The Shadow Reserve Board, an initiative of the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA) made up of eminent industry and academic economists, returns this month. Reserve Bank of Australia board…
The announcement by the US Federal Reserve Bank that it would link its monetary policy to the achievement of specific economic targets beyond inflation is a new development in its approach to policy. In…
The Reserve Bank of Australia should leave the cash rate unchanged tomorrow, with little evidence suggesting an interest rate cut is justified, according to members of the CAMA Shadow Board. The Shadow…
Monetary policy must be forward looking. It has limited ability to affect the here and now of the economy, as this has largely already been determined - by employment decisions, investment decisions and…
Predicting the Reserve Bank’s interest rate decision for October appears to be particularly tough for economic commentators. A decline in iron ore prices, compounded with a stubbornly high dollar, has…
CAMA’s Shadow Board, which gives its views ahead of the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia, continues to support the current setting of the cash rate at 3.5%. But economists are seeing a greater…
_The Conversation, in conjunction with the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA), presents the monthly findings of the Shadow Board, prior to the meeting of the Reserve Bank of Australia Board…
The sense of frustration and despair within the British government and regulatory agencies over the behaviour of Barclays in submitting patently false returns to the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR…
_The Conversation, in conjunction with the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA), will present the monthly findings of the Shadow Board, a day before the Reserve Bank of Australia Board meets…
Last week’s decision by China to cut interest rates by 0.25% seemed to attract almost as much attention in Australia as the same decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) several days earlier. The…
Amid the tumultuous economic climate in the US and Europe - not to mention the tumbling fortunes of our sharemarket - the Reserve Bank of Australia has followed market sentiment and cut the official cash…
The former Governor of the Reserve Bank, Bernie Fraser, hit the nail on the head the other night when he found it absurd that the Reserve Bank could be reducing interest rates one day, while a week later…
The pressure is on Australia’s major banks to pass on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s 50 basis point cut in full to Australian households and businesses. In a surprise move, the RBA slashed Australia’s…
UPDATE: The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut Australia’s official cash rate by a larger-than-expected 50 basis points, to 3.75%. In the likely event that the Reserve Bank Board chooses to ease the target…
Shaun Vahey, Australian National University and Liz Wakerly, Australian National University
Today, all eyes will be on the Reserve Bank amid speculation that the cash rate will be eased by at least 25 basis points. The RBA has often faced pressure from politicians and business leaders to reduce…
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…