Executive Summary This Speculative Vacancies report has sought to measure the number of residential and commercial properties in Melbourne that are vacant and held out of use. Residential rents surged between 2007 and 2010, imposing financial stress on many tenants.…
The Victorian government today released its metropolitan planning strategy Plan Melbourne at an industry seminar in the Melbourne convention centre. It puts in place the preconditions for a city that is: • Economically divided • Highly livable for those with…
Frank Ramsey formally studied mathematics but diversified into philosophy and economics. Among economists he is famous for proving that if the tax system is to raise a given revenue with minimum deadweight, each commodity should be taxed in inverse proportion…
Payroll tax is a reverse tariff: an inland payroll tax feeds into prices of locally produced goods and services, including those intended for export, but exempts imported goods and services up to the point of importation. In contrast, a Value-Added…
Address to the 122nd Annual Henry George Commemorative DinnerThe Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne 2nd, September 2013 by Saul Eslake An edited audio recording of the presentation was broadcast on this week’s Renegade Economists radio show. Note: The opinions expressed…
The following is an article published in Online Opinion today. Dymphna Boholt, the focus of this article, released an enews on the day the ABS 8 Capital Cities index was released (revealing a national 2.4% upkick in prices) entitled “Are…
We tried to bring GetUp to speed with housing policy with our Dont Buy Now campaign. They ignored that and continue to ignore basic economic science. More money on a fixed planet is destined to raise land prices. A Land…
by Professor Michael Hudson How can China avoid the “Western financial disease” – a real estate bubble followed by defaults and foreclosures? The U.S. and European economies originally sought to avoid this fate by taxing the location’s site value. A…
The Herald Sun reports research by PRD Nationwide showing that on average, across all Melbourne suburbs, the presence of a railway station in a suburb adds about $48,000 to the value of the median “house” in the suburb. This average rises…
The call for infrastructure spending to lift Australia’s productivity and efficiency widens and deepens every day. Around us, economic activity continues to weaken, particularly in construction. The call to spend big will soon be irresistible. The needs list is very…