Australian Economic Review最新文献

The current paper investigates whether the exchange rate asymmetrically influences domestic investment in China. To this end, the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) process is applied to investment data disaggregated by China's 31 provinces. We discover that there is evidence that the ups and downs of the yuan have asymmetric impacts on domestic investment for some provinces, though not all, in both the long- and short-run.

This article introduces several diagrams relating to relative income mobility, positional change within the distribution and poverty persistence. They are easy to produce and, at a glance, provide valuable information about income mobility and poverty dynamics, given information about the incomes of a cohort of individuals in two time periods.

There are many financial paths that link different savers who provide funds to different business investors. Path options considered include combinations of corporate and unincorporated businesses, resident and non-resident savers, debt and equity, and distributed and retained earnings. These different financial paths have different mixes of attributes valuable to savers and investors. As a result, the options are imperfect substitutes. Australian capital income taxation varies across the different financial path options. As a result, effective tax rates and the effects of reforms to company income tax vary across the funding options. Together, the imperfect substitute and different tax treatments reduce the impact of proposed changes in company income taxation on incentives to, and rewards from, business investment.

This study examines the role of monetary policy shocks on food inflation in India, spanning from January 2009 to December 2019. Utilising quantile regression analysis, we find that contractionary monetary policy stabilises food inflation across the quantiles. However, exchange rate and transportation cost play a substantial role in promoting food inflation in lower, middle and all quantiles. Our study also reveals that monetary policy transmission through exchange rate and asset price channels increases food inflation across all quantiles. In contrast, bank credit and interest rate channels reduce it in lower and median quantiles, that is, at lower rates of inflation.

The effects of immigration on domestic Australian employment levels and wages are ongoing and controversial topics. While this topic has been considered extensively in other countries, in particular the United States and the United Kingdom, these findings have limited application to Australia given differences in immigration settings between these contexts. We review the existing literature and conclude that further research in the Australian context is needed given its high rates of both permanent and temporary immigration, its complex visa structure, the unusual nature of its industrial relations system and the geographical concentration of its population. In particular, more attention to the temporary migrant population is required in future studies.

We outline the case for Australia to adopt a ‘New Regional Compact’ focusing on working with its Pacific Island neighbours and Timor-Leste through improved labour mobility and skilling as a complement to foreign aid and development assistance. We examine the distinctive context and evidence for this approach, related policy settings and possible ways forward. Embedded in this shift is a necessary move from a short-term focus on temporary migration, skills shortage, and limited-term aid programs, to long-term foundational policies that can be a permanent feature of Australia's policy ecosystem and that of its neighbours.

This article examines the benefits and costs of Australia's labour migration policies. While previous economics studies have demonstrated the efficiency-related benefits of these policies, this article analyses the consequences for worker voice and equity, which employment relations scholars have identified as important labour market policy goals. We argue that the efficiency-related benefits of labour migration policy reforms, particularly the expansion of temporary visa schemes, have been generated in part by barriers to temporary migrant workers' access to representation and social rights. This situation has contributed to an increase in the underpayment and mistreatment of temporary migrant workers by employers.

The view that welcoming refugees represents a cost to a country's welfare services has become anachronistic; nowadays refugees are increasingly recognised for their high levels of education and skills, and their ability to make an economic contribution to a host country. Yet, most states' approach to migration management prevents displaced people from migrating based on the human capital that they can supply. Australia is trialling a new approach that enables refugees to access skilled migration through employer sponsorship. This article describes the pilot project and suggests ways to encourage employers to view refugees as a valuable solution to workforce shortages.

The growth of Chinese global official finance has stimulated great interest among foreign aid advocates. Yet, until now, a lack of systematic data reporting has limited our understanding of Chinese official finance. Against this background, this article describes and compares two internationally comparable Chinese datasets from 2005 to 2014: AidData and the China Global Investment Tracker (CGIT). This study summarises China's priority areas of investment and the actual volume of Chinese finance, including a breakdown of these estimates by region and sector. Despite significant disparities between the two databases, this study shows that Chinese investment preferences in terms of locality and priority sectors are broadly consistent with the existing pattern.