By Tim Harcourt*   It was Paul Keating who said that Australia needs to realise that we get our security in Asia not from Asia.   But what about our economic security?   It is true that Asia matters in terms of our economic security. Asia is important in terms of trade and […]

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The Thais that bind – after the Bangkok blasts By Tim Harcourt* The Thais have always been good to Australia. Dr Supachai in 1994 strongly supported Australia and its inclusion in various regional institutions and APEC when others tried to exclude us. And in 2005 Thailand and Australia signed TAFTA that helped build our trade […]

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Tim Harcourt* There has been political controversy over the Free Trade Agreements (especially with China) and the mooted regional Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Dry economists on the right don’t like ‘trade distorting’ bilateral agreements (they don’t even like calling them ‘free trade’ agreements) whilst many on the left are concerned about trade agreements going too […]

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By Tim Harcourt* We’ve recently seen the growth of sports economics in academia, government and industry. Why is this so? Is it just because economists are secret sports fans who all wish they were sports commentators/writers like Denis Cometti, Gideon Haigh or Caroline Wilson? That could be part of story, as many economists believe it […]

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Battlers or Billionaires – Australia and China in the long run By Tim Harcourt* We get a lot of free advice from billionaires about how to deal with our largest trading partner China. First, we had James Packer – who has extensive Casino interests in Macau – who said we didn’t ‘bow enough’ or treat […]

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From Russia with love By Tim Harcourt* Poke a Russian bear with a stick and he will retaliate. That’s the lesson facing Australian exporters today. When Australia announced they were joining the USA and Europe in placing trade sanctions on Russia in response to Malaysian Airlines MH 17 being shot down in Ukraine, it could […]

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By Tim Harcourt* As a frequent flyer, particularly around the Asia Pacific region, I, like many, awoke to the horror of more bad news for Malaysian Airlines. This time Malaysian Airlines flight MH 17 was allegedly shot down over the disputed Ukraine-Russia territory while making its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. This comes in […]

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All the way but with which FTA? Australian exporters by destination. Tim Harcourt* All the way but with which FTA? Australian exporters by destination. Tim Harcourt* After a long lull, free trade agreements are back in vogue. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb announced he would get three up with South Korea, Japan and China within […]

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Soccernomics – the Economics of the World Cup By Tim Harcourt* The Airport Economist, Australian School of Business, UNSW. We are just a few days away from the long awaited FIFA World Cup in Brazil – the most watched sporting event in the world. Like the Olympics it happens every four years since it began […]

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Latin Lessons – Latin America and  Australia face the Asia Pacific CenturyIntroduction – from competition to collaboration By Tim Harcourt Click here to read full PDF Australia and Latin America have been separated by geography, culture and economic ties. Historically, because of their respective colonial ties, Latin America looked to Europe and Australia looked to […]

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