Helen Mitchell
Qualifications
First Class Honours in Economics, University of Melbourne. Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne.
Helen is an economist and former diplomat, currently one of a cadre of senior experts providing strategic advice to the Prime Minister and rest of government. She is also the inaugural Non-Resident Fellow for Economic Security at the United States Studies Centre. Helen previously worked at Treasury and served Australia in New York, South Africa and Mexico with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She is trained in analytical tradecraft and speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.
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 much 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 that 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.
You can hear Helen speak on economic statecraft and security and the global economy on the National Security Podcast: 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 much 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 that 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
Employment history
Helen is an economist and former diplomat, currently one of a cadre of senior experts providing strategic advice to the Prime Minister and rest of government. She is also the inaugural Non-Resident Fellow for Economic Security at the United States Studies Centre. Helen previously worked at Treasury and served Australia in New York, South Africa and Mexico with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She is trained in analytical tradecraft and speaks Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.
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: 26 April 2024/Responsible Officer: Crawford Engagement/Page Contact: CAP Web Team