Imagine this: you are handed a plain lunch. No menu, no story, no price. Just a plate eaten between lectures in an ordinary city. From that plate alone, what could you infer about the economy that produced it? You would notice globalisation before taste. Supply chains before preferences. Incentives before culture. How far the ingredients travelled, how much processing occurred, and whether the food required skill or labour: all reveal information about wages, regulation, tech

The Economy of Iran Needs a Monetary Cooldown, Not Another Revolution. When Mr. Khomeini stepped out of that famous chartered Air France Boeing 747 flight on February 1, 1979 in Tehran, it did not cross anyone’s mind for a second that forty-seven years later, the children of those who so ardently rioted against their banished King, would indeed riot again to have their olden days back. Revolution, they so emphatically hold, would bring those days back. I believe, however, tha

‘God Save the Queen, Because Nothing Will Save the Governor-General’ The 11th November is known to most as a day of remembrance for those that died in WW1 and for the innumerable conflicts that followed; poppies are worn, wreaths are lain, the eery notes of the Last Post can be heard. However, for Australia, 11th November is also remembered for another monumental event that happened fifty years ago. Let’s set the scene. It’s November 1975, Mamma Mia by ABBA is the   Number 1

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) providers have rapidly taken over online checkouts. Now, it’s become impossible to visit any online vendor without seeing the soft pastel colours of Klarna or Afterpay; slowly dominating and becoming the primary method of payment for the younger shoppers. The prospect of paying four small instalments – no interest charged, if paid on time. This makes the hard pill of the total price much easier to swallow. BNPL providers like Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay

China’s remarkable economic rise has primarily been driven by investment, whether in factories, infrastructure, or real estate built at unprecedented speed. But for more than a decade, Beijing has aimed to shift toward household consumption as the core driver of growth. Progress has been limited. Today, consumption accounts for just around 39% of GDP, which is far below major advanced economies, and remains overshadowed by investment and exports. Why is household consumption