Calculating the cost of climate change   SYDNEY: For a big exporter of hydrocarbons such as Australia, the British government's Stern Review on the economic consequences of global warming contains bad news and worse news. The bad news is that human activity has already raised global temperatures. Even acting quickly to counter the effect will cost 1 percent of global GDP a year. But at least economic growth can continue if the world acts early. The worse news is that delay sharpens the problem and raises the costs exponentially until they spiral out of control - irreversible rises in temperature, extremes of drought and flood, crop failures, inundation of coastal lands, and up to 200 million refugees. The report's author, Sir Nicholas Stern, says business as usual is not an option. Whether Canberra acknowledges it yet or not, large changes must be contemplated for many aspects of modern life.     Slowing China's export machine  BEIJING: The Ministry of Finance recently decided to impose temporary tariffs on 110 exported goods and cut tariffs on 58 imported products. On the one hand, the rise of export taxes and the cut in import duties will definitely put a drag on the country's soaring trade surplus. On the other hand, by controlling the export of goods, the production of which involves the mass consumption of energy and resources as well as heavy pollution, the government is sending a clear signal to domestic industries that they must bid farewell to a high-growth pattern for now. In the past, as long as the trade sector could serve as a growth engine, local governments did not pay much attention to the environmental and resource costs. A customs duty that discourages energy- and resource-intensive exports is a needed step to push domestic enterprises to raise their energy efficiency and environmental awareness.    Adam Smith's ethical economics  LONDON: Few have been more maligned than the economist Adam Smith - in life, a man who theorized about moral sentiment; in death, a poster boy for those who grasp price but not value. News that he is set to grace the new £20 note, the first Scot on English notes, provides a welcome chance to put the record straight. Smith is, of course, best known for the "invisible hand," the idea that, through markets, people who believe themselves to be acting in self-interest can in fact meet the needs of others. But this insight did not lead him into free- market fundamentalism. Rather, the conclusions that he drew are those that economists of left and right agree on. He understood that markets could only work in a social, even a moral, context, and saw a significant role for the state. For a balanced view of markets, one can do worse than read Adam Smith's own words.