Australia’s Economic Future in a Shifting Geo-economic Landscape

Mike is joined by Dr. John Kunkel, Senior Economics Adviser at the
United States Studies Centre. Dr. Kunkel has worked as an
economist, speech writer, policy analyst, and adviser to government
and industry executive and previously served as Chief of Staff to
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He has a PhD in Economics
from the Australian National University and is the author of
"America's Trade Policy Towards Japan: Demanding Results", a study
of US-Japan trade relations from Reagan to Clinton.  The
conversation begins by placing the Australian economy amid the
shifting economic order of recent years. Mike and John note that
the contemporary Australian debate has come late in adapting to
these global economic changes, partially due to the country’s large
resource base and overall economic resilience and flexibility. They
discuss the unique position of Australia’s experience with
globalization, which allowed it to avoid the worst of the domestic
economic drawbacks that afflicted Europe and the United States.
They then delve into the impact of ‘Bidenomics’ and US industrial
policy on the economic debate in Australia, assessing how Australia
is looking at these more protectionist policies to understand both
the wrinkles and opportunities they present. After a discussion of
evolving global economic dynamics and what a new American trade
agenda should look like, they conclude by discussing an upcoming
economic security conference in Australia, which is targeted at
interpreting different international economic security policies,
and tracking how these are transitioning over time.