When supply rises, prices fall, all else equal. Right? Turns out that when it comes to housing, one in three Australians think the opposite. This belief is sometimes called supply scepticism. 1/9

The Premier of Victoria has just confirmed that building second homes (e.g. granny flats) will soon be easier in Victoria. In this new e61 research, we project the impact of this policy change by analysing a similar change implemented in Sydney in 2009. /1

How much money would you give up to change homes? Half a year of take-home salary? Stamp duty is in this ballpark. It costs the average capital city dweller five months of after-tax income. 1/

Yesterday e61 released the monthly update of Spendtracker, our high-frequency consumption tracker. Throughout 2023, nominal spending averaged 9.2% higher than in 2022. The CPI was on average up 5.6%, so real spending rose about 3.5%. e61.in/spendtracker/. 1/6

Since 2006 the number of individuals who receive the unemployment benefit for over two years has surged. Less well know is there was a similar decline in long-term recipients of other benefits. Overall, long-term benefit dependence has not risen: bit.ly/496yszD 1/7

🌟 Call for Papers 🌟 Join us for the inaugural Micro 4 Macro Workshop in Sydney on 16-17 Dec 2024! Explore the intersection of microeconomic heterogeneity & macroeconomic outcomes. Submit your paper by 31 July 2024 to [email protected].

Can the housing affordability crisis be solved by allowing more private sector construction? Some say no, because new builds usually target the higher income housing market. But maybe there are flow-on effects to lower income segments. New e61 research investigates. 1/8

Nick Garvin and Luke Hartigan construct a new measure of underlying inflation for Australia, similar to what other central banks use, and it presents a stronger case that inflation is already sustainably within the RBA's target range. e61.in/time-for-the-r…