The Economic Reform Roundtable is ostensibly all about productivity. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has argued that cutting red tape and speeding up approvals is the key to unlocking growth. It’s the old trickle-down idea made new again by Ezra Klein’s book Abundance: make it easier to build, and prosperity will follow. It’s an appealing story. But […]
Summary To improve productivity Australia needs to shift taxes off work and enterprise and onto the economic rents from land, natural resources, and monopolies. This principle should be at the heart of any economic reform agenda. Income tax should be rebalanced to favour productive effort over unearned gains, beginning by scrapping CGT concessions. States should […]
By Cameron Murray and Tim Helm This article was originally published on Fresh Economic Thinking. Posted here with permission. A recent working paper by Schuyler Louie, John A. Mondragon, and Johannes Wieland has been making waves in urban economics circles. The paper title might provide a clue as to why— “Supply Constraints do not Explain House Price […]