SAUL ESLAKE

Economist

SAUL ESLAKE

‘Welcome to my website …
I’m an independent economist, speaker, company director
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


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Saul Eslake online presentation


“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


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WHAT'S NEW

Most Recent Articles, Talks and Presentations


‘A distinctive part of life in Australia’ The Declining Dream of Homeownership
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing
17th April 2024


Could China have a currency crisis at some point in the next 2-5 years?
Asian Economies, The Global Economy, Topics
16th April 2024


“The Great Housing Disaster – Who’s to Blame?”
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Housing, Recent Media Interview, Topics
15th April 2024


The Economic Consequences of Surges in Immigration
Australian Society and Politics, The Australian Economy, The Global Economy, Topics
10th April 2024


Is China heading for some kind of currency or financial crisis?
Asian Economies, The Global Economy
4th April 2024


The next four years will be difficult for Tasmania
News, Tasmania
27th March 2024


Some initial reflections on the outcome of the 2024 Tasmanian State election
Australian Society and Politics, Tasmania
24th March 2024


Tasmania’s fiscal position
Australian Society and Politics, Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview, Tasmania
24th March 2024


Productivity, Tax Reform and ‘Peak China’
Asian Economies, Economic Policies, Productivity, Taxation, The Australian Economy
13th March 2024


Tasmania – lost opportunities
Tasmania
12th March 2024


The Tasmanian Economy
Tasmania
29th February 2024


The worst public policy decision of the 21st Century
Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview
20th February 2024


Is ‘price gouging’ a major contributor to inflation?
Recent Media Interview
19th February 2024


The massive $50bn GST revenue distribution blow out (with Andy Park)
Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview
14th February 2024


The massive $50bn GST revenue distribution blow out (with Gary Adshead)
Economic Policies, Recent Media Interview
14th February 2024


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TESTIMONIALS

What Others Say


“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

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