With his country’s economy in mind, Indonesian president Joko Widodo is reciprocating China’s invitation to build stronger relations. China has been actively inviting southeast Asia’s largest economy to…
Australia’s free trade deal with China will invariably boost bilateral trade and investment. But how trade and investment are settled also matters. Given the rise of the renminbi (RMB) in recent years…
For the global mergers and acquisitions market, 2014 has been a year of strong recovery. According to Mergermarket, global M&A value in the first three quarters reached over US$2.5 trillion – a record…
Did SBS chief executive Michael Ebeid score a well-timed free kick or an own goal in his attack on the ABC this week? The ABC recently secured the free-to-air television rights for the Asian Cup football…
The services sector is poised to reap significant gains from the China-Australia free trade deal. Preferential access will be granted across key areas such as education, financial services, legal services…
Never before has Australia been more at the heart of global affairs. Here in Brisbane we have finished our year as G20 President, with the G20 leaders presenting their communiqué. A series of significant…
The announcement of Gail Kelly’s departure as Westpac chief executive is a real and symbolic loss for women, many of whom see her as a role model. Women in Australia now make up just 3% of CEO roles in…
The limited release of FIFA’s investigation into corruption allegations surrounding the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup was supposed to allay the ever-increasing perception that corruption…
Today’s completion of free trade talks with China has been ten years in the making. Australia already has free trade agreements (FTAs) with Japan, the United States, Korea, Singapore and New Zealand. However…
Corruption is estimated to cost around 5% of global GDP. It has particularly affected modern China. The Washington-based Global Financial Integrity Group estimates US$1.1 trillion illegally flowed out…
The G20 Communique is good news on the international tax reform front. As part of the G20 commitment to boost economic resilience the Communique commits G20 nations to taking action to ensure fairness…
The G20 leaders have committed to reduce the gap between male and female workforce participation rates by 25% by 2025. The gender equality focus by many of the leaders during the summit, including UN Secretry-General…
The G20 leaders have reaffirmed a commitment to raise global growth, saying if more than 800 agreed measures are “fully implemented”, GDP will grow by an additional 2.1% by 2018, adding more than US$2…
Focusing on growth, the Brisbane G20 leaders’ summit has not grappled with three key issues. How much more growth can the planet survive? How can poorer nations raise their living standards to parity with…
US President Barack Obama took to the stage at the University of Queensland in Brisbane on a day which had the soles of your shoes melting. We had been through a complicated but reasonable security process…
The recent US-China climate announcement is a significant development in humanity’s equivocal response to the climate crisis. Despite over four decades of political engagement with climate change, tangible…
While much of Australia’s media has been covering Abbott’s macho stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin, the G20 meetings will be focusing on how best to improve global trade, which severely declined…
The spotlight may be on the leaders at this weekend’s G20 Leaders’ Summit in Australia, but who will be behind the leaders at the big table in Brisbane? The G20 sherpas are very senior officials who have…
The Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) is pushing for reforms allowing directors to rely on honest and reasonable conduct as a defence against company liability. The AICD believes this new…
Although Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott believes the G20 should focus solely on economic issues, leaving security, social and environmental challenges to other forums, external pressures continue…
While most of the world is celebrating the US–China pact on climate change, the deal puts pressure on the Australian government and resources companies to rethink relations with China. The deal, signed…
The G20 infrastructure agenda cites an OECD prediction the global infrastructure gap will be worth US$70 trillion by 2030. It is predicting this gap will grow. Yet it’s difficult to assess the credibility…
With every new product release from Apple comes all the usual media hype we have come to expect from this high-profile sector. While product launches are often discussed in terms of technological advances…
Charis Palmer, The Conversation and Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation
At the G20 meeting in Brisbane on the weekend we are going to hear a lot of talk about current accounts, GDP, CPI as well as a whole blizzard of more obscure acronyms and economic measures. To help you…
Economists are being called upon to estimate the costs of the Ebola epidemic to West Africa and elsewhere. However, economists should also play a part in estimating the likelihood of the disease spreading…