Global Economy
A corrective to that robotics video
Earlier this week I posted a rather terrifying video about the implications of robotics for the global economy and employment. Thanks to Stephen Grenville for pointing me to this…
Are we measuring international trade correctly?
Perhaps the most fundamental change in international trade in recent decades has been the development of multinational 'supply chains'. The production process has been 'unbundled'…
Australia's economic diplomacy: Enlightened self-interest?
Almost a year since the Coalition took the reins of government and introduced its policy of 'economic diplomacy', a term which was probably foreign to many Australians at the…
Humans need not apply: An economic horror movie
Holy crap, this video is terrifying. From the narration:
We have been through economic revolutions before, but the robot revolution is different. Horses aren't unemployed now…
China: Economic war and the humbling of multinationals
'I really worry about China. I am not sure that in the end they want any of us to win', confided GE boss Jeff Immelt to a group of fellow multinational business-people dining in…
What next for multilateral trade negotiations?
The Director-General of the World Trade Organization is sounding despondent after the latest setback to the December 2013 Bali Agreement. Meanwhile, a survey of exporters has…
G20 must save the WTO, among other things...
As John Lennon wrote, 'life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.' How true for Australia's plans for the G20. Life is not being kind in the lead-up to the…
Reports
G20 2014: The G20 Brisbane Summit, inequality, energy and anti-corruption
The 12th edition of the G20 monitor contains an overview from John Lipsky on the G20’s role in global governance after the global financial crisis; a paper by Geoff Weir on the…
BNP Paribas fine is G20's dollar dilemma
There are many countries which do not much like the central role of the US dollar. But while they generally (and grudgingly) agree that there is not much to be done about it for…
Just how expensive is renewable energy?
I raised this topic recently when The Economist pointed to a new Brookings study which argued that the cost of renewables had been severely underestimated. There was some…