Global Economy
All’s not fair in US–China trade stoush
As tense trade talks between the US and China continue, a growing chorus of US commentators seem to have concluded that, whatever their misgivings about President Donald Trump, he…
Will Argentina’s problems destabilise Asian economies?
Argentina has taken the politically drastic step of calling in the International Monetary Fund for help, and is clearly in deep trouble. What does this mean for other…
The high price of fashion
The 1990s saw the birth of an anti-sweatshop movement demanding that multinational corporations improve working and environmental conditions along every step of the global value…
Trump and “currency manipulation”
The central tenet of US President Donald Trump’s economic world view is that bilateral trade imbalances are bad for the deficit country. In this mindset, imbalances are believed…
Economic diplomacy brief: security costs, Japanese investment, and Chinese business relations
Guns and money
The Productivity Commission has a welcome tradition of stepping into contentious areas of public policy, from disability insurance to climate change, just when the…
Less is more? Employment rates and economic growth
Labour market participation, the proportion of a country’s population that is either working or actively looking for a job, seems like a boring statistical constant. In…
Biding time: the G20 Eminent Persons Group on financial governance
Watchers of international financial markets have focused in recent months on the possible ramifications of an escalating trade war. The World Trade Organisation recently…
Is Trump ready to bear the cost of a trade war?
Agree or disagree with his conclusions, we owe Hugh White thanks for forcing us to grapple with “the China challenge”. White’s writings have stripped away much of the easy, high…
Why poor countries won’t lose out from the US–China trade war
A Kenyan saying goes, “When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers”.
News headlines over the past few weeks have been dominated by two “elephants”, the US and…
Economic diplomacy brief: Indonesia and Vanuatu, dole woes, and IP theft
Strange neighbours
Australia’s Foreign Policy White Paper makes some seemingly unremarkable points about Australia’s relationship with Indonesia: economic ties are growing;…