Australian Economic Papers最新文献

We examine the relationship between research and development (R&D) expenditures and the expected impact of diseases in a simple theoretical framework that allows for intellectual property rights (IPR) protection to be strong or weak. In our theoretical model, an agent forms an expectation of the impact of a disease using a publicly available statistic on the (population level) disease burden, such as disability-adjusted life year. We show that a profit-maximising firm will exert relatively more R&D effort on diseases with intermediate expected impacts. We also discuss how a weak IPR regime alters the pattern of R&D investment.

We test the hedge property of non-fungible token (NFT) coins against equity market fluctuations and compare it with the hedge property of Bitcoin. We employ daily the returns of Bitcoin; three NFT coins, namely Theta, Enjin Coin and Decentraland, and three equity market indices: S&P 500, NASDAQ and CAC 40, ranging from 18 January 2018 to 12 January 2021. We estimate the hedge effectiveness of the three NFT coins and Bitcoin against stock market fluctuations. Our results suggest that NFT coins are a better hedge against equity market fluctuations than Bitcoin.

The impact of capital accumulation on job creation is an important and interesting issue in economic development. This model provides a general-equilibrium framework for studying technology choice with unemployment in a developing economy based on micro-foundations. Unemployment in the urban sector results from the existence of efficiency wages. Manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose technologies to maximise profits. A more advanced technology uses more capital and less labour. In the steady state, an increase in the amount of capital induces firms to choose more advanced technologies and the wage rate increases. While a higher capital stock always induces firms to choose more advanced technologies, urban unemployment rate may decrease and agricultural sector employment may increase.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has among the worst maternal and child health (MCH) outcomes in the Asia–Pacific region. Improving population access to and use of health services is a key government priority. However, it is unclear from the international evidence whether the observed inverse relationship between distance to health facilities and health outcomes is due to health service use. This article first seeks to estimate the relationship between distance to health facilities, the use of MCH services and health outcomes in PNG. The second goal is to assess whether the observed relationship between distance to health services and health outcomes occurs due to health service use. Cross-sectional data from the Demographic and Health Survey 2016–18 for PNG were used to estimate the association between distance to health facilities, indicators of health service use and indicators of child health outcomes, using regression methods. Causal mediation methods were used to assess whether the observed associations between health outcomes and distance to health facilities were explained by health service use, or not. We find an inverse association between distance to health facilities and utilisation of MCH services; and between distance to health facilities and child health. However, our analyses do not support causal mediation via impact of distance on health service use. At odds with a large literature that implicitly assumes that health service use improves health outcomes, our findings reflect broader concerns about quality of care in PNG.

Interest rate changes by central banks are a strong monetary policy tool that has a significant impact on the performance of the real economy via various channels. Despite extensive theoretical and empirical studies in this area, the current literature lacks a comprehensive assessment of the relationship between interest rate volatility and the shadow economy. This study explores the link between interest rate volatility and the shadow economy for 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries over the period 1991–2021 using both linear and non-linear ARDL models. The use of the non-linear ARDL specification will allow for the possibility of an asymmetric effect of interest rate volatility on the shadow economy. In addition to the examination of the potential asymmetric effects, we also discuss the ramifications for policymakers with respect to monetary and financial policies while considering each country's specific economic structure.

The objective of the paper is to assess the resilience of the economy of Australia following the Covid-19 pandemic that hit the global economy in Q4 2019, in years 2020, 2021 and 2022. Quarterly growth rates (annualised) of the Real GDP of Australia and Canada are forecasted between Q2 2022 and Q4 2050. Two sets of forecasts are generated: forecasts using historical data including the pandemic (from Q1 1961 to Q1 2022) and excluding the pandemic (from Q1 1961 to Q3 2019). The computation of the difference of their averages is an indicator of the resilience of the economies during the pandemic, the greater the difference the greater the resilience. Used as a benchmark, Canada's economy shows a slightly lower resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic (+0.37%) than Australia's economy (+0.39%) based on Q2 2022–2050 forecasts. However, driven by stronger growth than Canada, the average estimate of the Q2 2022–Q4 2050 quarterly (annualised) growth rate forecasts of Australia is expected to be +2.09% with the Q1 1961–Q1 2022 historical data while it should be +1.61% for Canada. Supported by higher growth, Australia's Real GDP is expected to overtake Canada's in Q1 2040.

Subjective well-being is associated with many positive health outcomes. However, little is known about whether these favourable outcomes translate into a reduction in the number of doctor visits. Using large-scale panel data from Australia, we find that individuals with high life satisfaction need fewer visits to their family doctor or general practitioner. We also present evidence on the pathways underlying this relationship, showing it is significantly explained by a person's diet. These findings remain after correcting for sample selection bias using Heckman's approach as well as controlling for various confounding factors.

Technology spillover and research and development (R&D) budget are relevant on government subsidies that aim at improving social welfare through enhancing R&D incentives of firms. However, there has not been related literature considering these two factors. To fill this gap, this paper examines the effect of technology spillover and R&D budget on R&D competition of duopolistic firms and government subsidies by constructing a game-theoretic model. We find that while each firm's profit sometimes increases with R&D budget for low coefficient of technology spillover, this profit may decrease with R&D budget for high coefficient of technology spillover due to the intensified R&D competition. We show that when both R&D budget and the coefficient of technology spillover remain high, R&D subsidy leads to higher social welfare than output subsidy and otherwise R&D subsidy results in lower social welfare.

Previous studies mostly assumed that the effects of policy uncertainty on trade flows are symmetric. In this article, we add to this literature by arguing and demonstrating that the effects could be asymmetric. Since asymmetry analysis requires using non-linear models, such models yield a more significant outcome than linear models. We show this by considering the trade flows of 66 two-digit U.S. exporting industries to Japan and 59 two-digit Japanese exporting industries to the United States. While both the linear and non-linear models predicted short-run effects of the U.S. and Japanese policy uncertainty on exports of most industries, the long-run effects were significantly different. In the long run, while the linear model predicted no significant effects of either uncertainty measure, the non-linear model 12 (14) U.S. exporting industries that were affected by changes in the Japanese (the U.S.) policy uncertainty measure and six (10) Japanese exporting industries that were affected by changes in the Japanese (the U.S.) policy uncertainty measure. Several large industries were among the affected industries.

Financial technology formed by the combination of digital technology and traditional finance is gradually changing the financial services model. The development of financial technology has influenced the behaviour of commercial banks. It has promoted the innovation of commercial banks. And it has promoted the digital transformation of commercial banks. In this paper, it is intended to explore the relationship between financial technology and digital transformation of banks through positive analysis. As well as to explore how the age of enterprises listed and enterprise life cycle affect the relationship between financial technology and digital transformation of banks. This paper conducts an empirical research on the data of China's A-share listed banks from 2011 to 2021 using a two-way fixed effects regression method. The results of the research indicate that financial technology promotes banks' digital transformation. Meanwhile, the age of enterprise listing and enterprise life cycle play a positive moderating role in financial technology promoting banks' digital transformation. In this paper, it is the first time to conduct an empirical research with the number of monthly active users of mobile banking as a proxy variable for digital transformation of banks, which enriches the study of financial technology. It has certain reference value for promoting digital transformation of banks.