Australian Economic Papers最新文献

This paper uses CFPS 2014, 2016, and 2018 micro-survey data to measure the level of household carbon emissions and utilizes Chinese city data to construct a composite index to measure the development level of energy transition and then empirically examines the impact of city energy transition on household carbon emissions through macro–micro data matching. It is found that the higher the index level of energy transition, the more obvious the inhibitory effect on household carbon emissions. Subsequently, the robustness test and the estimation results considering the endogeneity problem are not significantly different from the baseline regression findings. The mechanism analysis suggests that energy transition will have an indirect effect on household carbon emissions through green technology innovation, environmental regulation and the adjustment of consumer lifestyles. The heterogeneity study found that the impacts of energy transition on different household age structures, housing sizes, geographic locations and energy structures show significant differences. This paper has important policy implications for accelerating city energy transition, promoting energy structure transformation, and guiding household decarbonization.

This note investigates empirically the effect of membership in the GATT/WTO on trade policy and income inequality in developing countries. The analysis has shown that GATT/WTO membership is associated with trade policy liberalization and lower income inequality, although the magnitudes of these effects vary across groups of countries.

Previous research has primarily examined the driving dynamics of the Great Moderation through the lens of stochastic shocks or monetary policy, overlooking the influence of industrial structure evolution. To bridge this gap, our study aims to investigate the driving dynamics of China's Great Moderation during 2012–2019 by adopting an industrial structure evolution perspective. To elucidate the underlying driving dynamics, the time-varying parameter structural vector autoregressive (TVP-SVAR) model with sign restrictions, along with impulse response analysis, forecast error variance decomposition, and Granger causality test were employed. The results indicate that China's Great Moderation during the post-crisis era is mainly due to the upgrade of industrial structure and supply-side structural reform. Moreover, our paper assesses whether regional differences might influence the aforementioned conclusions. We also investigate the driving dynamics of the Great Moderation in China and other emerging economies, such as Russia and Brazil, which share similar industrial structure evolution patterns. The results consistently highlight the crucial role played by industrial structure upgrade in the Great Moderation. Our work offers valuable theoretical and policy insights for macroeconomic stability in emerging economies.

This study utilizes data from Chinese publicly listed companies between 2008 and 2020 and applies the PSM-DID model to examine the impact of dual mixed-ownership reform and the shift in relative control rights on corporate innovation, as well as the underlying mechanisms. The results indicate that mixed-ownership reform significantly promotes corporate innovation, particularly enhancing innovation levels in state-owned enterprises. This positive impact of mixed-ownership reform on innovation is more pronounced in large state-owned enterprises. Moreover, when private shareholders acquire relative control, the innovation effect of mixed-ownership reform is amplified. The transfer of relative control rights in smaller private enterprises has an even greater positive effect on innovation. Further analysis reveals that market mechanisms can strengthen the innovation effect of mixed-ownership reform in private enterprises and that such reforms also significantly improve corporate economic performance. Our findings are of great significance for the breakthrough of mixed ownership reform from “quantitative change” to “qualitative change” as well as for promoting reform through classification and stratification.

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of macroprudential policies on credit growth in Vietnam. It introduces an advanced approach to create a macroprudential index (MPI) that measures the state of macroprudential policy. The MPI is then applied to a high-frequency database on a monthly basis to estimate its impact on real credit growth and the country's credit growth cycle. The study's comprehensive nature is evident in the manual survey of the policies of the State Bank of Vietnam and the information published by commercial banks from January 1999 to June 2023. The findings reveal that, unlike flexible monetary policy, macroprudential policy tools have gained prominence and have been tightened since 1999. Moreover, empirical evidence suggests that tightening macroprudential policies in Vietnam has helped reduce real credit growth, although they have not been effective in smoothing real credit growth cycles.

This study examines the interconnectedness between crude oil prices and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) indices in major Asian economies, using wavelet coherence analysis to explore their dynamic co-movements. The analysis includes daily data from January 2019 to March 2024 for nine economy-specific ESG indices, an ASEAN regional ESG index, and the Dow Jones Brent Crude Oil Index. Wavelet coherence results reveal high coherence amidst ESG indices and the crude oil index during the COVID-19 pandemic, indicating a significant synchronized impact on global markets. Post-2020, the relationship becomes more variable, with intermittent coherence reflecting different phases of economic recovery and responses to new market conditions. Notably, ESG indices often lead crude oil prices, suggesting that they respond anticipatorily to economic signals, sustainability trends, and policy changes. The results highlight the complex and diverse relationships between oil prices and ESG indices. This underscores important implications for investors and policy-makers striving to balance sustainability goals with economic stability. By contributing to the understanding of regional market dynamics, this research offers valuable insights for developing resilient investment strategies and policies in the context of sustainable finance in Asia.