Recent publications
The Regulatory State's democracy problem
Economic Regulation of Transport Facilities
Land Regulations, Housing Prices and Productivity
Land costs are incorporated in most commercial activities. Hence, beyond the direct effects on housing and commercial property, measures that raise the price of land have a pervasive effect in raising costs throughout the economy. An important...
The Values Deficit
Address to the Australian Financial Review Housing Conference
How the Panama Canal was built: A regulatory fable
Fixing the Crisis: A fair deal for homebuyers in WA
Planning policies, more than any other factor, restrict the capacity of first home buyers, and other less advantaged groups, from achieving a goal of home ownership. Current planning orthodoxies inflate urban land prices and discriminate against...
The long First World War
John Roskam reviews The Great War by Les Carlyon (Macmillan Australia, 2006, 880 pages) History is usually about ‘what happened next'. Events are important, not only because they happened, but because they lead to something else. And so it...
The Tragedy of Planning: Losing the Great Australian Dream
A house provides us with a place of rest, a place for our possessions, and a place to raise our families. Not only this, but a house is often the largest investment we make during our lifetime. However housing is becoming unaffordable for more and...
Public transport debates: more substance, less gimmicks
Planning restraints: A plague on wealth and the democratic process
Economic planning is a term as archaic as phrases such as 'peoples' democracy' or 'proletarian justice'. Yet urban planning-and land planning generally-is flourishing and dominates the evolving structure of cities.