In times of crisis, real-time indicators of economic activity are a critical input to timely and well-targeted policy responses. The authors of this paper have developed a ‘news sentiment index’ that measures the net balance of words expressing positive and negative sentiment used by journalists in news articles about the economy. This indicator can be...

This paper examines how monetary policy affects housing prices across local areas. It also explores three related questions - How differently do housing prices respond to monetary policy across areas? What can explain these differences across areas? Does monetary policy cause changes in the housing wealth distribution?

This paper explores the relationship between owner-occupier mortgage debt and spending using detailed panel data on Australian households. It finds evidence consistent with a ‘debt overhang effect’ – households cut back on their spending when they have higher levels of outstanding mortgage debt.

This paper examines the distribution of borrowing rates paid by companies, and the relationship between corporate borrowing rates and fixed capital investment, using a unique hand-collected dataset.

The current economic expansion has been broadly-based across the states, with unemployment around multi-decade lows in all states and territories. While growth rates in Western Australia and Queensland have been the highest in the country in recent years, the divergences between the states narrowed somewhat over 2007, with high growth rates being recorded in most...