This paper tests the response of bond yield spreads and equity prices to credit rating changes in the Australian financial market. Unlike some earlier studies for foreign markets, we find evidence that both yield spreads and equity prices move in the ‘expected’ direction following rating...

We use a variety of techniques to examine the nature and degree of co-movement among Australian state business cycles. Our results indicate that these cycles move quite closely together, with particularly strong links between the cycles of the larger states. This finding is robust to a range of...

Over the past decade, a fairly synchronised and steady decline in household saving rates has been witnessed in some OECD countries but not in others. In these English-speaking countries, which share many similar institutional and cultural features, declines in household or personal saving appear...

In this paper we examine two related propositions: the efficiency of pricing of Australian shares and the influences of share prices on business investment. In line with similar studies overseas, we find that the Australian share market may deviate from efficient pricing over short time horizons...

Over the past decade value at risk (VaR) has become the most widely used technique for the quantification of market-risk exposure. VaR is a measure of the potential loss that may occur from adverse moves in market prices (interest rates, exchange rates, equity prices and so forth). The capacity...