Super for Housing
1. Summary and Introduction This paper discusses a proposal that home buyers be enabled to access their superannuation (hereafter, …
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Interest, Usury and the Common Good
Introduction: Is there a problem with interest? Making money out of lending money has generated moral controversy since ancient times. …
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Less Crowded Houses. NZ’s housing policy success and implications for Australia
Introduction Many Australians are increasingly concerned by deteriorating housing affordability and its implications for socio-economic outcomes. In a recent survey, …
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CIS Impact Report
Publications reached a record this year, with the release of 37 research papers plus 20 submissions to government and official …
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Gorillas In The Mist. How government obscures its spending
Executive Summary Government overreach: The federal government’s planned $78 billion of off-budget measures over the next four years reflects an …
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Land Use Restrictions and the Australian Housing Policy Debate
Planning restrictions are a major reason why housing in Australia is so expensive. For example, they are estimated to raise the price of the average apartment in Sydney by 37%.
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Submission to the Inquiry into financial regulation and home ownership
Regulation of the financial system is needed to protect depositors and avoid financial crises. However, current financial regulations go beyond these legitimate objectives to prevent mutually advantageous loans.
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Government spending and inflation
That government expenditure in Australia has grown apace in recent years is well-known. The growth became gargantuan during the coronavirus pandemic. However, to a less dramatic extent, it was happening before the pandemic — and has continued since it ended.
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Business Means Business. Why Corporates Should Avoid Social Activism
Senior management should be concerned they are putting their companies at risk of reputational harm if they associate with movements that are, or become, viewed negatively by the general public.
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Budget Fails Important Policy Tests
The deficit budgeted for 2024-25, amounting to over $28 billion ($28,000 million), translates to a willingness to borrow and spend over $1,500 per Australian voter to secure an election victory.
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The tax cut that will only buy you a coffee
The Labor government appears to have chosen a cut confined to the lowest rate so that it could stick to its “tax cut for everyone” slogan.
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Here’s why forcing workers back to the office won’t have the desired effect
Working from home is sneakily becoming one of the biggest emerging fault-lines in our society. Scarcely a week goes by …
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Indexation would end the stealth tax of bracket creep
In Australia, bracket creep has become a silent but significant burden on taxpayers, eroding real take-home pay and fuelling the growth of government revenue without explicit consent.
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Time to do away with this insidious tax hurting us all
Bracket creep is caused by the inflation and its interaction with our progressive tax system.
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Are we prepared for the next pandemic?
Australia has taken steps to prepare for avian flu. But preparedness isn’t a one-time event. Are we doing enough? Or will we once again find ourselves reacting too late?
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Amid all the hype about DOGE, we should be watching closely
We should all be very watchful, given what governments would get up to with our money if the lights go out. However, many fans are going too far.
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This is pure snake oil. And a diversion from policies that made our lives better
There was much sound and fury in Australia, and among our allies, when China introduced trade sanctions on Australia in …
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Blame bigger government for falling living standards
Many people roll their eyes at the mention of the word, but productivity matters. Simply put, productivity means output per hour worked; and without growth in productivity, our living standards deteriorate.
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Make large-scale reforms to super or leave it alone
The Treasurer’s announcement that the government remains committed to its terrible super tax changes is unwelcome news for many. The …
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Yes, the public service can be more efficient. But it won’t solve all our woes
Even though the words of Auld Lang Syne have disappeared once again into the leaking sieves of our collective memory, …
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Less Crowded Houses. NZ’s housing policy success and implications for Australia
While house prices in Australia went up by more than 8% in 2023, prices in New Zealand fell by more …
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Solving the housing crisis | Stuart Donovan
How can Australia tackle its housing affordability crisis? What lessons can we learn from New Zealand’s successful upzoning policies? In …
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Government spending and inflation explained | Emilie Dye
Government is shooting itself in the foot when it comes to inflation. While the RBA works to lower inflation by …
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The simple solution to FIX the housing crisis | Emilie Dye
What is behind the housing crisis in Australia and across the world? Research Analyst Emilie Dye, drawing on the work …
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How to tackle Australia’s housing crisis one state at a time | NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey
Sydney is home to some of the least affordable housing in the world, placing immense pressure particularly on young people …
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Has Easy Money Destroyed the Free Market? | Ruchir Sharma
Watch as Tom Switzer sits down with renowned financial analyst, commentator, and investor Ruchir Sharma for a thought-provoking discussion on …
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Support CIS Research in 2024
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The NDIS is out of control | John Kehoe
The Australian economy has performed better than most economists predicted a year ago. However, probe deeper and things look disturbing. …
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Will economic growth destroy the planet?
Will economic growth destroy the planet? The debate over whether economic growth will ultimately lead to the destruction of the …
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Decoding Science: Navigating Imperfections, Truths, and Challenges in COVID
CIS welcomed Matt Ridley for a thought-provoking discussion on the critical role of Government in shaping climate, health, and energy …
Frequently Asked Questions
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) structure makes mistakes likely. It concentrates responsibility on one fallible individual, the Governor, answerable to a Board of non-experts, with little requirement to explain or defend decisions in detail. Arguments are subject to little scrutiny, either internally or externally. More fundamentally, the RBA has a culture that places a low priority on getting the answers right. As a result, mistakes are frequent, persistent and costly. Among several examples, the RBA recently placed higher priority on stabilising household debt than on its conventional goals of unemployment and inflation. Previously, it targeted the current account deficit. Read more ...
Inflation is rising around the world, the sting in the tail of the pandemic economic stimulus packages unleashed by governments in 2020. The narrative thus far is that this inflation spike is transitory, even if a little more persistent than first thought. It is expected to moderate as consumer price pressures ease and markets rebalance after the large positive demand shock and surge in consumer spending of the past 18 months. Read more ...