Due to the increasing discussion about liberalisation in the piped water industry municipal authorities in several European countries consider modifications of their water utilities’ structure such as legal constitution, business objectives or private participation. The purpose of this paper...

The hypothesis put forth is that the U.S. dollar's role as a vehicle currency in global foreign exchange markets is linked to the low cost of payments-related intraday credit. After reviewing the types of intraday credit facilities extended to participants on payment systems settling the major...

Australian manufacturing is a picture of diversity and contrasts. This is the main finding of this paper which examines trends in the Australian manufacturing sector over the last two decades. Manufacturing output has quadrupled since the mid-1950s. The fastest growing activities have been those...

On 9 July 1997 the Treasurer referred the international competitiveness of the Australian black coal industry to the Commission for inquiry and report within 12 months. The Commission is to identify ways of improving the international competitiveness of the Australian black coal industry which...

On 28 August 1998 the Treasurer referred the impact of competition policy reforms on rural an regional Australia for inquiry and report within 12 months of receiving the reference. The Commission is to assess the impact (both transitional and ongoing) of the competition policy and related...

We study the impact of Japanese foreign exchange intervention on the volatility of the yen/dollar exchange rate since the early 1990s based on a GARCH framework. Using daily intervention data provided by the Japanese Ministry of Finance, we show that the success of interventions varies over...

During the 1990’s the Japanese yen proved astonishingly strong despite the persisting recession. This paper tracks the origins of the high yen. It analyses the influence of interest rates, prices and foreign exchange policy on the yen-dollar exchange rate. It comes to the conclusion that real...

Emerging markets are often exposed to sudden stops of capital inflows. What are the effects of monetary policy in such an environment? To answer this question, the paper proposes a model with the typical elements of an emerging market economy. Credit frictions generate balance sheet effects,...