Download QETA CALENDAR 2014

Welcome to QETA Newsletter 17 2014.
QETA CALENDAR 2014
15 September
2-3 October
7 October
19 November
UQ Student Economics Competition Presentation of prizes
BEA Conference Perth
Econopak 3 2014 Published
AGM
It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose your own.
QETA NEWS
1. QETA STUDENT COMPETITION PRESENTATION:
The Presentation of Prizes to the successful students in the 2014 UQ School of Economics Student
economics Competition will take place on Monday 15th September 2-14 at the UQ Art Gallery. I’m sure all
look forward to receiving their prizes and recognition!
2. QETA MEMBERSHIP RATES 2015
At its last meeting, the Management Committee set membership fees for 2015 as follows:
Individual Membership
School Membership
Full Rate
$77.00
$154.00
Discounted Rate
$71.50
$143.00
To qualify for the discounted rate, the membership must be renewed and paid for by 31st March 2015.
This is the first increase in QETA fees for 4 years. As a comparison, an internet search shows membership
fees for similar organisations to be:
Geography Teachers Qld
History Teachers Qld
Business Educators Old
EBE NSW (econ & Business)
VCTA (Victoria Economics)
Individual
$79.00 (no GST)
$99.00
$121.00
$88.00
$165.00
School
$150.00 (no GST)
$220.00
$330.00
$165.00
$410.00 (more for larger schools)
QETA believes that our services match those of other teachers associations in Queensland, and the
increase in fees is justified to ensure that inflation does not impact on the long term sustainability of
QETA.
In reality, in 2014, almost everyone joined at the discounted rate, and hence the increase is not large.
3. QETA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The AGM of QETA will be held on Wednesday 19th November at the Coffee Club, Logan Road, Mt. Gravatt
4122 commencing at 4.30pm. Full details will be sent to members in October.
TEACHING RESOURCE
FROM TUTOR2U
Looking for a 15 - 20 minute activity to start your first lesson with new AS level students over the next
week or so? We've got a nice introductory quiz for you!
World of Economics - Student Quiz
The BOQ ESSI Money Challenge 2014 closes this Friday, 12 September.
Over 500 students from around Australia have already completed the Challenge. Go to
www.financialbasics.org.au/essi-money-challenge/news-and-leader-board to check out the leader board
for scores and news.
For those that have already registered, please remind your students that they need to finish playing the
BOQ ESSI Money Challenge and submit their scores by 5.00pm (Brisbane AEST), Friday 12 September.
(Scores are submitted automatically at the end of the game - teachers are not required to complete
anything further).
For those that haven't already registered, it's not too late! Get on board and encourage your students to
test their financial literacy knowledge.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING
Study programmes to Asia: Registrations for January 2015 programmes now open
Indonesia: A Diverse Culture – 4 to 14 January 2015
Explore traditional and contemporary Indonesian culture, learn about environmental issues, disaster
management and sustainability. Meet with Indonesian educators and engage with Islamic culture.
Register now for this Indonesia study programme
Update to Australian Curriculum website
Version 7.1 of the Australian Curriculum website was recently released with some new features and
iconography.
Read the full article
ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS YEARS 5-10
Curated resources: Collections of digital lists
- Economics and Business curated digital lists
RESOURCES
1. FROM THE FEDERAL TREASURY
Keynote address to the Foreign Investment Roundtable, Sydney
Introductory remarks Thank you, Jennifer, for inviting me to speak today. And thanks to you all for
making this roundtable a priority. I know you are busy people. Today I’ll be talking a little bit about
China’s economy and how it relates to Australia’s need for foreign investment. Then I’ll talk about the
reform of China’s State Owned Enterprises (or …
Read more
National Accounts - June Quarter 2014
The National Accounts released today show that the Australian economy continued to grow in the June
quarter, expanding by 0.5 per cent and 3.1 per cent over the year. In light of the previous quarter, when
the economy grew by 1.1 per cent, it was a strong outcome. It shows that the first half of 2014 was
stronger than expected. …
Read more
2. FROM THE ABS
5676.0 Business Indicators, Australia, Jun 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5676.0?OpenDocument
5302.0 Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia (Media Release), Jun
2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/DB1B30094A31D9D5CA256EA6007
80195?OpenDocument
8731.0 Building Approvals, Australia (Media Release), Jul 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/8F919D91E9992461CA2568A9001
362B8?OpenDocument
5302.0 Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, Jun 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5302.0?OpenDocument
5519.0.55.001 Government Finance Statistics, Australia, June Quarter 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5519.0.55.001?OpenDocument
8731.0 Building Approvals, Australia, Jul 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/8731.0?OpenDocument
5206.0 Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (Media Release),
Jun 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/763661F19C40D5AECA257B80001
30DD9?OpenDocument
5206.0 Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, Jun 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5206.0?OpenDocument
8501.0 Retail Trade, Australia (Media Release), Jul 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/MediaRealesesByCatalogue/676AC4CC578D6559CA257734002
04519?OpenDocument
3401.0 Overseas Arrivals and Departures, Australia, Jul 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/3401.0?OpenDocument
5368.0 International Trade in Goods and Services, Australia, Jul 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/5368.0?OpenDocument
6321.0.55.001 Industrial Disputes, Australia, Jun 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/6321.0.55.001?OpenDocument
8501.0 Retail Trade, Australia, Jul 2014
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/8501.0?OpenDocument
3. FROM WORLD BANK
Seeking Solutions
to Water and Energy Challenges
The inextricable connections between water and energy are the focus of this year’s World Water Week.
Read More »
4. FROM THE RBA
The Reserve Bank of Australia has released the September 2014 issue of the Chart Pack.
You can view the Chart Pack at:
http://www.rba.gov.au/chart-pack/index.html
For your information the Reserve Bank of Australia issued the Financial Aggregates for July 2014. You
can view this statistical release at:
http://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/frequency/fin-agg/2014/fin-agg-0714.html
The Reserve Bank of Australia issued the Index of Commodity Prices for August 2014. You can view
this statistical release at:
http://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/frequency/commodity-prices/2014/icp-0814.html
A speech delivered by Glenn Stevens, Governor, to the Committee for Economic Development of
Australia (CEDA) Luncheon in Adelaide, is available on the Reserve Bank website.
http://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2014/sp-gov-030914.html
5. FROM THE BUSINESS SPECTATOR
Weekend Economist: Not half bad
29 Aug 2014 | 11:08 PM | Bill Evans
June's sudden GDP slowdown is unlikely to surprise or concern the Reserve Bank. But growth in the latter
half of 2014 is on track to be much higher than the bank expects.
We're all paying the price of the high Australian dollar
29 Aug | 8:59 AM | Callam Pickering
A high dollar results in cheaper goods and lower import prices, but as seen with the demise of Australia’s
motor vehicle sector, it comes at a devastatingly high cost.
How Australia can remake the manufacturing sector
29 Aug 2014 | 8:36 AM | Adam Carr
High wages are often blamed for the death of the manufacturing sector, but in fact they ensure Australia
is well-placed to capitalise on its strength in producing higher-tech, export-oriented goods.
Will GDP drag down the dollar?
2 Sep 2014 | 7:14 AM | Jim Vrondas
A raft of data releases this week should have little effect on the Australian dollar. But the GDP read is
another story.
Business confidence at 10-year high
2 Sep 2014 | 1:31 AM | AAP
Number of firms expecting profit growth at 10-year peak as retailers tip strong Christmas sales.
RBA faith is getting hard to take
2 Sep | 4:30 PM | Callam Pickering
Whatever momentum the economy began the year with has largely washed away, and the Reserve Bank's
belief it will simply return to trend is stretching credibility
An apartment construction boom chaser
2 Sep | 2:58 PM | Callam Pickering
A rise in building approvals highlights the surprising resilience of the residential construction sector. But a
weak outlook for commodity prices poses a risk.
A recession is coming, but don't blame debt
4 Sep 2014 | 8:04 AM | Adam Carr
Commentators with negative views about the state of the economy have homed in on Australia's recordhigh debt levels. In fact, the cause of the next recession will be a little more traditional.
Debating Australia's housing future
Sep 2014 | 11:41 AM | Jackson Hewett
Is Australia's housing market in a bubble environment, or can prices continue to rise regardless? Adam
Carr and Callam Pickering debate the future for homeowners.
How online shopping is really delivering
8 Sep 2014 | 9:52 AM | Brad Howarth
The surge in online retail has forced transportation companies to re-engineer their services, and
consumers are the big winners.
Raise super returns, not rates
8 Sep | 11:21 AM | Kohler & Jackson Hewett
Alan Kohler explains why Australians shouldn't be focused on a higher level of guaranteed superannuation.
China free trade deal on track: govt
8 Sep 2014 | 12:00 AM | AAP
Julie Bishop says progress being made on trade agreement, likely to be sealed this year.
6. FROM POPULATION MATTERS
We have updated our Overshoot Index, which relates each country's ability to provide renewable
ecological services such as water collection, food production and waste absorption to the country's
population size and per capita resource consumption.
The Population Reference Bureau has published a concise guide to population and development.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has issued a report warning of continuing damage to
Australia's Great Barrier Reef from development and climate change
Earth Overshoot Day 2014, the day on which global consumption will exceed the predicted production
from renewable resources for the whole year, is coming up later this month.
There has been a call for an end to the sending of food waste to landfills and adoption of other wastereduction measures "to save resources as the world's population rises".
7. AUSTRADE: VIDEOS
Providing information about exports, imports, investment, education and tourism, Austrade also has a
collection of YouTube videos that you can use in your classrooms. Try, for example, 10 interesting facts
about Australia
Access videos
8. FROM ECONOMY WATCH
How long can Japan sustain its Mount Fuji of debt?
By: David Smith| Date: 02 September 2014
The Japanese economy continues to defy gravity despite a Mount Fuji of debt that has no parallel in
Western countries, and the worst problem of demographics among all the world's rich nations. Japan's net
debt-to-GDP ratio is about 135%, even higher than the Southern European nations when they plunged
into crisis. Meanwhile, the World Bank's figures show one of the world's lowest fertility rates of 1.39 births
per woman, leading to rapid population decline. Rising health and pension costs will inevitably pile more
pressure onto the indebted state.. Read more ▶
World Economy
Should the G20 have a global growth target?
By: East Asia Forum| Date: 03 September 2014
The global recovery is strengthening but remains weak. A global growth target, pursued by the G20, could
significantly strengthen this recovery process. But such a macroeconomic target needs to be supported by
micro-economic reforms. Read more ▶
Philippine Economy Heads for Long-Term Growth
Recent research has suggested that the Philippine economy may be set to experience long-term growth,
expanding even further than the 7.2% estimated in the absence of common election-related costs. The
department of finance are positive about the projected future for economic growth, and undersecretary of
finance, Gil Beltran, suggested that the Philippines may even begin to pick up a greater amount of speed
throughout the medium term, as a result of its strong macroeconomic fundamentals. Read more ▶
9. FROM TUTOR2U
Student-led Research in Economics - PowerPoint Profile Sheets
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
by Jim Riley
Three PowerPoint-based resources designed to stimulate some research by economics students on a
selection of countries and businesses of their choice.
AS Macro - Country Profiles
This research document Invites students to explore information relating to key measures of macro
performance and aspects of economic development
Teachers may provide some helpful links e.g. to World Economic Forum or Economic Freedom Index.
Alternatively they they might hold back and see which sources the students themselves come up with!
The PowerPoint file contains one sheet per country, Geoff suggests that, for a good comparative
mix, students choose three nations - at least one advanced OECD country, one of the BRIC/MINT
countries and a country from sub Saharan Africa.
Completed research sheets provide an ideal opportunity for classroom discussion including the reliability of
data sources, how each of the indicators is measured and relative strengths and weaknesses of a
country's macroeconomic performance
A2 Macro - Country Profiles
This is a similar resource but with a greater focus on building contextual examples for students embarking
on a development economics course - the sheets can be updated / built on the course progresses so that
a student might have a dozen or more to refer to - with supplementary study notes by the end of the
course
A2 Business Economics - Business Profiles
This final resource encourages students to build profiles of a variety of businesses, To gather the most
complete data the businesses chosen should ideally be those with multinational operations, a public stock
market listing and reasonable public information about their strategy.
Higher or Lower? International Competitiveness
A popular, interactive resource format with a topical twist here. Jon's superb Higher or Lower activity has
been populated with the latest data on international competitiveness. Give it a go!
Keeping up to date with Economics – links for new economists
tutor2u economics blog:



Main blog: www.tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/economics/
Economics revision notes: www.tutor2u.net/economics/revision-notes/
Revision presentations: www.slideshare.net/tutor2u
Scoop.It Boards for Economics Students:






Development economics: www.scoop.it/t/development-economics-1
Business economics: www.scoop.it/t/unit-3-micro-business-economics
Microeconomics: www.scoop.it/t/microeconomics-pre-u-economics
Introductory microeconomics: www.scoop.it/t/econ1-the-market-mechanism
Chinese economy: http://www.scoop.it/t/china-pre-u
Market structures and business economics: http://www.scoop.it/t/econ3-market-structureexamp...
You Tube:




Financial Times: https://www.youtube.com/user/FinancialTimesVideos
PJ Holden: https://www.youtube.com/user/pajholden
Bank of England:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY70MMJ8Rj4wtwt7bVN6hIA
The Economist: https://www.youtube.com/user/EconomistMagazine
Help with your Economics revision
tutor2u AS Economics revision workshops
tutor2u AS Economics revision guides
10. FROM WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
Global Growth at Risk from Slow Reform Progress

The Global Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 finds insufficient progress in
adopting and implementing structural reforms necessary for long-term
economic growth
 Switzerland remains on top of the report’s Global Competitiveness Index
rankings; the US and Japan move up in the rankings for a second year in a
row
 Innovation, talent development and institutional strength continue to play a
defining role in determining world’s most competitive economies
 Download the full report, profiling 144 economies and more at
http://wef.ch/gcr14
 Watch video interviews on the results of the report
Geneva, Switzerland, 3 September 2014 – The health of the global economy is at
risk, despite years of bold monetary policy, as countries struggle to implement
structural reforms necessary to help economies grow, according to the Global
Competitiveness Report 2014-2015 released today by the World Economic Forum.
For the full release and supporting information, please
visit: http://www.weforum.org/nr_gcr2014
11. AVAILABLE FROM TES
Economic indicators
Help students understand the advantages and disadvantages of economic indicators using this set of
flashcards.
12. POPULATION AWARENESS
A recent United Nations report on the implementation of the International Conference on Population and
Development Programme of Action recognises the clear links between sexual and reproductive health and
rights, population dynamics and sustainable development.
Jonathan Adair Turner, Baron Turner of Ecchinswell has made a strong case for
stabilisation of the global population. He is a British businessman, an academic
and a member of the UK's Financial Policy Committee. He formerly was Chairman
of the Financial Services Authority, Pensions Commission and Committee on
Climate Change.
13. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
Earth Overshoot Day 2014, the day on which global consumption exceeded the predicted production from
renewable resources for the entire year, was 19 August. For the rest of the year, we will be relying on
nonrenewables — something that is clearly not sustainable.
There are some great satellite pictures of human development available online.
The patterns are appealing, but the consequences are not.
The Lancet is inviting submission of reports on research addressing global
environmental change, ecosystem impairment or the health of human
civilisations.
World leaders are going to meet at United Nations headquarters in New York City
for Climate Summit 2014 on 23 September. There is an online petition urging the
leaders to take strong action and marches will be held in cities around the world on 21 September.
The World Wildlife Fund is providing seven important tips for reducing your carbon footprint.
WEBSITE
http://www.econoclass.com/
Doug Cave
QETA Secretary/Treasurer
[email protected]
http://www.qeta.com.au
If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter, send an email to [email protected] with the
word “unsubscribe” in the subject line.
If you know of others who would like to subscribe, have them send an email to [email protected]
with “subscribe” in the subject line. To subscribe, they or their school must be a member of
QETA.