Saul Eslake

Saul Eslake is one of Australia’s best-known economists. He’s been following, analyzing and offering commentary and advice on the Australian and other economies for more than 40 years.

Since 2015 Saul has been running his own independent economics advisory and consultancy service, Corinna Economic Advisory, from Hobart, Tasmania. Saul does keynote addresses at public and private conferences; participates in panel discussions; presents to boards, investment and asset allocation committees; undertakes customized analyses and reports for corporate, investor, not-for-profit and government clients; has given testimony to Parliamentary Committees; and appears frequently on radio and TV and in the print media in Australia and other countries.

His clients  include Australian and overseas institutional and private equity investors; large and small corporates; government agencies; industry and professional organizations; ‘think tanks’; social and environmental organizations; housing associations; and (occasionally) even political parties.

Saul’s economic analysis and economic reports have covered broad macro-economic themes including economic and employment growth, inflation, international trade, commodity prices, bond and currency markets, labour markets, productivity, climate change, household and corporate debt, public finance, fiscal and monetary policy, inter-government financial relations, taxation, climate change, and regulatory issues. He has also undertaken and published research on specific industries or themes including housing, tourism, agriculture, energy, infrastructure investment, metals and minerals, poverty alleviation, income distribution and inequality, taxation reform, shipping and transport, the future of work, and regional development.

In 2021 Corinna Economic Advisory joined with a similar London-based economics consultancy, Llewellyn Consulting, to form Independent Economics to offer similar services to clients around the world.

Saul has been the Australian representative on the International Conference of Commercial Bank Economists (ICCBE) since 2003, and chaired its Steering Committee between 2018 and 2021.

Saul is also a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania; a member of the Australian Parliamentary Budget Office’s panel of expert advisors, and a member of Australian Taxation Office’s ‘Tax Gap’ expert advisory panel.

In 2024, he undertook an Independent Review of Tasmania’s State Finances, pursuant to an agreement between the Premier of Tasmania, the Hon. Jeremy Rockliff MP, and the three members of the Jacqui Lambie Network elected to the Tasmanian Parliament in March 2024 (Rebekah Pentland MP, Miriam Beswick MP and Andrew Jenner MP).

Saul began his career as an economist working for the Australian Treasury, in its Fiscal and Monetary Policy sections, in Canberra, which provided him with a very solid grounding in how macro-economic policies are formulated and implemented. He then worked for the Advisory Council for Inter-Government Relations (specializing in federal-state financial relations and in housing policy) and for the Opposition (Minority) Leader in the Parliament of the State of Victoria, before landing his first position in Australia’s financial markets. Saul then worked in the markets for 25 years, including as Chief Economist at McIntosh Securities (when it was one of Australia’s leading stockbroking firms) in the second half of the 1980s; Chief Economist (International) for the investment management division of National Mutual Life Association (then Australia’s second largest life insurance company) in the first half of the 1990s; Chief Economist at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (one of Australia’s four large commercial banks) between 1995 and 2009; and Chief Economist (Australia and New Zealand) for Bank of America Merrill Lynch (one of the world’s largest investment banks) between 2011 and 2015.

He has also previously been a member of the Australian Government’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Policy Advisory Councils; its Tourism Forecasting Committee and Long-Term Tourism Strategy Steering Committee; and its National Housing Supply Council. He’s also previously been Chair of the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board, which advised on the distribution of grants to arts companies and individual artists. He’s also previously been a non-executive director of the Gas & Fuel Corporation of Victoria; the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute; Hydro Tasmania; Housing Choices Australia; and the Macquarie Point Development Corporation.

Saul has a first class honours degree in Economics from the University of Tasmania; and a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia (now known as FinSIA). He has completed the Senior Executive Program at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; and (with Merit) the Company Directors’ Course of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He also holds a Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) degree from the University of Tasmania.