Young Economists SA Event: Wine’s evolving globalisation - Presentation and Wine Tasting

Wine’s evolving globalization: Comparative histories of the Old and New World, Implications for Australia

The dramatic globalization of wine over the past two decades has been an unprecedented boom for consumers. The rapid expansion in exports from the New World put additional pressure on Old World producers who were also facing declining demand in their domestic market. More recently, some New World producers have been struggling to retain competitiveness, most notably in Australia and Argentina, while others (in New Zealand and the United States) have been enjoying high wine and hence grape prices. Meanwhile, all exporters are eyeing demand developments in East Asia, especially China, in the hope of benefitting from that region’s emerging import growth.

 Clearly cycles in this industry do not always coincide, suggesting unique features are contributing in addition to common developments in markets abroad. To what extent has that been the case in earlier periods? What lessons can be learnt from the past about why the wine industry in some countries grew while it stagnated or took off later in others? How does the extent of wine’s globalization in recent decades compare with that in the second half of the 19^th century?

More fundamentally, why did it take until quite recently for temperate New World countries with ideal winegrape growing conditions to develop a comparative advantage in wine? Most were net importers of wine prior to 1900, even though ocean transport costs were falling rapidly and Europe’s vineyards were devastated by phylloxera from the 1870s. Might producers in Eastern Europe’s formerly planned economies, or in North Africa, rebuild their wine industries?

This presentation focuses on the implications Australia has faced in the evolving global wine market.

About the Speaker

Kym Anderson is the George Gollin Professor of Economics and formerly foundation Executive Director of the Centre for International Economic Studies at the University of Adelaide in Australia, where he has been affiliated since 1984. Previously he was a Research Fellow at the Australian National University's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (1977-83), following doctoral studies at the University of Chicago and Stanford University (1974-77); and in 2012 he rejoined ANU part-time as a Professor of Economics in its Crawford School of Public Policy.He was on extended leave at the Economic Research division of the GATT (now WTO) Secretariat in Geneva during 1990-92 and at the World Bank’s Research Group in Washington DC as Lead Economist (Trade Policy) during 2004-07.

He also has an interest in wine economics: as co-founder of the American Association of Wine Economists and co-editor of its Journal of Wine Economics, as foundation Executive Director of Adelaide’s Wine Economics Research Centre, and as compiler of a number of global grape and wine market databases.

In 2014 he was conferred with an honorary Doctor of Economics degree by the University of Adelaide and in 2015 he became a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).

About the Wine tasting presenter

David Ridge - Knowing how to educate and sell has made David Ridge a fixture in the Australian wine business. With over 3 decades in hospitality, David has experience in almost every aspect of a broad and fascinating field – from retail, hotel, restaurant and distribution to winery, wine industry bodies, importing, education and writing. He’s written hundreds of winelists, conducted a thousand tastings, tasted tens of thousands of wines for import, export or publications, tutored would-be show judges, advised or represented a galaxy of Australia’s and the world’s great wine names.  He chooses as testimony the words of a large, old (and very successful) Barossa winemaker, who said: “Ridgey might be one of those sniffers and spitters, but at least he can sell wine.”

Presentation:

No cost

Wine tasting (limit of 20)

No cost for members

$20 for non-members

RSVP is a must

RSVP to admin@esasa.org.au or follow the links below to register on line by 1 August 2016.

Sponsored by School of Economics (Adelaide University), Parade Cellars.