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The Perfect Storm: Interventionism, Inequality, Decoupling and Zombies
Carlos A. Primo Braga, Associate Professor, Fundação Dom Cabral and former Director, Economic Policy and Debt, The World Bank.
Covid-19 already ranks among the most impactful pandemics of the last 100 years. Most governments have put their economies in a temporary “coma” with a view to mitigate the spread of the virus (SARS-CoV2). This inevitably increases the economic pain associated with the pandemic in the short run and generates pressures for a quick return to normality. Lessons from the past, however, suggest that the health crisis can go on for much longer than most politicians anticipate.
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Joining the WTO
Richard Pomfret presented a paper on Uzbekistan’s WTO accession in the series Virtual Seminars on Applied Economics and Policy Analysis in Central Asia. The paper tracks what will be the longest ever WTO accession negotiations and emphasizes the changing nature of membership commitments since the WTO was established in 1995.
Webinar: "The impact of servicification on global supply chains in the Asean Region: Dynamics, restrictions, and policy Implications"
The 2019 World Trade Report by the WTO is focussed on directly traded services, and not so much on services embedded in goods. The presentations and discussion in the webinar sought to start to close these gaps.
COVID-19 provides a rare chance for Australia to set itself apart from other regional powers. It can create a Pacific ‘bubble’
Peter Draper Executive Director: Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide and Jim Redden Senior Lecturer & Visiting Fellow, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide.
For a short time Australia has an unrivalled opportunity to set itself apart from donors to the Pacific including China, Japan and the European Union. As Victoria’s current COVID-19 spike shows, it will take Australia some time to open its borders to the world and allow residents to travel wherever they like. But there’s no reason why it shouldn’t open its borders to some parts of the world sooner than others, especially those in which it has a special interest and in which the spread of coronavirus is slowing.
What could generate inclusive structural transformation in Africa?
By Dessie Tarko Ambaw, Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for International Trade
Africa has experienced strong economic growth since the turn of the century, averaging 4.6% per annum. Yet achieving inclusive growth and structural transformation continue to be pressing challenges. Africa is the only continent where the number of poor people is still increasing.
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Brexit Done, A UK-EU Trade Agreement to Go?
By Richard Pomfret, Professor of Economics & Jean Monnet Chair Economics of European Integration, the University of Adelaide
A trade agreement between the UK and EU27 looks in trouble. The UK left the EU on 31 January. 2020 is the transition year when the Withdrawal Agreement is implemented and the UK and EU reach agreement on their future relations. Distracted by COVID, some people, e.g. Irish deputy PM Simon Coveney, argue that this timeframe for reaching agreement in future relations is too short, while UK negotiators insist that the deadline is non-negotiable.
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Report Launch & Policy Discussion on the Indian Ocean Rim Association
(AECT) IIT launched its latest report, Building Trade Integration Dynamics in the Indian Ocean Rim Association: A Technical Analysis, and engaged in an interactive discussion with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) on the evolution of trade, investment and regional integration amongst IORA member states since 1997, and the strategic opportunities to enhance trade across the region in a post-COVID-19 world.
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Responding to COVID-19: A key role for ASEAN in the region
By Milton Churche and Michael Mugliston, visiting fellows, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide.
A key characteristic of the health and economic crises unleashed by Covid-19 is the very high degree of uncertainty over the course of the disease, the trajectory of the economic downturn and the roadmap for restoring sustained economic growth. Indexes measuring global policy uncertainty are showing unprecedented levels of uncertainty. The World Pandemics Uncertainty Index that measures economic uncertainty associated with pandemics and other disease outbreaks since 1996 is at record highs.
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Developments in the WTO Appellate Body
IIT hosted Professor James Bacchus, who currently serves as a Distinguished University Professor of Global Affairs and the Director of the Centre for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity at the University of Central Florida. Prof Bacchus presented "Developments in the WTO Appellate Body"
New Developments in Trade and Regionalism: Case of Australia, China, and East Asia
IIT hosted a 2 day workshop to bring together a group of distinguished economists from CUFE and University of Adelaide to discuss their latest research on trade and development, with a focus on the emerging trend of trade and regionalism, dynamic labor market linkages in an open economy, trade impacts on environment, impact of FDI on domestic economy, and global value chains.
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