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...

Over the past 40 years, Australia’s labour productivity level relative to the United States has trended slowly upwards. However, there remains a substantial gap between Australian and United States labour productivity levels. The persistence of this gap has raised questions about whether there...

Australia is (with New Zealand) one of the two most remote advanced economies in the world in terms of average distance from world economic activity. The rapid economic growth of countries in the Asian region in recent decades has resulted in only a modest reduction in Australia’s level of...

This paper explores the sources of fluctuations in sectoral employment growth rates across the Australian economy over three different periods: the pre‐terms of trade boom period; the pre‐global financial crisis (GFC) phase of the terms of trade boom; and the GFC and post‐GFC phase. We find...

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...