There is a common perception that the prices of unrelated commodities move together. This paper re-examines this notion, using a measure of co-movement of economic time series called concordance. Concordance measures the proportion of time that the prices of two commodities are concurrently in...

This paper examines the duration and magnitude of cycles in commodity prices. We find that for the majority of commodities, price slumps last longer than price booms. How far prices fall in a slump is found to be slightly larger than how far they tend to rebound in a subsequent boom. We also...

In this article we consider how the New Zealand economy might adjust to shocks if it were a member of a currency union. In a currency union the exchange rate can no longer act as a mechanism of adjustment. Consequently, we consider the role of alternative adjustment mechanisms, such as...

Our aim in this article is to facilitate informed economic debate by identifying the main economic costs and benefits of New Zealand joining a currency area or union.

We study the properties of a test of that determines whether two time series co-move. The test computes a simple non-parametric statistic for `concordance,' which describes the proportion of time that the cycles of two series spend in the same phase. We establish the size and power properties of...

This article documents the main stylized features of macroeconomic fluctuations for 12 developing countries. It presents cross-correlations between domestic industrial output and a large group of macroeconomic variables, including fiscal variables, wages, inflation, money, credit, trade, and...

This paper compares the evolution of the Australian current account balance over the period 1954-94 against an optimal current account derived from a consumption-smoothing model. The findings indicate that the Australian current account was not used to smooth consumption optimally in the period...

The Consumption Capital Asset Pricing Model (C-CAPM) is tested using data on equity prices in Jordan, Turkey, and Pakistan over the period 1986-93. The analysis is carried out in two steps. The parameters of agents dynamic consumption and investment decisions are first estimated, and then the...

This paper examines the influence of the wool export cycle on the business cycle in Australia over the period 1862-95. Nonparametric statistical methods are used to examine various attributes of the relationship between the wool export cycle and the business cycle. Our results support the view...

This paper examines the optimality of international capital flows to Australia, a persistent net importer of capital, during its post-capital controls period 1984-99. The evolution of Australia's current account balance is compared against a benchmark derived from an optimising model of...