Renegade Economists Show 393
As broadcast on the 3CR airwaves 5.30 – 6pm Wednesdays.
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Show Notes
Cameron Murray (ckmurray.blogspot.com + @rumplestatskin) discusses his investigative report into the links between well connected property developers and the likelihood they benefit from re-zoning windfalls. Does money talk?
Clean Money, Dirty System by Renegadeeconomists on Mixcloud
Related Links
Read about last week’s successful Prosper Australia Research Institute launch. I was chuffed to see a Renegades listener give a major donation. Thankyou Richard!
Cameron Murray last appeared on Property Rights for All. Read the Guardian article out today that has already had 224 shares, entitled Developers with strong political connections ‘44% more likely to win favourable decisions’. Cameron gives a precis to his report Clean Money in a Dirty System: Relationship Networks and Land Rezoning in Queensland here:
Property development can be a dirty business, particularly when it comes to land-banking, which is the speciality of Australia’s largest developers.
Land-banking involves the speculative buying of large parcels of land that are currently unsuitable for development in the hope of future development potential. But hope alone is not a business strategy. How can land banking be so routinely successful for developers in Australia?
One argument is that successful land-banking comes from political favours in terms of rezoning and public provision of infrastructure. These favours provide substantial value gains to landowners at no cost to themselves. While in certain cases this account appears to have some merit, there has been no systematic evidence that rezoning favours the politically connected.
Until now.
Read more on Cameron’s website, where you can download the report with some juicy updates included.
It had to be done – I snuck in a little clip from Gardening Australia, where my family were featured for our POWer Plants community nursery. 10 hours per week = 500 seedlings produced a month on our spare driveway. View Episode 11 here, it starts at the 22.12 minute mark.
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