13 May 2019
Trump’s tariff tussle
Given America’s cherished belief in free enterprise, Washington should be delighted its rival is handicapping itself.
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24 Apr 2019
Economic diplomacy: ASEAN trade, BRI deals and ageing Asia
The unwieldy sounding AANZFTA is a surprise hit with Australian business. -
11 Apr 2019
Economic diplomacy: Japan investment gazumps China, plus election on
The investment landscape in Australia is changing as Japan nudges out China just as China again looms in local politics. -
5 Apr 2019
Book Review: Utopia For Realists
Bold policy ideas are welcome, so is Rutger Bregman’s “radical” challenge to the supposed wisdom of critics. -
28 Mar 2019
Economic diplomacy: trade and infrastructure battles in Asia
Australian business is not showing much faith in new free trade deals, meanwhile the Trade Minister debates “left wing”. -
22 Mar 2019
The sudden interest in Modern Monetary Theory
It’s often said there is no such thing as a free lunch, and issuing cash is not a limitless source of funding. -
14 Mar 2019
What might a US-China trade deal look like?
A deal will imply that economic separation – or “decoupling” – of the two giant economies has not been pursued. -
13 Mar 2019
An orthodox economic take on climate change shocks
Climate change has a significant bearing on macroeconomic outcomes such as growth and inflation. -
11 Mar 2019
Book Review: A Partnership Transformed
For three decades, the Asian Development Bank successfully helped the People’s Republic of China in opening up. -
28 Feb 2019
Economic diplomacy: Development aid in the Belt & Road era
As the DFAT/Ausaid merger recedes in the rear vision mirror for Australia, China talks up scrutiny for bad projects. -
14 Feb 2019
Economic diplomacy: trade ground shifts despite US-China row
Alarm is growing the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism may soon suffer the same credibility loss as its deal-making. -
12 Feb 2019
A Tobin tax: an idea whose time has come for Indonesia
How to make portfolio flows “sticky” and avoid short-term swings in foreign sentiment sees an old idea gain new life. -
11 Feb 2019
Indonesia’s role in multilateral development banks
The path to leadership is littered with old players and the status quo, not economic diversity. -
31 Jan 2019
Economic diplomacy: FTAs, shrinking China, and ecommerce
Cabinet papers from the Howard government offer a glimpse into Australia’s first steps toward bilateral trade deals. -
22 Jan 2019
Why the gloom? Global economic prospects
Reality, when it arrives, may turn out boringly routine – more-of-the-same rather than the drama of “Winter is coming”. -
17 Jan 2019
Economic diplomacy: A new year of trade rows & development strife
<p>It’s back ... more debate over TPP membership, plus a hint why Kim quit, and the AIIB goes green.</p> -
15 Jan 2019
Could Ivanka Trump become the next World Bank President?
Past “gentlemen’s agreements” aside, deciding the next World Bank chief is not the sole prerogative of Donald Trump. -
9 Jan 2019
Jim Kim quits the World Bank, an unexpected gift to Donald Trump
If he chooses, Trump now has the opportunity to push the Bank towards a more conservative global agenda. -
7 Jan 2019
Money talks, and Australia doesn’t have a G8 voice
Getting a seat at the table won’t depend on rankings tables but what a country can offer to the group. -
31 Dec 2018
Best of The Interpreter 2018: The US-China trade war
The two largest economies in the world have spent the year exchanging threats of retaliatory tariffs. -
20 Dec 2018
Economic diplomacy: how the world changed in 2018
The much-forecast arrival of geo-economics has seen an acceptance – and even a desire – for US-China tech competition. -
17 Dec 2018
US-China tensions: is this about economics or security?
The challenge might seem to be China’s economic behaviour rather than old-fashioned power rivalry. -
12 Dec 2018
The true cost of fast fashion
Moves by countries such as Australia to adopt modern slavery laws are a small start in tackling a big global problem. -
27 Nov 2018
Logic at the wayside at G20
The success of the G20 will rely on leaders to agree in a world where “me first” is privileged over cooperation. -
27 Nov 2018
“America First” and global economic governance
<p>Halcyon days when the US built international institutions that would benefit all and foster globalisation – over?</p> -
22 Nov 2018
Economic diplomacy: Indonesian trade, RCEP and PNG aid
Party games over the value of FTAs, finding the cash for commitments, and better investments than luxury cars at APEC. -
12 Nov 2018
Trump and intellectual property
Inventors have a right to be rewarded for their innovation, don’t they? It depends. -
8 Nov 2018
Economic diplomacy: doing business with China, Donald’s soulmate
The careful form of words to prevent the takeover of energy infrastructure at home without appearing anti-Chinese. -
25 Oct 2018
Economic diplomacy: Japan + China, BRI push back
Watching Shinzo Abe try a high wire act with China’s Xi Jinping, and what tourism tells us about Asia’s economic ties. -
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11 Oct 2018
Economic diplomacy: Australia abroad, China’s cash
Australia has a new way to count Chinese foreign investment, underlining how this has become a vexed policy issue. -
27 Sep 2018
Economic diplomacy: Indonesia, climate and Abe
Will Shinzo Abe be seen as a genuinely historic Japanese leader? -
13 Sep 2018
Economic diplomacy: Japan, Indonesia and the TPP
A business venture only a few years ago seen as a herald for closer Australia-Japan ties has come crashing down. -
7 Sep 2018
Trump and rules-based order for global trade
Trump didn’t cause the problems, his presidency has just put them in the spotlight, without practical policy solutions. -
23 Aug 2018
What did the 2008 crisis cost America?
A new study attempts to put a number on the ongoing cost of an enormously costly episode of misguided policies. -
22 Aug 2018
Geoeconomics isn’t back – it never went away
We can no longer simply assume that what’s good for America is good for the world. -
16 Aug 2018
Economic diplomacy: foreign cash at home & abroad
The US remains by far the largest player in Australia in numbers of businesses and investment value added. -
7 Aug 2018
Indo-Pacific: where is the money coming from?
Trilateral investment in infrastructure is a step in the right direction, but significant budget details are lacking. -
3 Aug 2018
Can the Fed resist Trump’s pressure?
The Federal Reserve faces a president from the world of real estate, where low interest rates are always good. -
2 Aug 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: infrastructure and trade
US–Japan–Australia infrastructure cooperation, ADB circumspect about China’s BRI, and more. -
25 Jul 2018
The future of work
“Zero-sum competition”, “distributional”, and “gig” jobs are what most of us can look forward to. -
24 Jul 2018
Trade: the US should be isolated, not accommodated
Donald Trump has consistently implemented his threats around “unfair trade” – and the best thing to do would be nothing. -
19 Jul 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: India ties, Labor on BRI
Infrastructure wars in Asia, a Japan-Europe deal, and the Varghese India report got a surprisingly low-profile launch. -
13 Jul 2018
Short-term capital flows to emerging economies
Surges and retreats of foreign capital flows pose a question: how could they be made less volatile and more beneficial? -
3 Jul 2018
Trade is not just about tariffs
Behind-the-border measures are more important restraints on international trade. -
26 Jun 2018
Answering Bitcoin hype
To displace conventional currencies, Bitcoin has to function better than existing monies. It doesn’t. -
21 Jun 2018
US-China trade: joke’s over
The US is in trade rows with all of its major trading partners at once. -
20 Jun 2018
The China puzzle in Asia
China still faces daunting development challenges and it will take many decades to close the asset gap with Western countries. -
19 Jun 2018
Global profit shifting
New analysis suggests that Australia has the wrong priority in corporate tax reform. -
12 Jun 2018
G7: the most honest summit – ever!
<p>The more pretence there is agreement between countries when there is not, the more it undermines the credibility of other commitments leaders make at summits.</p>