Melbourne Institute

About the Topic:

The Chinese economy is going through major changes in the speed and more importantly the structure of economic growth. Chinese comparative advantage is shifting to a new set of industries. Growth can still be maintained at high rates—although below the 10 percent per annum average of the past three decades—if China is successful in building new institutions and economic strengths within a new model of growth. The new model will generate large opportunities for China’s trading partners, but these will be in different sectors and their use will require different capacities than past trade expansion. Justin Lin will discuss Chinese economic growth in the new circumstances, and Ross Garnaut will summarise the implications for Australia.  Discussion will follow the interests of participants.

About the Speakers:

Professor Justin Lin, China Center for Economic Research, Peking University

Justin Yifu Lin is the founder and first director of the China Center for Economic Research, an economic think tank at Peking University. He is the former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics at the World Bank and has held professorial positions at Peking University,  the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Australian National University and UCLA. 

Professor Ross Garnaut AO, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Ross Garnaut is a Vice‐Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow at The University of Melbourne and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University. He has had a distinguished career in academia, the Australian civil service and the private business sector.

In September 2008, Professor Garnaut presented the Garnaut Climate Change Review to the Australian Prime Minister. This review, commissioned by the Australian government, examines the impact of climate change on the Australian economy and provides potential medium to long-term policies to ameliorate these. In November 2010 the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency commissioned Professor Garnaut to update his 2008 Garnaut Climate Change Review. The final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review – Update 2011 was presented to the Government on 31 May 2011.

Professor Garnaut has previously served as the Australian Ambassador to China and Senior Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke. In this position, he made distinctive contribution to the international orientation of economic policy, including policy on financial and trade liberalisation, the Australian initiation of Western Pacific regional consultations on international trade issues and what became the Uruguay Round, and the intensification of relations with China, Japan and other Asia Pacific economies.

He is an Officer of the Order of Australia, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, Honorary Professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Economics Society.

 

Previous China Update Events in Melbourne

Sustaining China's Growth in an Uncertain Global Economy

Melbourne

Date: Friday 13 July 2012

Time: 12.00 - 2.00pm

Venue: Mayfair 1, Grand Hyatt Melbourne

Topic

A big stimulus package lifted growth in China and its trading partners out of the global financial crisis. Can China do it again at a time of growing labour shortages and of transition from export oriented to domestic development? Leading scholars of China’s economic development discuss the prospects and risks at a fragile point of world economy.

Speakers

Professor Cai Fang, , Institute of Population Economics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Professor Ross Garnaut AO, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and Professorial Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne
Dr Guonan Ma, Senior Economist, Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bank of International Settlements
Dr Ligang Song, Associate Professor and Director China Economy and Business Program, Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University
Professor Xiaobo Zhang, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

China's New Growth Strategy

Melbourne

Date: Monday 18 July 2011

Time: 12.00 - 2.00pm

Location: Fitzroy Ballroom, Sofitel Melbourne on Collins

About the topic:

Premier Wen Jiabao announced a new growth strategy in his report on the 12th five-year plan in March. This will rely more on growth in domestic demand, supported by rising real wages, improvedservices and a stronger exchange rate. It will require a new approach to Chinas place in the world economy including the steps undertaken to internationalise the Chinese currency, RMB. All of these issues will be explored in the Melbourne Institute Forum, by five economists with extensive and recent experience on the Chinese economy.

Speakers:

Dr Ligang Song, Associate Professor, and Director China Economy Program, Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU College of Asia & the Pacific [Presentation Slides]

Professor Ross Garnaut AO, Vice-Chancellors Fellow and Professorial Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne

Mr Huw McKay, Chief International Economist, Westpac and PhD Candidate on the Chinese Economy, The Australian National University [Presentation Slides]

Chair:
Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark, Ronald Henderson Professor and Director, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne

Continuing Growth and Global Economic Stability

Melbourne

Date: Thursday 15 July 2010
Time: 12.00 - 2.00pm
Location: LaTrobe Ballroom, Sofitel Melbourne on Collins, 25 Collins Street

In association with the Australia China Business Council

Chair:
Mr Jason Chang, President, Australia China Business Council, Victoria and Partner in Charge - Asia Markets, KPMG

Speakers:
Professor Ross Garnaut, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow and Principal Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne
Professor Wing Thye Woo, Professor of Economics, The University of California at Davis [Presentation, PDF 60KB]
Dr Ligang Song, Associate Professor, and Director China Economy and Business Program, Crawford School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University
[Presentation, PDF 225KB]

 

Monday 20 July 2009

China and the Global Financial Crisis

Chair: Mr Tony Cole, Business Leader for Investment Consulting in Asia Pacific, Mercer (Australia) Pty Ltd

Speakers:
Professor Ross Garnaut AO, Vice-Chancellor's Fellow and Professorial Fellow in Economics, Melbourne Institute, The University of Melbourne

Profesor Yiping Huang, Professor of Economics, China Centre of Economic Research, Peking University. Formerly Chief Economist for Asia for Citibank

Professor Geng Xiao, Director, Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy

Dr Ligang Song, Director of the China Economy and Business programme, The Australian National University