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Begin New Search Topic International Trade and Finance Content Type Policy Brief Publishing Institution Lowy Institute for International Policy

1. The G20 Needs A Growth Strategy

Author:
Mike Callaghan
Publication Date:
02-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Restoring global economic growth and creating jobs has been an objective of successive G20 summits. Australia has also made it a priority for the G20 in 2014. To achieve such an outcome requires a comprehensive and agreed growth strategy. The G20 lacks such a strategy and has failed to provide a clear and consistent message about how members can or are working together to achieve such an outcome.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:
Australia

2. China in the Pacific: the new banker in town

Author:
Fergus Hanson and Mary Fifita
Publication Date:
04-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
What is the problem? China is now one of the Pacific\'s major donors. An analysis of its aid program in the region from 2005 to 2009 suggests it is reducing the grant component of its aid and increasing the soft loan proportion. China has pledged over $US 600 million to the Pacific since 2005 and debt burdening will become increasingly pressing as Chinese loans accumulate and the five-year grace periods expire. There appears to have been limited progress improving transparency.
Topic:
Economics and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
China, Asia, and Australia/Pacific

3. Indonesia and Australia: time for a step change

Author:
Fergus Hanson
Publication Date:
03-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
The relationship with Indonesia is one of Australia's most important but it is still not on a firm footing. Government-to-government ties have been strengthening but relations are focused around a mostly negative set of security-related issues. Business-to-business links are underdone and mutual public perceptions are poor. Without significant incentives to drive closer ties, one of Australia's most important relationships will continue to stagnate.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
Political Geography:
Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Southeast Asia

4. Capital flows, the carry trade and 'sand in the wheels'

Author:
Stephen Grenville
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
The 'carry trade', in which capital shifts from countries with low interest rates to countries with significantly higher rates, has become an important element of international capital flows over the past decade. With low interest rates in the United States, Japan, the UK and much of the rest of Europe expected to persist for some time, these flows seem likely to become larger in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. Particularly for the emerging countries with shallow financial markets, interest-sensitive inflows have the potential to be disruptive. Exchange rates will tend to be overvalued for sustained periods, punctuated by sharp depreciations. These distorted and varying price signals will be unhelpful for good policy-making and steady economic growth.
Topic:
Emerging Markets, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, Foreign Direct Investment, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
United States, Japan, United Kingdom, and Europe

5. Message to the G20: Defeating protectionism begins at home

Author:
Mark P Thirlwell
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
What is the problem ? On 16 November 2008, G20 leaders made a commitment to resist protectionism. When they meet in Pittsburgh, on 24 September 2009, they will have an opportunity to review that commitment and to decide how best to act on it. The advice they have received to date focuses on international monitoring and short-term responses to the global economic crisis. These measures do little to deal with the underlying causes of protectionism.
Topic:
Economics, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements

6. External imbalances and the G20

Author:
Stephen Grenville
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
International external imbalances have been blamed for playing a central role in the Global Financial Crisis. China's large external surplus usually figures prominently in these explanations. While a more balanced account of the causes of the crisis would give only a modest role to external imbalances there seems little doubt that some adjustment of these imbalances over the next few years is both inevitable and desirable, not because external imbalances in themselves are inherently undesirable, but because some of the specific components of today's current balances are unsustainable. Markets could bring about these necessary adjustments over time. History, however, tells us that market-driven adjustments are often accompanied by exchange-rate overshooting and trade- threatening protectionist responses.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
China

7. Refining the G-20 agenda

Author:
Stephen Grenville
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
What began as the sub-prime crisis in America is now universally recognised as a Global Financial Crisis (GFC). While the consequences are clearly global, however, the required policy responses may be largely domestic, as indeed they have been so far. Nevertheless, financial markets are looking to the forthcoming G-20 Leaders' London meeting in April, in the hope that it will produce confidence-boosting measures. Realistically, what can be done at the international level? The central issue to be explored here is the extent to which an international response is relevant to the GFC, in the form of policy coordination or cooperation in rule-setting of the kind that could be orchestrated by the G-20 Leaders.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, International Cooperation, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:
America and London

8. So what? Matching policy to Australian interests in West Asia

Author:
Anthony Bubalo
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Before 2001, Australian policy in the region defined here as West Asia – that stretching from India's western borders across to the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, encompassing Southwest Asia, the Persian Gulf and the Levant – focused on two broad objectives: supporting American-led efforts to promote regional stability, and securing opportunities for Australian exports.
Topic:
International Relations, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Asia and Australia

9. Transpacific trade imbalances: causes and cures

Author:
Warwick McKibbin, Park Yung Chul, and Jong-Wha Lee
Publication Date:
09-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
This paper explores the causes of the transpacific trade imbalances using an empirical global model. It also evaluates the impact of various policies to reduce these imbalances. We find the fundamental cause of trade imbalances since 1997 is changes in saving-investment gaps, attributed to the surge of the U.S fiscal deficits and the decline of East Asia's private investment after the 1997 financial crisis. Our simulation results show that a revaluation of East Asia's exchange rates by 10 percent (effectively a shift in monetary policy) cannot resolve the imbalances. We find East Asia's concerted efforts to stimulate aggregate demand can have significant impacts on trade balances globally, but the impact on the US trade balance is not large. US fiscal contraction is estimated to have large impacts on the US trade position overall and on the bilateral trade balances with East Asian economies. These results suggest that in order to improve the transpacific imbalance, macroeconomic adjustment will need to be made on both sides of the Pacific. lowy institute for international policy.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Israel and East Asia

10. The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement: a preliminary assessment

Author:
Mark P Thirlwell
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
On 8 February Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile concluded an agreed text for an Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement. This Issues Brief provides a preliminary assessment of the agreement, based on the limited information now available.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
United States, Australia, and Australia/Pacific

11. The international economy in 2003: managing economic imbalances in an integrated world

Author:
Mark P Thirlwell
Publication Date:
02-2004
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
This Issues Brief suggests that a key theme over the past year has been the management of external imbalances in a world economy that is not only increasingly integrated but which is simultaneously undergoing a sustained geographic shift in the distribution of economic weight towards Asia. Using this theme as an organising principle, it reviews several major economic developments including US current account adjustment, international exchange rate adjustment in response to that process, growing Sino-US trade tensions, the increasing focus on international outsourcing and the stresses facing the current multilateral trading round. The Brief concludes by arguing that many of these same themes will influence international economic prospects over the coming year.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Asia