Economic Trends and Policies

ثبت نشده
چکیده

Once again it is a pleasure to have this opportunity to speak to members of the ABE. I believe – I hope correctly – that business economists share our interest in seeking out practical policy responses to our problems. Today, I would like to offer some comments on current economic trends and their implications for policy. They will have a familiar ring to many of you. Looking back for a moment, by most measures 1994 was a very good year for the Australian economy: • despite the drought, GDP appears to have grown by 5 to 6 per cent; • employment increased by over 280,000 or 3 1 /2 per cent; • unemployment declined by 130,000, including a fall of more than 60,000 in the number of long-term unemployed; • the unemployment rate fell by 1 3 /4 percentage points to a touch under 9 per cent; • business investment at last took off, increasing by over 20 per cent in real terms; • business profits increased by around 10 per cent, and the profit share of national income continued to hover around its historical levels; and • underlying inflation remained around 2 per cent. The combination of rapid growth and low inflation was most welcome, leading as it did to a sharp reduction in unemployment. It was only possible, however, because we had considerable spare capacity to begin with. As that capacity is taken up, it is natural – and necessary – for the growth rate to slow. That is now happening. Yet, despite these trends, there appear to be popular concerns that all is not well – that we are in danger of lapsing into our old boom/bust ways, when a spurt in growth caused both inflation and the current account to career out of control. These are legitimate concerns for policy makers at this time but I believe – more than some others perhaps – they will be managed satisfactorily. That management has begun already, with interest rates being raised on three occasions late last year. Those largely pre-emptive rises have helped to settle the exuberance of consumers and home buyers which, six months ago, was threatening to bubble over. That, of course, was the purpose of the interest rate rises. To make further inroads into unemployment, we need sustained economic growth, not an inflationary 'dash'. Since the Reserve Bank of Australia Bulletin

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Innovative Instruments and Legal Mechanisms of Bank Capitalization: National Features and World Trends

The article investigates the role of bank capital in financing reproduction processes and increase of economic growth indicators, considers the essence of the concept of “bank capitalization”, determines the structure and main sources of bank capital increase. Taking into account the fact that Ukraine and Poland have similar vectors of economic development, the current practices of increasing t...

متن کامل

Changing Poverty and Changing Antipoverty Policies

Since the early 1970s, dramatic changes in the economy, demographic composition of the population and in public policies have combined to reduce the antipoverty effects of economic growth. Because economic growth is now necessary, but not sufficient, to significantly reduce poverty, antipoverty policies must be expanded and reformed, especially in the aftermath of the severe recession that bega...

متن کامل

Features in scientific and technical cooperation in the field of non-conventional renewable energy

This article discusses the prospects for the development of the implementation of scientific and technical cooperation. On the example of international cooperation between Ukraine and Chile, there are approaches to improving the procedure for developing cooperation priorities. The current state of these relations does not reflect real trends in the development of international economic relation...

متن کامل

Prediction of Energy Consumption in the First Line of Tehran Metro: GMDH Neural Network Approach

Today, energy and its consumption are the main strategic plan of organizations and also the development of urban transport systems by considering a variety of economic, scientific, industrial, climate and growing urbanization is essential. Analysis of past trends in energy is the key to predict future trends, with regard to the rate of development of metro, for planning and future-oriented macr...

متن کامل

OECD ENVIRONMENTAL OUTLOOK TO 2050: The Consequences of Inaction

The OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050 projects demographic and economic trends over the next four decades, using joint modelling by the OECD and the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. It assesses the impacts of these trends on the environment if we do not introduce more ambitious policies to better manage natural assets. It then examines some of the policies that could change tha...

متن کامل

An overview of the status, trends and challenges of freshwater fish research and conservation in Malaysia

Freshwater fish biodiversity is a precious natural asset in terms of economic, cultural and scientific interest. And yet, the inland freshwater ecosystem in Malaysia is declining at a far greater rate than terrestrial ecosystems in the tropics. What happened, and what is being done to address the crisis? This paper extracts findings from the latest literature and explores overarching issues per...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2002