It turns out that price index functions share a basic interpretation; practically all of them measure a change in some average of quality-adjusted prices. The different options are distinguished by their choice of average, their definition of quality, and their stance on what I label ‘equal...

The Sticky Information Phillips Curve (SIPC) provides a theoretically appealing alternative to the sticky-price New-Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC). This paper assesses the empirical performance of the SIPC for Australia. There is only weak evidence in favour of the SIPC over the low-inflation...

This paper draws on a survey of consumers' willingness to pay surcharges to use debit cards and credit cards, rather than cash. Just as the price a consumer is willing to pay for a good or service is indicative of the value he/she places on that item, the willingness to pay a surcharge to use a...

In Australia, the banking sector's substantial exposure to the household sector gives reason to continuously assess the financial resilience of households. In this paper, we further explore the simulation-based household stress-testing model presented in Bilston and Rodgers (2013). This model...

Among the reforms to over-the-counter (OTC) derivative markets since the global financial crisis is a commitment to collateralise counterparty exposures and to clear standardised contracts via central counterparties (CCPs). The reforms aim to reduce interconnectedness and improve counterparty...

Currency counterfeiting is costly for society. Law enforcement agencies allocate substantial resources to deter, detect and prosecute counterfeiting operations, households and businesses suffer a direct loss to counterfeiters and undertake costly prevention measures, and central banks spend...

Credit risk – the risk that borrowers will not repay their loans – is one of the main risks that financial intermediaries face, and has been the underlying driver of most systemic banking crises in advanced economies over recent decades. This paper explores the <i>ex post</i> credit risk experience...

We use a structural vector autoregression model to characterise the aggregate and industry effects of exchange rate movements on the Australian economy. We find that a temporary 10 per cent appreciation of the real exchange rate that is unrelated to the terms of trade or interest rate...

This paper investigates household saving behaviour in Australia, as well as the drivers behind the recent rise in the aggregate household saving ratio. Our results explaining differences in saving behaviour across households are consistent with theory and previous findings. As might be expected,...

Low interest rates in the United States have recently been accompanied by large fiscal stimulus. However, discussions of monetary policy have neglected this fiscal activism, leading to over-estimates of the costs of the zero lower bound and, hence, of the appropriate inflation target. To rectify...