How realistic are expectations about Africa’s economic prospects? There are several reasons why we should be both optimistic and cautious about the continent’s future economic performance.
The key indicators of the health of the economy are the unemployment rate, inflation rate and economic growth.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
After decades of the fastest economic growth in the world, China’s economy has started to slow down. This is perhaps inevitable, given an average annual growth rate of around 10% was sustained for almost…
Using urban space for food production makes food easier to transport, not to mention cheaper.
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The aftermath of Christmas is a good time to think about where consumer-capitalism is getting us. The sad fact is that, with these values, our society can never be ecologically sustainable or just. Accelerating…
Global environmental and social welfare per capita has not improved since the 1980s.
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The focus of the recently concluded G20 summit was economic growth. The final communiqué begins: “Raising global growth to deliver better living standards and quality jobs for people across the world is…
It has been a long road back for Britain from the economic crisis of 2007/8. The chancellor’s Autumn Statement is an indication of how he aims to keep growth on track, but the prime minister has already…
Are we really in charge of our own destiny?
Flickr/Michael Shane
Nietzsche’s much quoted line “God is dead” was not, as it is often presented, a statement of triumphant atheism but was a warning and a call to action. We had killed God with rationalism and science. With…
G20 leaders agreed to an economic growth target of 2.1% by 2018.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Despite Australia’s best efforts, climate change muscled its way onto the G20 agenda. The summit’s final communique included one paragraph restating the importance of international negotiations in Paris…
United on the need for stronger economic growth.
Lukas Coch/AAP
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…
The risks facing the planet call for a new approach to economics.
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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…
Economic growth is a significant contributor to the climate change crisis.
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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…
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria, right, is welcomed by Queensland’s Governor Paul de Jersey at Brisbane International Airport.
Patrick Hamilton/AAP
The G20 summit must “go structural, go social and go green”, says OECD secretary-general Angel Gurria. Speaking at Griffith University’s pre-summit conference in Brisbane, Mr Gurria said trade, investment…
The G20 represents 84% of the world economy.
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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…
In harmony. The link between the EU and UK jobs.
Kalyan Neelamraju
Whichever way you look at it, the UK is going through a stormy period in its relationship with the European Union. David Cameron has promised to renegotiate the UK’s relations with the EU and to hold a…
Australia’s standard of living is under threat.
Scott Woodman/Flickr
When the G20 finance ministers agreed in February to significantly raise global growth, they locked in a goal of lifting collective GDP by more than 2%. This was a cumulative goal - that is a total of…
From St Petersburg to Brisbane. The G20 leaders are expected to cover a lot of territory.
Sergei Karpukhin/EPA/AAP
Suppose that on the evening of November 16, the G20 leaders release a 25-page communique with hundreds of recommendations on global health, security, climate change, human rights etc. Would this be regarded…
Principal Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Professor of Economics, Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne