Will future generations bear the COVID bill?

Governments are spending at unprecedented levels. Where does this money come from, and are governments saddling young people with too much debt?

Understanding Australia’s tax concessions to attract overseas talent

Australian expats abroad are currently paying tax to foreign tax authorities. They have suddenly become the focus for Australia’s 2021-22 Federal Budget.

Bad tempered steel

A recent report in China’s Global Times newspaper suggests Chinese steel mills are imposing discriminatory cuts to exports to Australia as a new element in the continuing campaign of economic coercion against us.

Post-school transitions to employment in the age of COVID-19

COVID has disrupted the plans of young people planning further education and careers over the last 18 months, and a new study looks to investigate their experiences and hopes for the future.

Global fall in foreign investment reflects rise in geopolitical tensions

Foreign direct investment is increasingly being seen as a threat to national security as relations between China and the West deteriorate. Twenty-five nations imposed new security regulations controlling investment inflows during the past year.

Global shipping bounces back

The pandemic prompted calls for greater self-sufficiency, but global shipping is back to pre-COVID proportions, although fissures in international relations threaten to undermine this recovery.

Australia’s asymmetric advantages in global trade

Australia’s phenomenal resource endowment has once again seen it through a difficult period in the global economy, with supercharged commodity markets siphoning some of the stimulus spending by the world’s major economies into Australian pockets.

Is technology slowing growth?

Technology is usually assumed to be a spur for growth, but recent innovations may have actually reduced global economic productivity.

Maintaining ethical supply chains

Human rights groups and researchers are warning that a combination of increased unemployment and new demand for labour in expanding areas like personal protective equipment (PPE) and agriculture means there is a real risk of increased worker exploitation and even slavery.

The green shoots of recovery

While Germany, Italy and the United States will participate in the G7 summit as global leaders in green competitiveness, Australia will attend as a ‘green laggard’, according to a new global analysis. 

COVID-19 and the global microchip shortage

The manufacturing world is facing one of its greatest challenges in years in the form of a global shortage of semiconductors – and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight.

Tougher environmental policies can create economic winners

There seems to be a working assumption that if Australia adopts tougher environmental policies, then economic growth will be undermined but new research finds the opposite is true.