The Asia Pacific's Economies

Why we shouldn't worry: This is what an economic transition is supposed to look like in China
Growth is certainly slower and its structure is changing, but is the outlook for China's economy quite as awful as global share markets seem to think? Now the world's biggest…
How dependent is Australia on China's economic growth?
In terms of the world's financial markets, China is the centre of attention. Last week I argued that concerns about stock markets and exchange rate devaluations were minor and…
Note to Beijing: You can't tell financial markets what to do
There's a rule in economics called Goodhart's law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a useful measure. If a government chases a particular economic variable, then…
Papua New Guinea: Keep calm and muddle through?
By Jenny Hayward-Jones, Director of the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program, and Jonathan Pryke, Research Fellow. Papua New Guinea has been in the international spotlight a lot in…
Asian financial markets: Confected panic from professional doomsayers
Over the last few weeks, global financial markets have once again demonstrated their predilection for over-reacting to ephemeral news. For their part, the media are always happy…
Economic crisis in China? We're not there yet
I started my job at the Federal Reserve three weeks before Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. I wish I had kept a diary of my initial months at the Fed, so I could recall…
The TPP is still alive and Australia will likely sign
A month ago, international trade was in the headlines. President Obama had just obtained Trade Promotion Authority for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and in Australia, the…
Choking aviation system threatens China's ambitions
Last month Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific airline began to cancel some routes to mainland destinations – a surprising decision given the huge potential in China, where air journeys…
Things look bad for Indonesia's economy, but don't expect rapid reform
Arianto Patunru and Sjamsu Rahardja's recent insightful Lowy Institute Analysis, Trade Protectionism in Indonesia: Bad Times and Bad Policy, invokes 'Sadli's Law', named for early…
This week in Jakarta: Supersemar, cabinet reshuffle and hip hop economics
A Suharto family foundation was ordered to repay millions in embezzled state funds, Jokowi's cabinet ministers underwent a long-awaited reshuffle and the central bank chief put a…