Recently, there has been increasing focus and concern regarding transmission of tuberculosis (TB) in the Papua New Guinea (PNG)-Australia cross-border region. In particular, there is growing recognition that preventing the emergence and spread of drug resistant TB is of vital importance to both...

The 15 members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are digesting a critical review of the structure and performance of its Secretariat, which describes the overall CARICOM integration initiative as being in crisis. This paper describes elements of the CARICOM integration project, and draws...

Fragile states are those characterised by problems of weak governance or of conflict, internal or cross border. They are also described, less crisply but more carefully, as countries in fragile and conflict affected situations – hence the acronym used in this paper, FCA countries. For about a...

A 7 variate SVAR model is used to identify the presence and causes of overvaluation in real house prices in Australia from 2002 to 2008. An important feature of the model is the development of a housing sector where long-run restrictions are derived from economic theory to identify housing...

This paper generalizes and qualifies an influential monetary policy result due to Rogoff (1985) by taking fiscal policy, and fiscal-monetary interactions, into account. It shows that an appointment of a conservative central banker may, under a range of circum- stances, (i) increase the average...

To estimate the emissions reductions and costs of a climate policy, analysts usually compare a policy scenario with a baseline scenario of future economic conditions without the policy. Both scenarios require assumptions about the future course of numerous factors such as population growth,...

Inflation targeting (henceforth IT) has emerged as a significant monetary policy framework in both developed and transition economies. It has been in place for a decade or more in a number of countries - with around 20 central banks adopting it as their basic monetary policy framework. Some...

This paper provides empirical evidence on the effects of Chinese resource demand on the resource rich natural resource supplier using the example of Australia. A structural VAR model is used to examine the effects of Chinese resource demand, commodity prices and foreign output on the...

This paper discusses estimation of US inflation volatility using time varying parameter models, in particular whether it should be modelled as a stationary or random walk stochastic process. Specifying inflation volatility as an unbounded process, as implied by the random walk, conflicts with...

Climate and energy issues will be some of the most urgent challenges facing the next U.S. president. These issues will need immediate attention to create a policy framework that will enable timely reductions in greenhouse gas emissions while minimizing the economic burden on American working...