Economic Papers最新文献

While research has explored the connection between oil prices and macroeconomic performance, there is limited understanding of the interaction between overseas energy imports dependency and macroeconomic fluctuations. This work addresses the foregoing study using the augmented mean group (AMG) econometrics technique on panel data of 29 OECD net energy-importing countries from 2001 to 2021. The long-run finding unearthed that energy dependency intensifies macroeconomic instability, confirming that relying on overseas energy imports will hamper the smooth functioning of domestic economic machinery in the form of energy supply interruption. Besides energy dependency, this study uses government consumption spending, regulatory quality, and globalisation as control variables in macroeconomic instability function. The long-run outcomes further depict that government consumption spending and globalisation aggravate macroeconomic instability while regulatory quality reduces it. These findings are further checked by applying the pooled mean group-autoregressive distributed lag (PMG-ARDL) method. In conclusion, this study provides policy implications to prioritise domestically produced energy use and diversify energy sources by increasing the share of clean energy in the total energy mix.

Costs associated with running local airports are spurring some local governments to pursue alternative governance arrangements. Some regional councils are considering privatisation, with four having already gone down this path. Although some of these arrangements broadly follow those specified by the Airports Act 1996, other arrangements have led to fragmented processes and reduced public engagement in local communities. The study reveals that, while long-term leasing aims to alleviate the council's financial burden, it can negatively impact the broader public interest. The findings suggest the need for more transparent and adaptable governance models to ensure that regional airports serve both commercial interests and public needs.

This paper explores “price gouging” in oligopolistic industries. Drawing from Australian examples, it illustrates how determining who is responsible for market power-related inefficiencies—whether from consumer or producer behaviour—is fundamental to defining and identifying price gouging. I then discuss how recent competition policy reforms in Australia and global changes in data availability and artificial intelligence shape firms' willingness and ability to price gouge. I close by discussing the future role of government in enabling pro-competitive pricing in our increasingly digital economy through information aggregation and market design.

The central idea behind the attainment of green growth is to attain sustained long-run economic growth without producing any harm to the environment. Green patents and renewable energy consumption are crucial to attaining green growth. As a result, this paper investigates the role of green patents and renewable energy consumption in promoting green growth in forty African countries. Keeping the cross-sectional dependence and heteroscedasticity among the panel in mind, the study employs the Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) model to examine its empirical exercise. The results based on the PCSE model find that both variables positively affect green growth in Africa. Consequently, our findings emphasise the significance of promoting green patents and renewable energy consumption as key policy measures to drive sustainable, long-term growth and elevate green growth within the African region.

Western economies, including Australia, have benefited from several decades of extraordinary Chinese expansion. Yet, in recent years, slowing growth and demographic decline has diminished these gains, while geopolitical developments have further restricted growth-driving commerce. Our purpose is to review key sources of recent contractionary changes within China and to assess their likely consequences for the West. Modelling scenarios emerge that see future economic losses in China and abroad, with the worst affected group being China's own low-skill workers. Long-term losses in the West are smaller but pervasive, with Australia's economic welfare per capita impaired most. Short-term effects depend on China's monetary policy response, with a freeing up of China's exchange rate likely to minimise harm both in China and abroad.

This study aims to analyse the tax efforts of 17 non-special category states of India over the period of 2000–01 to 2020–21. The stochastic estimation of the tax frontier identified per capita income and urbanisation as dominating factors determining tax revenue across Indian states. The implementation of a Goods and Services Tax is estimated to increase tax revenue significantly, whereas the pandemic shock resulted in a deterioration of the tax revenue. In addition, the sampled states have collectively secured a tax effort score of 0.832, ranging from 0.62 (Goa) to 0.92 (Karnataka). The empirics showed that Goa and West Bengal were the laggard states in terms of tax effort. Among the determinants of tax efficiency (effort), the variates ‘outstanding liabilities’ and ‘fiscal devolution from central government’ are found to be adversely affecting, while ‘social expenditure’ is predicted to have a stimulating impact on tax effort.

The relationship between health and happiness is well established. However, disability and the burden of disease can also affect the happiness of the local population. We argue that income inequality can worsen the positive effect of health on happiness levels. Using data from 136 economies from 2005 to 2019, we estimate a dynamic panel model that controls the endogeneity and simultaneity issues, and measure the effect of healthy life expectancy on happiness at varying levels of income inequality. We find evidence that healthy life expectancy is significantly and positively associated with happiness, however, at high levels of income inequality, this effect reduces. We shed new perspectives on the costs of income inequality.

The key purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between inflation and output dynamics in a global macroeconomic framework by utilising time-series data from Pakistan and thirty-two trading partners which account for around 95 per cent of foreign trade of Pakistan, over the period 1979Q2–2016Q4. By featuring the GVAR approach, this paper empirically examined the international linkages to account for cross-country inflationary spillovers. The findings show that both foreign and global variables jointly and significantly matter for the inflation-output relationship in developing economies, in general and, in particular, in the economy of Pakistan. The findings from general impulse response functions (GIRF) reveal that shocks to the US real output, oil prices and food prices are transmitted and settled quickly, and put forward a significant impact on real GDP and inflation in Pakistan and its trading partner economies. Inflation in Pakistan is driven more strongly by the global changes in oil and food prices than GDP. For monetary policy formulation, the central bank should take into account developments in inflation-output dynamics of Pakistan's major trading partners.

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 infections and mobility restriction policies on stock market volatility. We estimate panel data models for seven countries using daily data from February 12, 2020 to April 14, 2021. Our results show that the number of new cases of COVID-19 infections and the introduction of mobility restriction policies plays a crucial role in shaping stock market volatility during the pandemic. We found that new cases of COVID-19 infections and mobility restrictions policies increase stock market jumps rather than increase continuous volatility. We also find that mobility restriction policies lessen the impact of new COVID-19 cases on stock market volatility.

This study delves into the intricate interplay between visible inequality, conspicuous consumption, and food consumption in Indian households. Leveraging data from the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) provides significant insights. Through empirical analyses, including panel data analysis and instrumental variable panel data analysis, this study supports the hypothesis that there exists a relationship between visible inequality and conspicuous consumption among Indian households. The positive coefficients linked to conspicuous consumption variability reinforce established theories concerning the impact of status perception on spending behaviour. This study reveals a noteworthy adverse effect of visible inequality on essential expenditures, particularly food consumption, highlighting the delicate balancing act that households navigate between status-driven spending and meeting fundamental needs. By employing instrumental variable regression models to address endogeneity concerns, this study robustly confirms the relationship between visible inequality and conspicuous consumption. This study emphasises the nuanced relationship between status-oriented spending, visible inequality, and essential expenses in Indian households.