Major changes to the Australian financial system occurred in the 1980s that were potentially important for the effects of monetary policy on economic activity. Using vector autoregressive econometric techniques we find that, in fact, the deregulation of the financial system has made very little...

In this paper we investigate the degree of competition in the market for housing loans by examining a new data set, the asset composition of individual banks. We construct a Herfindahl index of concentration in this market, and estimate a model of conjectural variations to examine the reactions...

The 1980s witnessed large increases in corporate debt and sustained asset price inflation. More recently, asset prices, particularly commercial property prices, have fallen significantly. The effect of these changes on balance sheets, and their implications for the business cycle, have generated...

Financial deregulation in the 1980s saw the lifting of regulations on interest rates charged by banks. In general, lending rates now respond more quickly to changes in banks’ cost of funds than they did in the regulated period. However, lending rates still do not always move one for one with...

Australian financial institutions remained healthy throughout the global financial crisis and their deposits were guaranteed by the Federal Government. Nevertheless, demand for currency increased abnormally quickly in late 2008, resulting in an additional $5 billion (or 12 per cent) of...

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...

This paper considers whether capital is a significant constraint on employment in Australia. We calculate the level of capital-constrained employment for ten sectors of the Australian economy. The calculations suggest that the manufacturing; mining; transport, storage and communication and...

In this paper we use daily data to examine the relationships between the unofficial cash rate, the $A/$US exchange rate and other interest rates. In particular, we investigate whether any change in these relationships occurred after October 1987. Amongst other results, we find that in the period...

This paper poses two questions: why did the equilibrium rate of unemployment rise so much in the 1970s, and why does unemployment increase rapidly during recessions, but decrease so slowly in the subequent recovery, i.e. why is unemployment persistent? We find that equilibrium unemployment rose...

In this paper, I investigate the link between real wage rigidities, nominal wage and price rigidities, and nominal exchange rate volatility. Using a model of overlapping wage contracts and monopolistic price-setting, where prices are costly to change, I find sticky nominal prices and wages to be...