Superannuation 'objective' likely to be captured by industry
Apr 07, 2016 00:04 am UTC| Insights & Views
As the government moves closer to enshrining the objective of superannuation in legislation, its worth considering the unintended consequences that could come from such a move. Based on recommendations of the Financial...
Massive government stimulus to limit the risk of a sharp slowdown in China
Apr 06, 2016 11:09 am UTC| Insights & Views
Stock and currency market turbulence has intensified concerns about a possible hard landing in China. It is true that the economy is slowing but there is limited risk of a sharp slowdown this year. Strong headwinds for the...
Panama Papers: it's the drip-drip effect Vladimir Putin will be worrying about
Apr 06, 2016 10:50 am UTC| Insights & Views Politics
The early Russian media reaction to the claims from the Panama Papers that Putins close associate channelled more than $2 billion to offshore companies has been quite predictable: a combination of denial, counter-claims of...
Panama Papers' dodgy middlemen are nothing new, as our own tax scandals show
Apr 06, 2016 05:31 am UTC| Insights & Views Law
The unprecedented leak of millions of documents, known as the Panama Papers, from tax haven law firm Mossack Fonseca prompted me to pick up an old book on my shelf. Written in 1969, Adventures in Tax Avoidance: with 120...
Apr 06, 2016 01:17 am UTC| Insights & Views Law
Last weeks shenanigans from Donald Trump reminded us of a particularly florid episode of House Of Cards. This week, with the leak of 11.5 million documents suggesting elite tax avoidance and evasion on an heroic scale,...
Justice is still not being done in the exploitation of indigenous products
Apr 05, 2016 14:04 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law
There has been a sea change in the biodiversity business. International and national laws now oblige companies and researchers to do the right thing. Indigenous people and local communities must be included as...
Escaping the poverty trap requires more than a cash lump sum
Apr 05, 2016 14:01 pm UTC| Insights & Views Law
In a recent TV series, three families were given 26,000 the maximum amount a person is entitled to receive in benefits in a year as a lump sum in exchange for giving up welfare. The experiment on Channel 5s The Great...
South Africa’s plan to move away from coal: 8 steps to make it succeed
Germany lowers voting age to 16 for the European elections
IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects