The adoption of a common currency raised the degree of substitution between financial instruments supplied by EU Member States to finance their national debts. In this framework, our paper looks at a particular determinant of liquidity-related spreads in euro-area government bonds. Simultaneous...

In this paper we compare, in a fully consistent manner, micro and macro labor supply elasticities. The individual elasticity is obtained from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The aggregate, time-series, elasticity is estimated from the aggregation of individual units in the PSID for...

A number of concepts of 'competitiveness' are applied to national economies, not always clearly or helpfully. This paper suggests a possible taxonomy of these concepts, and applies them to Australian data. Australia performs well on the internal competitiveness of its markets. It also does well...

Productivity is the key driver of economic growth and prosperity over the long run. It is possible to think of Australia's productivity growth as consisting of two elements: Australia's productivity catching up to its steady state level relative to the global technological frontier; and an...

Over the past 50 years, Australia has maintained a labour productivity level of around 80 per cent of that of the United States. To explain this gap, there is growing interest in the hindrances that might be imposed by Australia's geographic isolation. If the level of labour productivity is...

Interest in pandemics has increased dramatically in recent times with the emergence of Avian Influenza and conditions conducive to a global flu outbreak. While understandably most of the focus is on public health policies that might prevent or ameliorate the effects of a pandemic, there is often...

This paper examines how distance and economic size influence the level of international trade. Parameters for an international gravity trade model are estimated and used to calculate annual expected aggregate trade for Australia over the last 20 years. This model also includes a new indicator of...

This paper examines the evolution of Australian fiscal policy and the fiscal policy framework over the past quarter century. Following the early 1980s recession, a sustained fiscal consolidation saw the general government budget balance (for all levels of government) move from a deficit of 3 1/2...

The Australian Government's very low level of government debt sets the context for Australia's debt management policy. Australia's debt management policy seeks to achieve two objectives: supporting financial market efficiency; and achieving an appropriate balance of cost and risk for the...

The relative performance of the Australian and New Zealand economies has been the subject of many questions. Why, if New Zealand reformed so much, has the Australian economy performed so much better? Why are average incomes in Australia so much higher than in New Zealand? This paper explores...