Author: James Laurenceson, ACRI
The global economy breathed a sigh of relief last month with the release of China’s third quarter growth numbers. The result of 7.3 per cent was down from 7.5 per cent in the previous quarter but came in a touch above consensus forecasts. The result was sufficiently robust for worries about a hard landing to retreat significantly.
Read more at East Asia Forum…
The 27th Annual Conference of Chinese Economics Society Australia (CESA)
Sunday 12 – Tuesday 14 July 2015
New South Wales, Australia
Sustainable development and capital markets: China’s role in the world economy
Over the past 30 years the Chinese economy has maintained remarkable growth at an average of nearly 9% per annum. China has become increasingly integrated into the world economy and has become a major player in world commodity production and global capital markets. The continuing development of its capital markets is essential to provide capital for sustainable development projects and China’s recent commitment to cap emissions. However, despite its impressive achievements, China has to encounter many serious challenges such as environmental pollution, shortage of energy, income inequality, aging population, financial and legal systems, global and domestic imbalances, international trade, capital markets and corporate governance.
Papers covering any of these areas plus other Chinese economic issues would be welcome. Because of its significant impact on the world economy, the sustainable development of the Chinese economy and capital markets has become a critical concern of scholars, policy makers and entrepreneurs worldwide. This conference invites all papers that address any of the above issues, regardless of academic discipline.
The CESA 27th Annual Conference is being organized by members of the Chinese Commerce Research Centre and proudly hosted by the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, the Faculty of Business and the University of Wollongong, with support and assistance from China Update and Australian Centre on China in the World (ANU). University of Wollongong is located in Wollongong City, a south- east coastal city of Australia. Wollongong is a major satellite city of Sydney, within 80 kilometre distance and the ninth largest city in Australia. By attending this conference, you will be able to visit the world-class attractions in Sydney. You can also enjoy the typically relaxed lifestyle of Wollongong and view the Australian wild geographical features of forest, ocean and hills in and around Wollongong and on the way from Sydney airport to Wollongong.
Key Dates:
Publication:
Quality papers presented in this conference will be invited to publish at a special issue of the Journal of Asia Pacific Economy (Volume 21 Issue 3 in August 2016). This special issue is particular for the 27CESA annual conference with the guest editors Dr Shiguang Ma, Professor Brian Andrew and Professor Gary Tian.
Keynote speakers:
Joseph Fan: Professor of accounting and finance, School of Accountancy and Department of Finance, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Professor, ANU College of Business and Economics, Australian National University.
Liqing Zhang: Professor of international economics; Dean of school of Finance and Director of Centre for International Finance Studies, Central University of Finance and Economics.
Awards:
The conference will prize the best paper presented in this conference.
Registration Fees:
Member of CESA: A$300
Non-member of CESA: A$350
Students: A$200
Visa, Travel and Accommodation:
Visa, travel, accommodation and online registration information and assistance will be provided in due course.
Paper submission and conference inquiries to:
27-cesaconference@uow.edu.au
Further conference information can be found at the conference websites:
http://business.uow.edu.au/aef/research/27th-cesa-conference/index.html
http://www.ces-aus.org/
Conference Organizers:
Dr Shiguang Ma (shiguang@uow.edu.au)
Professor Brian Andrew (bandrew@uow.edu.au)
Professor Gary Tian (gtian@uow.edu.au)
School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business, the University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
President of CESA:
Dr Sizhong Sun (sizhong.sun@jcu.edu.au)
School of Business, James Cook University, QLD 4814, Australia
ABOUT THE CITY OF WOLLONGONG:
The University of Wollongong is located in the City of Wollongong, which is a vibrant, multicultural city situated on one of Australia’s most picturesque coastlines. Regarded as Australia’s ‘most liveable’ regional city, Wollongong combines a relaxed, coastal atmosphere with cosmopolitan dining, shopping and culture.
Sitting beneath the spectacular Illawarra Escarpment on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, the city is bordered by the Royal National Park to the north and Lake Illawarra to the south.
Wollongong is just 80km south of Sydney – about one hour from Sydney International Airport and 90 minutes by road or train from the centre of Sydney.
Wollongong is the primary city of the Illawarra region of New South Wales, and is Australia’s 9th largest city. More than 400,000 people live in the region. Historically, the city prospered through farming, fishing, coal mining and steel making. However, education, IT and telecommunications, manufacturing and tourism have emerged as the industries of the future.
Welcome to ICAS 9! The International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS) is the premier international gathering in Asian Studies and Asia-related research.
Held every two years, the next ICAS will be held in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, from 5-9 July 2015.
Over 1,500 participants are expected, from some 60 countries. There will be large numbers especially from Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. There will also be participants from other continents.
The conference is not just for Asia specialists from Asian studies departments at universities. It is also for others who have a research interest in Asia, including academics from other disciplines. Doing work on business, food, wine, tourism, defence, energy or other issues involving Asia, but don’t see yourself as an ‘Asianist’? We can benefit from hearing from you, while you will be able to highlight your expertise and learn from others.
ICAS 9 is being held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) and the annual/biennial conferences of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia (CSAA), the South Asian Studies Association of Australia, the Malaysia and Singapore Society of Australia. ICAS participants will be able to attend these conference sessions at no additional cost, providing unprecedented opportunities for networking and new research linkages.
The conference is hosted by South Australia’s three public universities: the University of Adelaide, Flinders University and the University of South Australia. It is supported by the Asian Studies Association of Australia.
More details are at: http://www.icas9.com/
A compelling case for Chinese monetary easing
– timely and measured monetary accommodation facilitates reform, supports growth, cushions structural adjustment and mitigates financial risk.
by Guonan Ma on 8th October 2014
Despite unmistakable signs of messy but meaningful monetary easing since last May, a puzzling debate is still raging over whether China should persist with painful but eventually rewarding economic reform or ease monetary policy to stabilise short-term growth. The puzzling question is why one should have to make a stark choice between them instead of sensibly combining the two. In my view, a successful Chinese economy needs both structural reforms on the supply side to enhance potential growth, and a nimble monetary policy to fully exploit such potential on the demand side. I discuss below six reasons why China ought to ease its monetary policy stance.
Read more at Bruegel…
Tweaking China’s loan-deposit ratio rule
– highlights the need to revamp the country’s outdated banking regulatory framework ahead of full interest rate liberalisation
by Guonan Ma on 3rd September 2014
In the wake of the latest easing of Chinese monetary policy, the CBRC, China’s banking regulator, has recently modified a few details of how it calculates the bank loan/deposit ratio, which is currently capped at 75 percent by the country’s banking law. This move, in combination with an easier monetary policy stance, aims to ease the tight Chinese financial conditions, allocate more credit to Chinese agriculture and SMEs, and adapt China to its rapidly changing financial landscape.
Read more at Bruegel…
Chinese Economics Society Australia (CESA) – Rural Development Institute (RDI) of Chinese Academy of Social Science Joint Conference
CALL FOR PAPERS
Beijing, China, December 11-12, 2014
Rural Development Institute
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
“Deepening Reform for China’s Long-Term Growth and Development: The Role of Rural Development”
About the Conference:
With nearly 35 years of fast economic growth since the opening and reform in the 1980s, the Chinese economy has now entered a new phase of development. On the one hand, the rapid economic growth comes at a cost. There exist a number of problems associated with the economic growth, such as pollutions to the environment, widening of the income equality, particularly between the rural and urban people, and growing regional economic disparities. On the other hand, the sources of growth become relatively less dependent upon pure increases in the labour, investment and credit expansion, and instead productivity improvement/technological progress, structural changes, and the benefits from improvement of the social security and welfare improvement play a bigger role in the economic growth. Such shift in the sources of economic growth is beneficial in that it favours a sustainable growth in the future. Given these two features in the current economic development in China, this conference aims to explore issues related to current economic development in China, with a focus on the rural development.
The conference is jointly organised by the Rural Development Institute (RDI) of Chinese Academy of Social Science and the Chinese Economics Society Australia (CESA). The RDI will cover the local costs, including the conference registration fee and accommodation.
Topics:
The organisers invite all papers addressing the following topics:
Keynote Speakers:
Key Dates:
Working Language:
English
Publications:
Selected papers, subject to normal peer review, will be published at China Agricultural Economic Review.
Inquiries and Submission of Abstracts:
Please contact:
Ms. Wang Rui
Rural Development Institute
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Tel: 86-10-8519 5645
Fax: 86-10-6513 7559
Email: wangrui@cass.org.cn
Are financial conditions in China too lax or too stringent?
– could tighter financial conditions be another key factor contributing to China’s slowing economic growth? Probably.
by Guonan Ma on 5th August 2014
The pronounced slowdown in China’s GDP growth in recent years has raised the important question of what might be its principal causes. The usual suspects are many and might include rebalancing pains associated with China’s domestic and external imbalances, less favourable demographics resulting in a stagnant labour force, fewer low-hanging fruits in market liberalisation, a less-accommodating global economy that no longer serves as a ready outlet for China’s surplus savings, and even the ongoing anti-corruption campaign that might have slowed government outlays and hit sales of luxury goods.
Read more at Bruegel…
Read more at UTS…
Media report of Prof Zhang Xiaobo’s keynote paper at the CESA annual conference at Monash University 2014.
House prices in China have skyrocketed in the last decade, making the country one of the least affordable places in the world to buy property, relative to income. One of the most popular jokes among Chinese bachelors is that the country’s demanding mothers-in-law are behind the soaring house prices.
Read more at Business Spectator…
Edited by Ligang Song, Ross Garnaut and Cai Fang
ISBN 9781925021769 (Print version) $50.00 (GST inclusive)
ISBN 9781925021776 (Online)
Published July 2014
The Chinese economy has entered a new phase of development in which sources of growth are not so much dependent upon pure increases in labour, investment and credit expansion, but from productivity improvement, structural changes, technological progress and the benefits from improvement of the social security and welfare improvement. When market functions are fully established to become a main channel for allocating resources, the entrepreneurship will flourish engaging in more innovative activities, workers will move more freely and have more incentives to improve their skills, firms will become more productive through market entry and exit, the economic structure will become more balanced because of the improved resource allocation, and in the end, growth will become more spontaneous and sustainable. In this sense, reforms could deliver ‘dividend’ by raising China’s potential economic growth rates.
For China to confront all the challenges it faces at present, the reforms undertaken now have to be deep, comprehensive and far-reaching in order to succeed in paving the way for China to complete the task of transformation in the long-term. There is no better alternative than deepening the market-oriented reform in advancing the course of China’s modernisation for future development and prosperity and lifting China to the status of a developed economy in the next two decades. The recent China update books have covered the topic of reform from different angles and this new book is another attempt to address this important issue.
The ebook can be downloaded freely at ANU Press.
