Inflation and Capacity Constraints in Australian Manufacturing Industry

In the present paper we estimate a model of price-cost inflation for Australia using business survey responses of firms in the manufacturing sector. The data allow us to circumvent a number of key statistical problems, related in particular to the measurement of costs and structural changes in the model. Equally important, the data allow a new and more detailed perspective on the nature of supply constraints affecting inflation in the manufacturing sector. A new finding is that capital constraints have been more important in generating inflationary pressure than labour constraints or general indicators of capacity utilisation.     

An Evaluation of Alternative Methods of Forecasting Australian Inflation

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the forecast of Australian inflation based on four alternative procedures: a univariate time series model, an interest rate model, an error correction model and a public survey of inflation forecasts. We derive estimates of expected and unexpected inflation from each of the methods and compare the out-of-sample forecasting results. Based on a range of evaluation criteria, the time series model dominates the other models, with the interest rate model, the error correction model and the survey forecasts following in that order.     

Inflation and Stock Market Returns:Some Australian Evidence*

This paper analyzes the relationship between Australian stock returns and inflation over the period 1965-79. The effects of inflation in a ‘rational investor’ valuation framework are discussed. Empirical tests suggest that nominal stock returns and inflation are related in a significantly negative fashion, implying that stocks have been extremely poor inflationary hedges for the investor over the period. In addition, Granger-Sims tests of causality indicate a mainly unidirectional relationship between inflation and stock returns, with price level charges leading the equity index in time.     

Causal Relationships in Australian Wage Inflation and Minimum Award Rates*

When variables are correlated in time-series studies, it is often difficult to determine which is cause and effect, and in what sense. This paper applies multivariate time-series tests of causality to Australian wage, price, minimum wage award, labour demand and strike (working days lost) variables for 1953-76. The results provide tentative support for a model in which strikes are exogenous:the size of Arbitration Commission awards is determined by strikes (suggesting that a trade union capture theory of Arbitration Commission regulation may apply):money wages are determined by minimum wage awards; and the demand for labour variable (measured in this paper by the ratio of actual to potential output) is determined (in a negative relationship) by money wages.     

我国农村CPI波动的长期驱动力与短期驱动力——基于农村CPI分类指数的分析

本文根据我国农村CPI整体指数及其8项分类指数的月度数据，分析了我国农村CPI波动的特征，并运用Gonzalo和Granger（1995）以及Darrat和Zhong（2002）提出的检验协整系统中的长期驱动力和短期驱动力的方法，从CPI分类指数的视角分析了我国农村CPI的长期驱动力和短期驱动力。研究结果显示我国农村CPI波动具有明显的结构性，农村CPI的8项分类指数中，食品、医疗保健及个人用品和居住3项分类指数既是我国农村CPI波动的短期驱动力，也是长期驱动力。因此，稳定食品、医疗保健及个人用品以及居住类商品的价格是控制农村CPI波动的重中之中。     

人民币升值与CPI上涨

伴随着人民币的升值,我国的通货膨胀率也大幅上扬,出现了不同于经济学经典理论的特征,主要原因是美元贬值、国际大宗商品价格上涨、我国外贸依存度逐年增高、对国际市场依赖性加深以及近年来我国快速增长的需求拉动了相关产品的国际市场价格。央行当前货币政策将把控制物价上涨、抑制通货膨胀放在更加突出的位置。在目前的环境之下,我国应采取人民币加速升值的策略。     

The Australian Economy in 2022–23: Inflation and Higher Interest Rates in a Post-COVID-19 World

Record levels of domestic and global stimulus during the COVID-19 pandemic years helped to mitigate largely unparalleled downside risks. Post-COVID-19, inflation surged in Australia due to overseas factors such as the war in Ukraine, and domestic factors such as COVID-related backlogs in the construction sector. To constrain inflation, the Reserve Bank shifted to a phase of aggressive monetary policy tightening in 2022. There are, however, cost of living ramifications associated with tighter monetary policy. Looking forward, there is significant uncertainty about the rate at which inflation will normalise, and the spending response of consumers to higher interest rates.     

The Dynamics Between Inflation and Inflation Uncertainty: Evidence from India

This study examines the causal nexus between inflation and inflation uncertainty. In this regard, conventional Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) models and Stochastic Volatility (SV) models are used to measure inflation uncertainty and Bai and Perron (Econometrica 66:47–78, 1998; J Appl Econom 18:1–22, 2003) test is used to identify structural breaks in inflation. The empirical evidence derived from the monthly data for the period from June 1961 to April 2011 suggests that the measure of inflation uncertainty obtained from SV model is more reliable than the measure obtained from GARCH model and also the causal nexus between inflation and inflation uncertainty seems to be significantly conditional upon the measure of uncertainty used. The structural break test identifies four episodes of inflation during the sample period, and the causality between inflation and its variability varies across different episodes. The inflation and its variance seem to be independent of each other during the first two regimes that cover the period from 1960 to 1980 and on the contrary, during the later period largely bidirectional causality is observed. Further, inflation seems to exert positive impact on inflation uncertainty, whereas inflation uncertainty has negative impact on inflation.

     

Inflation Targeting and Inflation Uncertainty

This article empirically investigates the impact of inflation targeting on inflation uncertainty. We implement PARCH and GARCH methodologies to model conditional variance of inflation. We also investigate the relationship between level and volatility of inflation to analyze the validity of the Friedman hypothesis for IT countries. We find that most of the inflation targeting countries have significantly lower inflation variances after inflation targeting. In most of the IT countries, the relationship is consistent with the Friedman hypothesis.     

Assessing the Impact of US Macroeconomic Policies and Inflation Rates on the Australian Economy*

A three-equation system is specified with Australian monetary base growth, the domestic budget deficit and the domestic inflation rate as dependent variables Lagged values of these three variables and their US counterparts are entered as explanatory variables in each equation. Results for 1967-83 suggest a possible effect of lagged US monetary base growth on Australian monetary base growth plus a positive direct impact of US inflation on Australian inflation.     

Inflation Targeting and Inflation Persistence

This paper argues that the adoption of an inflation target reduces the persistence of inflation.We develop the theoretical literature on inflation persistence by introducing a Taylor Rule for monetary policy into a model of persistence and showing that inflation targets reduce inflation persistence.We investigate changes in the time series properties of inflation in seven countries that introduced inflation targets in the late 1980s or early 1990s.We find that the persistence of inflation is greatly reduced or eliminated following the introduction of inflation targets.     

我国居民消费价格指数被低估的原因、危害与对策

由于各类商品权重不合理,导致我国居民消费价格指数(CPI)被严重低估.还CPI以真实的根本途径在于调整各类商品权重,重点是大幅度提高居住权重,较大幅度降低食品、衣着和烟酒及用品的权重.     

The Optimal Inflation Tax

We determine the second best rule for the inflation tax in monetary general equilibrium models where money is dominated in rate of return. The results in the literature are ambiguous and inconsistent across different monetary environments. We derive and compare the optimal inflation tax solutions across the different environments and find that Friedman's policy recommendation of a zero nominal interest rate is the right one.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: E31, E41, E58, E62.     

The Costs of Inflation Revisited

Neoclassical treatments of inflation understate the costs associated with inflation, even at very low levels. A comparative institutions perspective that recognizes the epistemological properties of prices and the institutional process by which inflation takes place, reveals the costs of inflation to be both larger and more widespread than standard treatments suggest. This paper makes use of insights from Austrian economics, public choice theory, and the new institutional economics to argue that inflation imposes costs by undermining the coordinative properties of the price system. Not only are there the direct costs of increased economic error, but actors also divert resources away from direct want-satisfaction into attempts to either prevent or cope with the increased degree of uncertainty inflation imposes. These resource costs are best understood from a comparative institutions perspective, as traditional measures of economic well-being, such as GDP, cannot distinguish between exchanges that directly satisfy wants, and exchanges that are attempts to correct or prevent utility-diminishing activities. The analogy between these coping costs and rent-seeking behavior is explored. In addition, inflation imposes costs by undermining the coordinative properties of markets and inducing actors to, on the margin, prefer to seek wealth or allocate resources through the political process.