemployment
Labour Market, The Australian Economy | 11th August 2021A submission to the Senate Select Committee on Job Security, examining the difference between the unemployment rate as published (in accordance with long-standing international statistical conventions) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, and alternative measures which take account of some of the ways in which Covid-19 (and the restrictions imposed in response to it) have […]
Bursting the Housing Bubble
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, The Australian Economy | 3rd August 2021Podcast of a discussion with Janet Ge, Associate Professor in the School of Built Environment at University of Technology, Sydney and Matt Grudnoff of the Australia Institute, a think tank, hosted by Toby Hemmings of Think: Business Futures, focussing on the consequences of and reasons for the continued escalation of Australian residential property prices.
The Economics of Immigration
Australian Society and Politics, News, The Australian Economy | 3rd August 2021Talk to the Sydney Institute, 3rd August 2021. The margin by which Australia’s economic growth rate has exceeded the average for all ‘advanced’ economies over the past two decades is almost entirely attributable to Australia’s immigration program. But that’s not the criterion against which it should be judged. Australia’s immigration program has made a small […]
June CPI and the implications of Australia’s vaccination strategy
Economic Policies, News, Publications, Recent Media Interview, The Australian Economy | 29th July 2021Saul talks to Alan Kohler about this week’s June quarter CPI result and the implications of Australia’s vaccination strategy for our economic performance.
How is the immigration pause affecting Australia’s economy?
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Recent Media Interview, The Australian Economy | 22nd July 2021Saul Eslake talks to ABC Radio National’s Peter Martin and Gigi Foster on their “The Economists” program 22nd July 2021
The Future of Super
Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy | 16th July 2021Saul discusses ‘The Future of Super’ with Federal Liberal MP Tim Wilson, who is also the Chair of the House of Representatives Economics Committee
The Post-Pandemic Economy
The Australian Economy | 13th July 2021Address to a luncheon hosted by the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies in Adelaide on 13th July – looking (briefly) at the outlook for the world economy, (in a bit more detail) about the Australian economy’s performance and prospects, and finishing with some commentary on the changes to the way in which GST revenues […]
Video & Presentation Slides: Australia’s ‘new protectionism’
Australia's New Protectionism, Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, The Australian Economy | 25th June 2021Join Saul Eslake for a discussion about how Australia’s prolonged border closures are indirectly providing a short-term boost to spending, and making it easier to reduce unemployment – although in the long run this form of ‘protectionism’ like all the other forms will make us worse off.
This webinar is being offered free of charge in the interests of prompting wider awareness of some of the implications of the Government’s health and economic strategies.
