Many are concerned with the price of natural gas. Natural gas is an important part of Australia’s overall energy mix; it represents roughly a quarter of all primary energy sources consumed. And, as we…
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley, Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla and administrator of the UN Development Program, Helen Clark at last week's UN meeting on wellbeing and happiness.
Casa Presidencial República de Costa Rica
What do the following people have in common? Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Australian deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, HRH Prince Charles, OECD chief…
In times of financial collapses, banks and governments are painted as the villains. But what about economists?
~ dgies
Since the beginning of the global financial crises in 2007, there have occurred numerous economic and financial crises around the globe, plunging often prosperous nations into hardship and even near bankruptcy…
What would Marx (left) and Engels say about capitalism's current predicament?
Marcio Cabral de Moura
The current economic crisis has renewed interest in alternative economic ideas. Most conspicuously, Keynesianism has returned from the margins. Unfortunately, particularly in Europe, policymakers quickly…
A life without money isn't pie in the sky any more.
truthout.org
When New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered police to clear Zuccotti Park of Occupy protestors on 15 November last year he called on the protesters to “occupy the space with the power of their arguments…
Despite President Barack Obama's charms, Australia must focus on China.
AAP Image/ Scott Barbour
Australia’s recent fleeting love affair with President Barack Obama notwithstanding, Australia’s future lies with China and the North, not the Pacific and the East.
This is not simply a matter of economics…
Some students may benefit from leaving school earlier.
Flickr/University of Denver
We claim that society’s most important investment is in the education of its people. But prescribing a school leaving age of 17 is not only
uncomfortable for some but downright constraining for others…
Nobel Prize in Economics winners Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent: in the neoclassic mold.
AAP
The Sveriges Riksbank’s Prize in Economic Sciences – or the Nobel prize in economics – awarded last week to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims– implicitly claims that economics is a science.
But how…
Australia will have to try something new, and align itself more closely to Asia.
AAP Image/Adam Gartrell
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the first of The Conversation’s series on Australia’s relations with Asia, Professor Tony Milner of the Australian National University examines whether we are prepared for the “Asian…
Big sporting events often make a loss, but the locals still enjoy the party.
AFP/Franck Fife
RUGBY WORLD CUP – In the latest of The Conversation’s series on the Rugby World Cup, Massey University’s Sam Richardson looks at the costs and benefits to the host country New Zealand.
New Zealand has…
Planting the idea: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott opposes a carbon tax
AAP Image/Julian Smith
The big question about the carbon tax is not whether it’s a good or a bad idea in theory.
The major issue is whether it makes sense for Australia to implement it at a time of great uncertainty, both in…
Stock markets around the world plummeted after news of the US credit rating downgrade (EPA/FRANK RUMPENHORST)
Without the firing of a single shot in anger, a country has been, at least in a sense, brought to its economic knees. The capitalist system, with variations and aberrations, is now reacting.
Shares are…
Concerns have been raised over the levels of foreign investment in Australia, including in the mining sector AAP
The purchase of 43 farms in northern NSW by a state-controlled Chinese mining company has prompted calls this week for tougher restrictions on foreign investment.
Greens leader Bob Brown, independent…
A carbon tax priced at $26 per tonne could raise $11.5 billion in the first year, said economist Ross Garnaut.
AAP
Economist Professor Ross Garnaut has released his final report to the government on climate change and the economy.
The report says global warming is expected to continue and estimates that a $26 per…
