Australian household debt and the macroeconomic environment

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of labour market conditions and monetary policy on households' attitude towards debt in the Australian context. Design/methodology/approach In doing so, household debt is categorised into housing, and consumer debt and the relationship is empirically tested through the use of a vector error correction model. Findings Consumer debt is found to be highly dependent on consumption with employment income and unemployment having a statistically insignificant effect, whilst monetary policy showing an inverse relation to consumer debt. The findings suggest that household consumption appears to be the primary determinant for consumer debt, which then behaves as a wage substitute. In terms of housing debt, income and monetary policy positively affect households' decisions with consumption and unemployment having a negative impact on the level of housing debt. The empirical results suggest that housing debt behaves as a proxy for household investment. Originality/value This paper empirically investigates the impact of selected macroeconomic variables on housing and personal debt separately. The findings suggest that monetary policy and labour market conditions have different impacts on the two separate debt types

Faeces - Urine separation via settling and displacement: Prototype tests for a novel non-sewered sanitation system

The development of novel, non-sewered sanitation systems like the Nano Membrane Toilet requires thorough investigation of processes that may seem well-understood. For example, unlike the settling of primary sludge, the separation of solids from liquids in a small-volume container at the scale of a household toilet has not been studied before. In two sets of experiments, the settling of real faeces and toilet paper in settling columns and the settling of synthetic faeces in a conical tank are investigated to understand the factors affecting the liquid quality for downstream treatment processes. Toilet paper is found to be a major inhibitor to settling of solids. While a lower overflow point results in better phase separation through displacement of liquid, a higher overflow point and frequent removal of solids may be more advantageous for the liquid qualit

Political Business Cycles in Australia Elections and Party Ideology

Party ideology, elections and economic performance can have a significant impact on the overall economic performance. Governments are formed by parties that compete at elections and, based on their ideology, have different preferences regarding the size and scope of government. With respect to economic policy, left-wing parties advocate for government intervention in order to ease the effects of the business cycle whilst right-wing parties favour market solutions as a response to economic fluctuations. According to the partisan theory, left-wing parties are more willing to adopt expansionary fiscal and monetary policies when in government, as they are mainly concerned with employment. On the opposite side, right-wing parties prioritize inflation and fiscal discipline as objectives. Both left-wing and right-wing parties understand the impact that the economy has on their re-election prospects. When in government, in order to maximize their probability of being re-elected, all parties will try and make voters believe that their economic policies were successful. How the electorate will react to this behaviour depends on its ability to understand and predict the impact of current policies on future welfare. In this paper we examine the influence of government ideology and elections on the economy. Using quarterly data for government consumption, money supply, taxation and welfare expenditure, we find that both partisan and opportunistic political cycles characterize Australian politics thus confirming the insights put forward by Nordhaus, W.D. (1975. “The Political Business Cycle.” The Review of Economic Studies 42 (2): 169–190.) and Hibbs, D. (1977. “Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy.” The American Political Science Review 7: 1467–1487)

Political Business Cycles in Australia Elections and Party Ideology

Party ideology, elections and economic performance can have a significant impact on the overall economic performance. Governments are formed by parties that compete at elections and, based on their ideology, have different preferences regarding the size and scope of government. With respect to economic policy, left-wing parties advocate for government intervention in order to ease the effects of the business cycle whilst right-wing parties favour market solutions as a response to economic fluctuations. According to the partisan theory, left-wing parties are more willing to adopt expansionary fiscal and monetary policies when in government, as they are mainly concerned with employment. On the opposite side, right-wing parties prioritize inflation and fiscal discipline as objectives. Both left-wing and right-wing parties understand the impact that the economy has on their re-election prospects. When in government, in order to maximize their probability of being re-elected, all parties will try and make voters believe that their economic policies were successful. How the electorate will react to this behaviour depends on its ability to understand and predict the impact of current policies on future welfare. In this paper we examine the influence of government ideology and elections on the economy. Using quarterly data for government consumption, money supply, taxation and welfare expenditure, we find that both partisan and opportunistic political cycles characterize Australian politics thus confirming the insights put forward by Nordhaus, W.D. (1975. “The Political Business Cycle.” The Review of Economic Studies 42 (2): 169–190.) and Hibbs, D. (1977. “Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy.” The American Political Science Review 7: 1467–1487)