This study uses tax data from the Longitudinal Business Database to estimate the firm-level average interest rate on liabilities.

How monetary policy affects the economy is a central question in macroeconomics. Standard economic thinking predicts interest rate cuts boost economic activity. This idea has recently been challenged by claims that changes in monetary policy have a so-called ‘information effect’. Calvin He explores this concept further in this discussion paper.

The unprecedented government response to the global pandemic has pushed public debt in many countries to historic highs, relative to output. This paper assesses the arguments for and against fiscal expansion and rapidly rising public debt as a means to invest in comprehensive wealth.

Economists and others have worried about the long-run outlook for the federal debt for decades, recognising that the ageing of the baby boom generation would lead to budgetary pressures associated with increased spending. Set in the American context, this guide covers many issues that currently prevail in Australia.

New Zealand is now on a dangerous path to higher public debt and unprecedented money printing, with no credible plan for unwinding the situation before the next crisis, warns this report by the New Zealand Initiative.