Economy

Created
Sun, 12/02/2023 - 04:50
An important feature of the new globalisation is China’s Global Development Initiative and a renewed, non-exploitative focus on the Global South. The other is the growth of the digital economy and non-dollar-denominated digital currencies that enable cross-border trade. The idea that globalisation has ended is growing in popularity with some economic analysts. Parallel to this Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 12/02/2023 - 04:53
Pedro Castillo, the Peruvian president, overthrown in a coup 7th December 2022, and then sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, clearly represented a threat to some significant forces. Following the overthrow, mass protests have spread across Peru, to which the government have responded violently, with 60 deaths in the past weeks. As per usual with Latin Continue reading »
Created
Sun, 12/02/2023 - 04:55
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and it particularly applies to the Whitlam government’s ‘loans affair’. The events leading up to the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975 were complex, fascinating and ultimately tragic, especially for Australian society. I will not reprise the key facts here as they are readily available, especially if one reads Continue reading »
Created
Thu, 09/02/2023 - 04:55
NSW needs a government prepared to bell the cat when it comes to the ongoing provision of public funding to grossly over-resourced private schools. Funds provided on the grounds of assumed entitlement are funds diverted from distribution according to demonstrated need. Political pressure forced the Whitlam government to include high-fee, high-resource schools in its 1970s Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 08/02/2023 - 04:55
Michael Keating’s response to the P&I article series on growth – GDP and population – is very welcome as it provides a condensed summary of what has befuddled Australian political economy in recent decades. Problem one is his seeming complete unfamiliarity with post-growth scholarship: the problems it identifies, the causes of the problems, and the Continue reading »
Created
Tue, 07/02/2023 - 04:58
The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers’, recent essay in The Monthly explores the relationship between the state and the private sector, and how that matters for the problems of our time. Chalmers’ thesis The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has published in The Monthly a very thoughtful essay calling for “a new values-based capitalism for Australia.” Chalmers starting point Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 06/02/2023 - 04:51
Realisation is dawning that the climate and environmental crises will not be solved by current national policies. The reason is that the current market economy based on everlasting growth is the prime cause of these crises. At COP15 the UN Biodiversity Conference UN Secretary General António Guterres commenced the conference by noting “With our bottomless Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 06/02/2023 - 04:53
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ essay in The Monthly, Capitalism after the Crisis, was the first real opportunity we have had to get a glimpse of his philosophy as an economist rather than a politician. I sometimes forget how academic Chalmers is, being a PhD, when we rarely see him in such academic settings. His essay is Continue reading »
Created
Mon, 06/02/2023 - 04:56
We live in an integrated and connected world, not well understood by political leaders or military moguls. Nowhere is this more important than in East Asia. Destructive action towards important neighbours who are central to our trade with the world is of course contrary to our national strategic interests. We should not sit silent. For Continue reading »