Insights

It's difficult to recall the popular appeal that Marxism once had. While we now all know that the Soviet Union was doomed, that was not nearly so clear in 1980.

For years, the Coalition successfully conflated rising power prices with the carbon tax, but continued increases hint at the dysfunctional state of our power system.

Speculation diverts resources away from the real economy and channels it towards a purely derivative economy.

Three little words could help owners of small businesses better target investors.

A sudden drop in prices wouldn't be good, but concerns over a steady annual decline of 2 per cent are overblown.

The joint US-China announcement on tackling climate change might represent a future that pairs economic growth with environmental concerns.

Protectionism around the globe has increased considerably in recent years, as countries resort to sneakier methods to support exports and their domestic economies. But it's not a recipe for growth.

The coal industry is getting really desperate in its response to the China-US climate deal - it's talking up clean coal. Meanwhile, it belittles solar - yet just two weeks of 2014 solar production will avoid more CO2 than all clean coal projects ever built.

The US-China pact on climate change puts pressure on the Australian government and resources companies to rethink relations with China.

Glencore's decision to temporarily shut down its Australian coal production highlights the severe stress experienced by the thermal coal sector, and it could be years before the outlook improves.

While China is engaged in a determined push to root out corruption at home, it has wavered on addressing the issue at the G20.

Public interest in climate change will be hard to avoid this weekend as Queensland prepares for 'severe' fire risk and Brisbane its warmest November day since John Gorton was in power.

The explosion in Samsung's R&D budget over the past decade has impacted its innovative edge, albeit at an extreme cost.

Shenzhen's 15 million people will take part in China's first major step towards shifting the utility business model towards supporting end-use energy efficiency and distributed renewables.

In the next decade the NBN will become the dominant medium for content distribution and without net neutrality laws the larger service providers will make merry and further entrench their dominance.

In stark contrast to the views of the global coal industry, centralised coal-fired electricity generation is not the best option for those rural communities in India and Africa suffering most from a lack of modern energy.