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John Hawkins1

Senior Lecturer, Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra
I have a PhD in political science and Masters degrees in Economics and Applied Finance. I have headed the economics division at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and been a senior economist with the Reserve Bank of Australia, Bank for International Settlements and Australian Treasury and secretary to the Senate Economics Committee.

Central Banking Series

The Reserve Bank of Australia will now have a separate board just to set interest rates. Here’s why that’s significant

Dec 02, 2024 05:10 am UTC| Central Banks Economy

On Thursday night, after a whirlwind day in Canberra, the Senate finally passed the federal governments long-delayed amendments to the Reserve Bank Act. The reforms will create two separate boards for the Reserve Bank...

Digital Currency Revolution

Will digital currencies become the norm as the world moves towards a cashless society?

Jul 03, 2024 14:19 pm UTC| Insights & Views Digital Currency

More than 90% of the worlds central banks are looking at introducing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), to complement existing banknotes. What is a central bank digital currency? A CBDC is not a new currency. It...

Inflation is slowly falling, while student debt is climbing: 6 graphs that explain today’s CPI

Apr 25, 2024 06:06 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Australias inflation rate has fallen for the fifth successive quarter, and its now less than half of what it was back in late 2022. The annual rate peaked at 7.8% in the December quarter of 2022 and is now just 3.6%, in...

Interest rates are expected to drop but trying to out-think the market won’t guarantee getting a good deal

Mar 07, 2024 07:38 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy

With most economists expecting interest rates to start falling later this year, prospective home buyers might be weighing up whether to buy now for fear of strong competition for stock, or waiting until repayments are...

Chalmers changes tack as economic growth sinks to a new post-pandemic low

Mar 06, 2024 22:48 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy

Wednesdays national accounts show economic activity barely grew during the three months to December, climbing just 0.2%. Thats the lowest growth rate in four quarters, each of which was lower than the one before...

Happy birthday AUD: how our Australian dollar was floated, 40 years ago this week

Dec 04, 2023 12:29 pm UTC| Economy Insights & Views

These days, we take for granted that the value of the Australian dollar fluctuates against other currencies, changing thousands of times a day and at times jumping or falling quite a lot in the space of a week. But for...

Digital Currency Revolution

Sam Bankman-Fried convicted for massive FTX fraud, in stark reminder of risks of crypto trading

Nov 04, 2023 03:41 am UTC| Law Digital Currency

It is not just crypto tokens that have spectacular downfalls. So can crypto personalities. Sam Bankman-Fried founded FTX, one of the worlds largest exchanges for so-called cryptocurrencies, which collapsed last year...

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Economy

Trump Imposes 10% Tariff on Global Imports, Markets React Sharply

U.S. customs agents began enforcing President Donald Trumps 10% baseline tariff on imports from multiple countries on Saturday, marking a major shift from post-WWII trade norms. This unilateral move affects goods arriving...

Global Markets Tumble as US-China Trade War Deepens

Global stock markets plunged Friday following Chinas announcement of 34% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, intensifying trade tensions with the U.S. and raising recession fears. The Nasdaq entered a bear market, falling...

Wall Street Plunges Amid Escalating U.S.-China Trade War and Tariff Fears

Wall Street suffered its steepest two-day drop since the pandemic, as mounting global trade tensions and sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump administration triggered a major market selloff. The Nasdaq Composite...

China’s Tariffs Push Soybean Trade Towards Brazil, Hitting U.S. Exports

Chinas latest retaliation to U.S. tariffs is intensifying a shift away from American agricultural imports, especially soybeans, with Brazil emerging as the primary beneficiary. On Friday, Beijing imposed additional 34%...

Trade War Escalates: China Strikes Back

In April 2025, the U.S.-China trade war leaped exponentially when China slapped a 34% tariff on everything America exports in retaliation against President Trumps tariffs. The retaliatory tariff is the exact thing the...

Politics

Medicare Declines Coverage Expansion for Obesity Drugs Like Wegovy and Zepbound

The Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it will not proceed with a Biden administration proposal to expand Medicare coverage to include weight-loss drugs such as Novo Nordisks Wegovy and Eli Lillys...

Zelenskiy Criticizes U.S. Embassy’s Response to Russian Missile Strike

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy voiced frustration over the U.S. embassys response to a deadly Russian missile strike that killed 18 people, including nine children, in his hometown of Kryvyi Rih. The attack, which...

Netanyahu to Discuss U.S. Tariffs, Iran, and ICC Warrant in Washington Meeting with Trump

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Washington on Sunday for a high-stakes meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, aiming to address newly imposed U.S. tariffs and a range of geopolitical concerns....

U.S. Judge Orders Return of Wrongfully Deported Salvadoran Migrant

A U.S. federal judge has ordered the Biden administration to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legally residing Salvadoran migrant, to the U.S. within three days after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The...

UK PM Starmer Vows Support for Businesses Amid Trump’s Tariff Surge

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to shield British industries from the fallout of U.S. President Donald Trumps new tariff policy, pledging potential state intervention to support the most impacted sectors....

Science

AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi Gets US Approval for Bladder Cancer Treatment

AstraZenecas drug Imfinzi (NASDAQ: AZN) has received U.S. approval to treat adult patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, a significant advancement in cancer therapy. The approval allows Imfinzi to be used in...

Sanofi’s New Hemophilia Drug Qfitlia Gains FDA Approval with Breakthrough Bimonthly Dosing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Qfitlia, a groundbreaking hemophilia treatment by French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi (NASDAQ: SNY). Designed for patients aged 12 and older with hemophilia A or B,...

FDA Vaccine Chief Peter Marks Resigns Amid Controversy Over Transparency

Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned after reportedly being forced out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), according to The Wall Street Journal....

What are the chances an asteroid will impact Earth in 2032?

For a few days in mid-February, headlines around the world buzzed about the potential for an asteroid to hit the Earth in 2032 specifically, asteroid 2024 YR4. The chance of this impact rose to a high of 3.1 per cent on...

A new study reveals the structure of violent winds 1,300 light years away

The planet WASP-121b is extreme. Its a gas giant almost twice as big as Jupiter orbiting extremely close to its star50 times closer than the Earth does around the Sun. WASP-121b is so close to its star that tidal forces...

Technology

Meta Unveils Llama 4 Maverick and Scout, Boosts AI Ambitions

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has unveiled its latest AI modelsLlama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scoutcalling them its most advanced large language models (LLMs) to date. Designed as multimodal AI systems, they can process and...

Elon Musk’s Lawsuit Against OpenAI Heads to Jury Trial in 2026

Elon Musks high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI is set for a jury trial in spring 2026, as ruled by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case centers on Musks...

Intel, TSMC Eye Joint Venture Amid U.S. Chip Industry Crisis

Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are in early talks to form a joint venture to manage Intels U.S. chip factories, according to The Information. TSMC is expected to take a 20% stake in the new entity....

SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin Win $13.5B in Space Force Launch Contracts

The U.S. Space Force has awarded $13.5 billion in rocket launch contracts through 2029 to SpaceX, United Launch Alliance (ULA), and Blue Origin under its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 program. This...

Nintendo Delays U.S. Pre-Orders for Switch 2 Amid Tariff Concerns

Nintendo has announced a delay in U.S. pre-orders for its upcoming Switch 2 gaming console due to uncertainties surrounding new trade tariffs. Originally scheduled to begin on April 9, the pre-order launch is now postponed...