Helen Mitchell
Qualifications
Executive Leadership, Harvard Business School.
Economics Hons.I & Arts, University of Melbourne.
Helen Mitchell is a Sir Roland Wilson Scholar at the Australian National University doing targeted research to help solve national policy challenges. Her research explores economic security and statecraft in a new global order – one in which Australia faces sharper trade-offs between sovereignty, security and prosperity.
Helen is (Non-Resident) Economic Security Fellow at the United States Studies Centre and published an Economic Security report that helps define what ‘Economic Security’ is and how to achieve it.
Helen is an economist and former diplomat – she served Australia in New York, South Africa and Mexico. Most recently, she was one of a cadre of senior experts providing strategic advice to the Prime Minister and rest of government.
Helen trained in Economics (Hons.1) and Arts at the University of Melbourne; she recently trained in Executive Leadership at the Harvard Business School. She speaks Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.
You can hear Helen speak on economic statecraft and security and the global economy on several podcasts:
https://www.ussc.edu.au/podcasts/ussc-briefing-room/ussc-briefing-room-t... https://shows.acast.com/the-national-security-podcast/episodes/a-new-age... https://shows.acast.com/the-national-security-podcast/episodes/how-the-g... .
Topic title
Topic description
Helen’s research draws on her expertise fusing economics, geopolitics and security for government. Today, economic security issues involve supply chains, growth and innovation as well as deterrence, commitment and pressure. This leads to tensions between the aims of economic security and statecraft policies. Helen has developed a rigorous framework to guide policymakers through these issues to find policies that can drive prosperity and add to regional deterrence and influence, which will help Australia manage threats and develop new energy and technology systems. Helen’s framework helps policymakers to identify and calibrate policies that move Australia towards desired economic security outcomes and find off-ramps away from unintended consequences or dangerous outcomes.
Publications
Helen Mitchell, “Unlocking economic security: A strategic playbook for Australia,” United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, March 2024. Available at: https://www.ussc.edu.au/unlocking-economic-security-a-strategic-playbook...
Mitchell, Helen, A Modern Economic Statecraft Framework (August 22, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4548008 or http://dx.doi.org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.2139/ssrn.4548008
Mixing the carrots with the sticks: third party punishment and reward; Nikiforakis, Nikos; Mitchell, Helen. Experimental Economics 17, 1–23 (2014). https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1007/s10683-013-9354-z
Equality, well-being and the work of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission; Ross Garnaut, Warwick J McKibbin, Barry Eichengreen, Bruce Kaufman, Robert Dixon, Deborah A Cobb-Clark, Ian McDonald, Helen Mitchell, Kevin Davis, Angela Paladino, Robert Officer. https://scholar-google-com.virtual.anu.edu.au/citations?view_op=view_cit...
Scholarships and fellowships
Sir Roland Wilson Scholarship
Personal links
Mailing address
Crawford School of Public Policy
ANU College of Asia & the Pacific
HC Coombs Building
9 Fellows Road
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
Updated: 17 August 2024/Responsible Officer: Crawford Engagement/Page Contact: CAP Web Team