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John Hawkins1

Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra
I have a PhD in political science and Masters degrees in Economics and Applied Finance. I have headed the economics division at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and been a senior economist with the Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank for International Settlements and Australian Treasury and secretary to the Senate Economics Committee.

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Apr 25, 2024 06:06 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

Interest rates are expected to drop but trying to out-think the market won’t guarantee getting a good deal

Mar 07, 2024 07:38 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

With most economists expecting interest rates to start falling later this year, prospective home buyers might be weighing up whether to buy now for fear of strong competition for stock, or waiting until repayments are...

Chalmers changes tack as economic growth sinks to a new post-pandemic low

Mar 06, 2024 22:48 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Wednesdays national accounts show economic activity barely grew during the three months to December, climbing just 0.2%. Thats the lowest growth rate in four quarters, each of which was lower than the one before...

Happy birthday AUD: how our Australian dollar was floated, 40 years ago this week

Dec 04, 2023 12:29 pm UTC| Economy Insights & Views

These days, we take for granted that the value of the Australian dollar fluctuates against other currencies, changing thousands of times a day and at times jumping or falling quite a lot in the space of a week. But for...

Digital Currency Revolution

Sam Bankman-Fried convicted for massive FTX fraud, in stark reminder of risks of crypto trading

Nov 04, 2023 03:41 am UTC| Law Digital Currency

It is not just crypto tokens that have spectacular downfalls. So can crypto personalities. Sam Bankman-Fried founded FTX, one of the worlds largest exchanges for so-called cryptocurrencies, which collapsed last year...

Oil in Global Economy Series

Petrol is holding up inflation – the 7 graphs that show what's happening to prices and what it will mean for interest rates

Oct 25, 2023 14:27 pm UTC| Economy

Todays figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show inflation fell in the September quarter for the third consecutive quarter. But petrol prices kept it uncomfortably high. After reaching a 30-year high of...

Digital Currency Revolution

Fallen crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried was 'perfectly positioned to make a religion of himself'

Oct 24, 2023 09:25 am UTC| Business Digital Currency

A year ago, Sam Bankman-Fried (often called SBF) was on top of the world. He had been on the covers of Forbes, which dubbed him the richest twentysomething in the world, and Fortune the equivalent, for a business leader,...

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Economy

What should you do if you can’t pay your rent or mortgage?

The cost of living crisis is making it difficult for many people to pay their bills, including housing costs. Private sector rents have increased by an average 9% over the year to February 2024, and rising interest rates...

Reducing energy demand and improving efficiency will help prevent the next gas crisis

Gas prices have relaxed, Europe has come out of the winter with record gas storage levels and a surfeit of liquefied natural gas is set to reach the shores of Europe over the coming years. Many commentators are hopeful...

Minimum wage for South African farm workers: study shows 2013 hike helped reduce poverty even though compliance was poor

Minimum wage policies are typically aimed at reducing poverty. Yet there is little direct evidence of this effect, especially in developing countries. And none for South Africa. In a recent paper, we consider the...

Gas is good until 2050 and beyond, under Albanese gas strategy

The Albanese government is talking up the crucial role of gas as a transition fuel through to 2050 and beyond. In a gas strategy to be released on Thursday, the government envisages the fuels uses would change over...

South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed

The South African governments Just Energy Transition Implementation Plan was launched in November 2023. It is a roadmap guiding the country away from reliance on coal-fired power towards renewable energy alternatives by...

Politics

Donald Trump Allegedly Offers Oil Execs a Deal to Scrap EV Incentives for $1B Donation

Former President Donald Trump reportedly proposed a $1 billion deal to oil executives, offering to end electric vehicle (EV) subsidies in return for campaign funding, according to The Washington Post. This move underscores...

US Supreme Court upended decades of precedent in 2022 by allowing voters to vote with gerrymandered maps instead of fixing the congressional districts first

For the 2022 midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use congressional districts that violated the law and diluted the voting power of Black citizens. A 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court in February...

Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections

Ahead of the European parliament elections in June, Germany has lowered the age limit on participation to 16. This makes it the largest of just a handful of states in the EU to allow people under the age of 18 to vote....

South Africa will be president of the G20 in 2025: two much-needed reforms it should drive

South Africa will play an important international role in 2025 as president of the G20. The G20 is a group of 19 countries as well as the African Union and the European Union. Between them they represent 85% of global...

What early 2024 polls are revealing about voters of color and the GOP

By the end of winter 2024, the return of Donald Trump to the top of the GOP presidential ticket has revealed a surprising trend in the former presidents base of support: his increasing popularity among Black and Latino...

Science

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of

Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without...

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

Technology

Bitcoin's Rise Fueled by $222M ETF Inflow: What’s Next for BTC?

Bitcoins price jumped over $67,000 after a $222 million ETF inflow, highlighting strong market momentum and investor enthusiasm. ETF Inflows and Bitcoins Price Surge Recent data from Farside Investors indicates that...

Ex-OpenAI Exec Criticizes Sam Altman's Focus on 'Shiny Products' Over AI Safety Concerns

Former OpenAI executive Jan Leike resigns, criticizing the companys prioritization of shiny products over AI safety, calling out Sam Altmans leadership. Safety vs. Product Focus Leike, the leader of an artificial...

Binance Enhances SHIB, USTC, AGIX Trading and Liquidity for Better Market Dynamics

Binance has announced efforts to enhance liquidity and trading for Shiba Inu (SHIB), USTC, and SingularityNET (AGIX), including tick size adjustments aimed at improving market dynamics and trading experience. Binances...

OpenAI Disbands Team Tackling AI Risks Amid Leadership Changes and GPT-4o Launch

OpenAI has dismantled its Superalignment team, initially formed to address AI risks, following the resignations of key leaders Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike. OpenAI Disbands Superalignment Team Days After Leaders Resign,...

$73M Crypto Scam: Two Foreign Nationals Arrested for 'Pig Butchering'

The Justice Department prosecuted two Chinese nationals on Friday in a cryptocurrency scam that laundered at least $73 million from deceived victims. Defendants Allegedly Used Shell Corporations to Launder Funds Through...