Past Programs
Economics - 2007
Carbon futures
08/12/2007
The new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has already committed the government to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 60% by 2050.
A key mechanism to achieve this target will be a carbon trading system.
A carbon futures market could be worth billions of dollars and it is likely to be up and running by 2010.
Private equity mining
02/06/2007
They range from the big - Qantas, Coles, Myer and Rebel Sport - to the not so big such Godfreys Vaccuum Cleaners and Wendy's Ice Cream.
All of those businesses have been the subject of attempted buy-outs by private equity.
Some, as we know, have been successful others, Qantas for example, have been anything but.
What they all have in common is that they are industrial businesses, and there's a distinct leaning toward retailers.
There has been almost no interest from private equity in resource or mining stocks.
So why has the resources sector been bypassed by the wave of private capital that's washed over the Australian corporate landscape in recent years?
Climate Change Capital
26/05/2007
James Cameron is vice-chairman of Climate Change Capital, a UK investment bank that manages one of the world's biggest carbon funds. He is a leading expert on developing market-based policy responses to climate change.
Not Buying It
20/01/2007
If it's true that money makes the world go round then shopping, and buying stuff, must be the axis on which it spins.
For better or worse, consumerism and odd notions like consumer confidence now underpin the economic wellbeing of the developed world.
But of course only a fraction of what we buy could be classified as necessary items. Once you've got enough to eat and some clothes to wear, spending on necessities gives way to plain old 'shopping'; luxury goods or goods that an economist might call 'discretionary'.
So what is it that we get out of all this conspicous consumption, and what drives us to spend—is it fear, envy, desire—a combination perhaps?
This story was first broadcast on 8/7/06.
