In Australia’s economic history, there always been tension between Labor and the banks. My grandfather was an adviser to wartime Labor Treasurer and Prime Minister, Joseph Benedict Chifley, better known…
The head of the Australian Workers Union chief Paul Howes has called on the Federal government to urgently review the Charter of the Reserve Bank of Australia, suggesting its current policy setting is…
Predicting the setting for the banks’ standard variable housing loan interest rate used to be simple. Before the subprime crisis in the US and the subsequent GFC, the variable rate was simply the RBA target…
Monetary policymaking is imperfect. When board members of a central bank such as the Reserve Bank of Australia sit down to set the appropriate target cash rate each month - as they did this week - there…
Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies
Last week, the Reserve Bank defied market expectations to announce the 4.25% cash rate would remain unchanged. But the surprise decision by Australia’s Big Four banks to act independently of the Reserve…
Reports of more offshoring of jobs from Australia to other countries are, seemingly, a daily occurrence. Such reports include, for example, the manufacturing of cars and their components and aspects of…
ANZ and National Australia Bank have passed on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 0.25% interest rate cut to mortgage holders, lowering their standard variable rates. Treasurer Wayne Swan called on the big…
Kevin Davis, Australian Centre for Financial Studies and Josh Fear, University of Canberra
As Reserve Bank of Australia board members gather today to ponder Australia’s cash rate, financial markets are having a bet each way the RBA will cut rates amid the release of data reflecting a softening…
The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut the official cash interest rate by 25 basis points, from 4.75% to 4.5%, in a move matching most economists’ expectations. It was the first cut since April 2009. Westpac…
I have a hunch that the RBA will follow its conventional “neoclassical” models and raise rates this afternoon, even though the economy is locked in “two speed” mode, and the global economy is racked by…