Residential rent crisis set to worsen RENTS are expected to jump another 10% this year after building approvals fell to their lowest since the end of 2006. Home-building approvals have dropped nearly 8% in a year, after falling another 0.7%…
State control urged as rent surges 12.7% is the headline that attracts our eager eyes in the Age today. Many of the city’s most affordable suburbs have been hardest hit, with the typical rent on a two-bedroom house in Oak…
The Economics of Thailand Karl Williams A conundrum wrapped in a paradox is perhaps the best way to describe Thailand, and its economic system is no exception as our rolling travelogue will illustrate. To pick apart this puzzle, I had…
Gavin Putland The ACT’s Land Rent Act, with promised savings of 79% compared to the standard mortgage-based system of home ownership, took effect on July 1. This is an innovative housing affordability policy. Here’s what I wrote about it a…
Time: 7pm, Friday August 1 A kilogram of beef contains between 15,000 and 100,000 litres of embodied water. For every kilogram of wheat grown in Australia, seven kilograms of topsoil are lost. We give lip service to concerns about peak…
Leading Georgist author Fred Harrison was interviewed on the Renegade Economists last week regarding his new book The Silver Bullet. Download his 16 minute interview covering issues such as Botswana’s success, a critique of Jeffery Sach’s Resource Curse theory and…
Hear the author Fred Harrison interviewed on the Renegade Economists tomorrow. Make sure you are podcasting us so you never miss the show. Fred Harrison’s new book levels some very serious charges at the current leaders of the poverty industry.…
Tuesday July 22nd at 6.45pm for 7pm, Level 1/ 27 Hardware Lane, Melb Join us for a warm night of films! See the Earthsharing Challenge film Who Owns Anglesea? This 10 minute short film shines a spotlight on housing affordability…
The tax unit for an asset-holding tax should be the asset! Gavin Putland Recommendation 10 of the Draft Report of the IPART Review of State Taxation suggests “changing the tax unit for land tax from joint ownership to the individual”…
Desperation in the housing market is leading to varied responses. The latest the Age has promoted is the Container Home phenomenon. Miners earning $100,000 have been forced into them in Port Headland and other fast growing mining communities. Now a…