At first read, “cheap petrol” sounds like an amazing concept. As consumers, we are all looking for cheaper ways to buy the same product in our everyday lives. So it seems appropriate that if petrol could be cheaper, we’d all buy into it too.

“Cheap petrol” is a trend in Asia and South America. However, because of it, cheap petrol may be linked to traffic jams and infrastructure issues.

So would the trend ever work in Australia – or is making petrol more expensive a clever way of prolonging our roads for longer?

Researcher Dr Paul Burke of the ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy joined reporter Hans Lee from Beijing.

Originally Broadcast: November 2nd, 2017