Posts tagged…Investment
Discounting the Intergenerational Report
Fri, Feb 12 2010"[H]ow often does the IGR [Intergenerational Report], in five pages vaunting public investment in infrastructure, use the term 'cost benefit analysis'? Not once. Clearly, suggesting that public investment only be undertaken when the benefits exceed the costs is no longer politically correct." Extract from Henry Ergas in The AustralianHenry Ergas is—as ever—right on the money. The 2010 IGR has…
Read more…Shorting common sense
Sat, Feb 06 2010I've previously noted that the policy of banning short-selling looked just like the sort of hunch driven regulation that hurts both the economy and common sense. Its prohibition of speculation on price falls was Canute-like.
Now here's some strong evidence that bans such as ASIC's had adverse impacts on precisely factor most needed in a crisis of market confidence: liquidity.
"The evidence…
Investment barriers stuff-up China relations
Mon, Jun 15 2009No one I know seriously questions the importance of China to Australia's external balances, especially now in the trough of a recession. Nor can we have any doubts about China's growing political, cultural and 'strategic' importance for us and our region of the world. So why would a government led by sinophile make such a terrible, embarrassing, stuff-up of its response to a proposal from a top…
Malcolm Turnbull on Chinalco’s bid for Rio
Sat, May 02 2009Malcolm Turnbull's wide-ranging speech to the Lowy Institute on the balance of power in Asia is thoughtful, well-aimed, and well-expressed. There is much to agree with.
But I disagree with all three of Mr Turnbull's arguments against the Chinalco bid for Rio (see below). Here's my main problem. The two parts of this sentence just don't belong together. They should be anathema to any liberal,…
Peru jumps the China FTA queue
Wed, Apr 29 2009This news makes the delay in agreement between Australia and China on an FTA look even more peculiar.
" China and Peru on Tuesday signed a free trade agreement, state media here said, as Beijing continues to seek new markets and reserves of raw materials to fuel its economy… China has become mineral-rich Peru's second largest trading partner after the United States. Peru is a major producer of…
Interview in the Boao Asia Forum
Tue, Apr 28 2009
The top Chinese business daily, 21st Century Business Herald, published several special editions at the recent Boao Asia Forum. Here's an interview with me on the Australia-China FTA, Australia's investment policies, quarantine barriers and the future of the Renminbi as a 'reserve' currency.
Google Translate takes its best shot here.
A framework for Chinese investment
Tue, Apr 21 2009I hope to hear more of this.
Simon Crean's suggestion that Australia and China should create a bilateral 'investment framework' is on the mark.
"Trade Minister Simon Crean says Australia and China need a more structured approach to investment to head off 'xenophobic reactions' to major deals such as the $27 billion bid by Chinalco to increase its stake in Rio Tinto". Extract from Simon Crean in The return on Ruddnet Tue, Apr 14 2009
Let's have a look at the numbers.
Malcolm Turnbull is saying that an optimistic one-year rate of return on the proposed $43 billion of investment in the NBN is
[{(($70 * 12) annual subscription rate times 4.5 million subscribers) minus $260 million in annual costs} divided by the investment of $43 billion]These are optimistic assumptions, but we can work with them.
"[O]ne thing is very, very…Renminbi reserve currency?
Mon, Apr 06 2009
A development worth watching:
"Economists say the SDR plan is unfeasible for now but see Beijing’s currency swap deals [with Argentina, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea, Belarus] as pieces in a jigsaw designed to promote wider international use of the renminbi, starting with making it more acceptable for trade and aiming at establishing it as a reserve currency in Asia, something that would also…Credible rejection of Chinese mine bid?
Sat, Mar 28 2009
It's difficult to call this, one way or the other. The generally xenophobic reaction to three recent, high-profile, Chinese resource bids (Rio, Ozminerals and Fortescue) is a good reason to be alert to a questionable 'national interest' claim.
Some people have smelled a rat in the Treasurer's announcement that he won't approve OzMetals' $2.6 bn sale to China's MinMetals, on national security…
Lu Kewen given his orders?
Tue, Mar 24 2009
How could a meeting, at the PM's official residence, with a top Chinese politburo member be 'private'? This is a bizarre statement!
"[A] spokeswoman for Mr Rudd told The Australian: 'It was a private meeting between the two. It is not the Prime Minister of Australia's role to put out a press release announcing what every visiting politician is doing.'" Extract from The AustralianNationalism and foreign investment policy
Mon, Feb 16 2009
In today's Fairfax press, Beijing correspondent John Garnaut provides some much-needed facts to hose-down the economic nationalism being whipped up by some investment advisors and politicians over the Rio asset sale to Chinalco. Garnaut's story about the relationships of Chinalco and Chinese steel giant BaoSteel and about the pressures on the government fund backing the loans to Chinalco confirm 2 >
