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’

Australian Society and Politics


You can’t think (or write, or speak) about an economy without also having a sense of the broader social and economic framework in which it operates. I try very hard to avoid partisan political commentary, but I do sometimes feel moved to write or talk about social or political developments.

The real meaning of last November’s US elections is becoming clearer – the American people voted for this

Australian Society and Politics, News, Security, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy | 9th March 2025

An article originally published on Pearls and Irritations (a blog curated by John Menadue), and by The New Daily on 9th February 2025 I am not suffering from what some of President Donald Trump’s more fervent supporters — both in the US and in Australia — like to call “Trump derangement syndrome”. That is, I’m not disputing that […]


Werribee voters send messages to both major Victorian political parties

Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News | 9th March 2025

My op-ed in The Australian Financial Review of 9th February 2025 about the meaning of the by-elections held in the Victorian state seats of Werribee and Prahran the precdeding day – in particular, about the Victorian economy and the parlous state of Victoria’s public finances. Federal election 2025: Liberal Party is yet to heed the message […]


Victoria’s economy and public finances

Australian Society and Politics, The Australian Economy | 5th March 2025

Victoria’s economy has begun to under-perform that of the rest of Australia, even though its population growth rate (which has under-pinned an above average ‘headline’ economic growth rate for most of the past two decades) is still above that of the rest of Australia. But measured in terms of either per capita gross product, or […]


China Live-fire in the Tasman Sea

Australian Society and Politics, Economic Video, Tasmania | 2nd March 2025

Saul Eslake talks with the newest member of the InEconomics team, Rear Admiral Rowan Moffatt AO, RAN (retd) about what the flotilla from the Chinese PLA-Navy was doing in the Tasman Sea and other waters off the Australian coast last week, what China might be seeking to achieve by that, and what the implications for Australia might be.


Widening the Gap – An Intergenerational Lens on Wealth Inequality in Australia

Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, The Australian Economy | 12th December 2024

Wealth is inevitably more unequally distributed than income. And inequality in the distribution of wealth has increased more than inequality in the distribution of income in Australia (as in many other countries) over the past two decades or so. But what’s particularly striking, at least in Australia, is how inequality in the distribution of wealth […]


Elections and economies – the US and Australia

Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy | 23rd November 2024

Donald Trump’s clear (although not overhelming) victory in November’s  US Presidential election, combined with the Republicans’ capture of both Houses of the US Congress, puts him in a strong position to implement his agenda. The combination of swingeing increases in tariffs, the deportation of between 1.3 and 8 million migrant workers, a futher increase in […]


“Hiding in Plain Sight” – $180 billion of spending over four years.

Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, The Australian Economy, Topics | 11th November 2024

The Australian Financial Review‘s Economics correspondent Michael Read has an article about the increasing propensity of Federal Governments of both political persuasions to obscure on-going spending in a category officially termed ‘investments in financial assets for policy purposes’, which in the Federal Budget Papers is the difference between the ‘headline’ budget balance – which despite […]


Will Anthony Albanese succeed where Bill Shorten failed in making changes to the taxation treatment of property investment?

Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, Taxation | 26th September 2024

Article published by Pearls and Irritations on 26th September 2024, revisiting the arguments for winding backk ‘negative gearing’ and the capital gains tax discount, in the light of press reports suggesting that the Albanese Governmnt has asked Treasury to consider options for reform.


SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT

Speaking Engagement | Boardroom Advisory | Commissioned Report | Expert Witness



Saul Eslake spoke to Zurich Australia executives and staff at their ‘Accelerate’ conference in Sydney on 9th May 2024, covering short- and longer-term trends in major ‘advanced’ economies, China, India and Australia, with a bit of geo-politics thrown in.



“You are the best economic thinker in the country hands down”

Sheryle Bagwell, recently retired Senior Business Correspondent (and sometime Executive Producer),
ABC Radio National Breakfast


“Just want to congratulate you Saul on the unbelievably good set of slides you just presented, possibly the best I have ever seen. You have set the bar very high.”

Dr Joe Flood, Adjunct Fellow, RMIT University, Pandemicia


“Thank you very much for your excellent presentation for the Economic Society today. It is always a great pleasure to hear your eloquent, up-to-date and comprehensive talks.”

Andrew Trembath, economist, Victorian and Australian Government agencies


Request Speaking Engagement


WHAT'S NEW

Most Recent Articles, Talks and Presentations


The Economies of Asia, Australia and New Zealand
Asian Economies, The Global Economy
10th July 2025


A podcast about “The Worst Public Policy Decision of the 21st Century Thus Far” – the corruption of the arrangements for distributing revenue from the GST among Australia’s states and territories
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview
27th June 2025


Tasmania’s public finances – a comparison with other states and territories in eight charts
Economic Policies, Tasmania
25th June 2025


An agenda for tax reform
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Taxation
22nd June 2025


The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump – for the US, and for Australia
Economic Policies, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy
18th June 2025


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, Tasmania
17th June 2025


The World and Australian Economies in a Nutshell – Presentation to 2025 All Actuaries Summit
Productivity, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy
12th June 2025


Inequality in the Distribution of Wealth – An Inter-Generational Perspective
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Taxation
5th June 2025


Tasmanian Government Privatisation Assessment – ‘Stage One’ Report
Economic Policies, Tasmania, Topics
1st June 2025


Tasmania’s 2025-26 State Budget puts the main task off to another day
Economic Policies, Tasmania
29th May 2025


Is the United States about to step over a dangerous financial precipice?
Economic Policies, News, The Global Economy
24th May 2025


Government’s proposal to increase the tax on superannuation
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Recent Media Interview, Taxation
22nd May 2025


The funding of greyhound racing in Tasmania
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Tasmania
22nd May 2025


Victoria’s profligacy is a problem for all of us
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy
20th May 2025


An inter-generational perspective on wealth inequality in Australia
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Video, Housing, Taxation
16th May 2025


NEWS

TV, Radio & Print Media


Is the United States about to step over a dangerous financial precipice?
Economic Policies, News, The Global Economy | 24th May 2025

Government’s proposal to increase the tax on superannuation
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, Recent Media Interview, Taxation | 22nd May 2025

Victoria’s profligacy is a problem for all of us
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy | 20th May 2025

Labor should use its second victory as a platform for ambitious reform
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News | 5th May 2025

The two worrying trends revealed in Australia’s AAA warning
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, News, The Australian Economy | 30th April 2025

Australia’s ‘housing crisis’ – and how (and why) both major political parties plan to make it worse
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, News, Recent Media Interview | 19th April 2025

Housing Policies Could Push Up Prices
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, News, Recent Media Interview | 17th April 2025

Housing policies in the 2025 election
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, News | 17th April 2025

Bad Housing Policy (yet again?)
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, News, Recent Media Interview, Taxation | 14th April 2025

There must be an election on – both major parties are proposing policies which will push up house prices
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, News, Publications, Taxation | 13th April 2025

Tariffs, Global Economics, and the Future of Trade Policies
Economic Policies, Globalization, News, The Global Economy, US Economy Video | 8th April 2025

Stocks bloodbath: Why investors no longer think Trump can make America great again
Economic Policies, News, The Global Economy | 7th April 2025

Read more

VIDEO

Most Recent Multimedia


TESTIMONIALS

What Others Say


Australian Minister for Housing, the Hon. Clare O'Neill MP on ABC Q&A, September 2024

“We are lucky as a State to have an economist of your calibre willing to readily make yourself available to give us a clea r perception of where we are at and the direction we need to go for a better future”
Diplomatic Representative, August 2024

“You are one of the best at what you do in the world”
Gail Fosler, Chief Economist, The Conference Board, New York, December 2002

“I have never known an economist to have such a knowledge of world economic facts and to be able to bring to bear so much information in answering a question without notice”
Charles Goode, Chairman, ANZ Bank, July 2009

“Saul Eslake is … a highly regarded independent economist with the highest degree of integrity"
John Durie, Columnist, The Australian, July 2009

“… one of the few people in this world who can have so many oranges up in the air at the same time but still manage to catch them"
Andrew Clark, journalist, Australian Financial Review, November 2008

Read more

LINKS

Useful Links


Below is a list of links I’ve found useful under the following broad topics

Read more