This paper employs worldwide data on output and bilateral trade in order to identify optimum currency areas (OCA’s) on a global basis. By retaining only two of the many criteria that have been mentioned in the literature on OCA’s, it has been possible to use computer programming to do the...

In Kohler (2002) we analyse coalition formation in monetary policy coordination games between n countries. We find that positive spillovers of the coalition formation process and the resulting free-rider problem limit the stable coalition size: since the coalition members are bound by the...

We analyse the determinants of Australia’s exchange rate in terms of the approach introduced by Williamson (1983), based on the simultaneous attainment of internal and external balance. Internal balance implies that the economy is operating at its supply potential with no inflationary...

This paper addresses the question of how changes in stock market wealth and housing wealth affect consumption expenditure in Australia. We approach the problem using a panel of Australian states, for which we construct data on housing and stock market wealth. We estimate the link between...

This paper examines the link between currency areas and customs unions. The size of a bloc of countries practising some form of co-ordination of monetary policy is limited by the incentive to free-ride that formation of the bloc creates. However, when the threat of a trade war is introduced, the...

Over the past 40 years the business cycles of Anglo-Saxon countries have become more closely synchronized. This paper investigates whether the factors suggested for explaining cycle co-movements across countries can also explain changes through time. We find that most of the cross-sectional...

This article discusses estimates of the effect of movements in the real exchange rate on economic activity and inflation in Australia. The range of estimates suggests that a temporary 10 per cent depreciation of the exchange rate increases the level of GDP temporarily by ¼–½ per cent over...