Households invest around two-fifths of their financial assets in interest-bearing assets. These assets are predominantly held directly in deposits and also via superannuation and other investment funds. Deposits have grown strongly in recent years, although there has been no growth in...

Growth in Australian exports was weaker than had been expected over the past 10 years across all major categories: resources, rural, manufactures and services. While exports of bulk commodities and liquefied natural gas (LNG) grew strongly in response to higher demand from Asia, this was partly...

The labour force has grown strongly since the mid 2000s due to both a rising participation rate and faster population growth. The increase in participation has been greatest for females and older persons, driven by a range of social and economic factors. At the same time, average hours worked...

Over the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s, household debt grew strongly in response to lower nominal interest rates and innovation in the financial system. Since the mid 2000s, the pace of growth in borrowing has slowed significantly. Using household-level data, this article confirms that...

The surge in demand for resources over the past decade led to sharp increases in the terms of trade not just for Australia, but also for other economies with comparable resource exports such as Brazil, Canada, Chile, Russia and South Africa. Each of these economies experienced an increase in...

Over time, the structure of the Australian economy has gradually shifted away from agriculture and manufacturing towards services, with the mining industry growing in importance recently. Economic activity has also shifted towards the resource-rich states of Queensland and Western Australia....