The rental housing market in Nairobi’s informal settlements offers its tenant households a perverse market outcome of higher prices for lower quality products
One of the largest concentrations of poverty in the US exists in communities at the US-Mexico border called ‘colonias.’ These informal settlements lack access to basic infrastructure.
Ramaphosa’s stimulus package is more interesting for what it says about the politics of economic decision making than for its likely impact on the economy.
Peter Whiteford, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Its extremely common, everywhere, for large numbers of people to pay no net tax. It tells us nothing about the size of the welfare state or about whether it bribes people to keep tax high.
For our country to have a sustainable future, we need to ensure all Australians have access to quality education and healthcare and take steps to reduce inequality.
In evolutionary terms, it’s better to be at the bottom of the hierarchy than to be dead – and that’s why submissive behaviours still persist in us humans. Even if we don’t like it.
Children growing up in the most disadvantaged suburbs also lack the social opportunities to develop skills and aspirations that would improve their prospects in life.
South Africans debating the zero rating of certain products for VAT purposes must realise it isn’t a panacea for poor people and should be accompanied by other policies.
Ilan Wiesel, The University of Melbourne; Liss Ralston, Swinburne University of Technology, and Wendy Stone, Swinburne University of Technology
The Productivity Commission neglected the impact of housing costs. After allowing for these costs, the top 10% of households’ average disposable income grew at 2.7 times the rate of the bottom 10%.
To achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Australia needs to put more emphasis on addressing critical, long-term issues like inequality and climate change.