Australian Perspective
Are China's shadow banks going to bring the economy down?
There has been much fretting about China's growth over the past five years. One special focus for hand-wringing has been the Chinese financial system and its non-banking component…
Cyclone Pam: A photo essay from a volunteer
By Eva Westfield, who was an Australian volunteer based in Port Vila.
Consistently rated the most dangerous countries in the world in terms of disaster risk, Vanuatu is no…
Just how absurd is the Middle East at the moment?
Even for long-time watchers of the Middle East like myself, the region's enmities and alliances have become very difficult to keep track of.
This has just been taken to a mind…
Australia needs a modern and globalised tax system
The Abbott Government will shortly release a discussion paper on the Australian tax system. It will be the first step towards the much anticipated tax white paper. International…
Are the Khmer Rouge and ISIS similar?
Elliot Brennan's comparison between the Khmer Rouge and ISIS raises a number of questions.
No one is more aware than I of the terrible cost of Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia…
UK budget: A test for 'expansionary austerity'
The 2008 global financial crisis provided a rare test-bed for macroeconomics — an opportunity to sort out some old controversies. One issue dominated the debate during the…
Shambaugh's China disaster scenario examined
'Always predict disaster', a shrewd academic economist told me some years ago. 'If it happens, you are proved right. And if it doesn't, then catastrophe was avoided by people…
Israel's election: Nobody likes Bibi, but everyone votes for him
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for early elections last December there was a schizophrenic character to a lot of the analysis. Most observers thought Bibi…
In Malaysia, government demonstrates that it remains in control
Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Tun Razak, founder of the Global Movement of Moderates, has been widely praised by international leaders (including President Obama and…
Do we need 'full-spectrum defence'?
The first thing to say about Alan Dupont's recent paper is that he is absolutely correct about the dire condition of Australian strategic policy.
As he suggests, we lack a…