SAUL ESLAKE

Economist

SAUL ESLAKE

‘Welcome to my website …
I’m an independent economist, consultant, speaker,
and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania’

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.

How Victoria became one of Australia’s ‘poorer’ states over the past 10 years

Publications, The Australian Economy | 4th June 2021

Op-ed article published in the Melbourne Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers  on 4th June 2021 outlining how Victoria’s economy has come to depend to a much greater extent on population growth than that of any other Australian state or territory, and the possible consequences for Victoria’s medium-term economic outlook given the way its mis-handling […]


Victorians have become poorer than residents all other states and territories except one

Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy | 2nd June 2021

Saul talks to Melbourne radion 3AW‘s Ross Stevenson and Russel Howcroft about how Victoria has gone from being one of Australia’s richest states to one of its poorest, by some measures, over the past 20 years.


Will the property market stay this ‘hot’?

Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy | 2nd June 2021

Saul talks to Domain’s Alice Stolz about the outlook for property prices, and housing policies


Victoria’s economic performance over the past decade

Economic Policies, News, Publications, The Australian Economy | 31st May 2021

The Australian Financial Review’s newly-appointed Economics Editor John Kehoe had a front-page piece about the performance of Victoria’s economy, based in part on interviews with me, on 31st May 2021. Here is a set of charts illustrating the points I was making.    


Protracted border closures are a new form of ‘protectionism’

Economic Policies, Publications, The Australian Economy | 30th May 2021

Op-ed article published in The Australian Financial Review of 31st May (and available online online here) making the case that although the continued closure of Australia’s international borders is providing unheralded benefits to Australia’s economy (boosting spending and accelerating the decline in unemployment), much like the old forms of ‘protectionism’ in which we indulged for […]


The Future of Work – Sydney

Labour Market, The Australian Economy | 25th May 2021

Talk to a conference on “The Future of Work” hosted by ISPT (an industry superannuation funds property trust) in Sydney on 26th May 2021, which looks at the prospects for, and implications of, an increase in the proportion of employees “working from home” in the aftermath of Covid-19


Alan Kohler refers to Saul’s assessment of 2021-2022 Australian Federal Budget

Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy | 17th May 2021

ABC The Kohler Report‘s Alan Kohler refers to my assessment of 2021-2022 Australian Federal Budget


Budget shock: Morrison government hit over the head by a paradigm

Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy, Topics | 16th May 2021

Sydney Morning Herald‘s Economic Editor Ross Gittins refers to my assessment of 2021-2022 Australian Federal Budget