31 research outputs found

    The Performance of Trimmed Mean Measures of Underlying Inflation

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    This paper uses data for Australia, the United States, Japan and the euro area to examine the relative performance of the headline CPI, exclusion-based ‘cores’, and trimmed means as measures of underlying inflation. Overall, we find that trimmed means tend to outperform headline and exclusion measures on a range of different criteria, indicating that they can be thought of as having better signal-to-noise ratios. We also find that there is a wide range of trims that perform well. One innovation for the United States is to break up the large implicit rent component in the US CPI into four regional components, which improves the performance of trimmed means, especially large trims such as the weighted median. The results lend support to the use of trimmed means as useful measures of underlying inflation at the current juncture where the growth of China and other emerging markets is having two offsetting effects on global inflation. Whereas some central banks have tended to focus on headline inflation and others have focused more on exclusion measures, our results provide some justification for a middle path, namely using trimmed mean measures which deal with outliers at both ends of the distribution of price changes in a symmetric manner.underlying inflation; core inflation; trimmed means; Australia; United States; Japan; euro area

    A Structural Vector Autoregression Model of Monetary Policy in Australia

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    This paper examines the effects of monetary policy in Australia using a small structural vector autoregression model. The model we use is a modification of the small open economy model developed for the G6 economies (the G7 less the United States) by Kim and Roubini (1999). The success of the Kim and Roubini model across these economies makes it a natural starting point to analyse monetary policy in Australia. Consistent with Kim and Roubini, we find no evidence of the price or exchange rate puzzles identified in the literature. We demonstrate that, in the Australian context, modelling the interdependence between the domestic interest rate, the foreign interest rate and the nominal exchange rate is critical to resolving these puzzles. Further, we demonstrate that the Kim and Roubini model can be further usefully refined when applied to the Australian data. We use the model to perform various monetary policy experiments and the results of these experiments accord well with both the existing SVAR literature and previous empirical work for Australia. We find that monetary policy shocks have a delayed and gradual effect on the price level and a small temporary effect on output. We also use the model to examine the effects of shocks to the Australian economy and the role of monetary policy in response to these shocks. Generally, we find that monetary policy has served to dampen both output and price fluctuations. A qualifying aspect of our results is the model’s instability, for example, around the most recent change in the implementation of monetary policy in Australia.exchange rates; monetary transmission mechanism; structural vector autoregressions

    Forecasting Australian Economic Activity Using Leading Indicators

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    This paper examines the contribution leading indicators can make to forecasting measures of real activity in Australia. In a policy context, we are interested in forecasting the levels or growth of policy relevant variables throughout the cycle. We are less interested in forecasting turning points in the cycle or in forecasting coincident indices, which are subjectively defined overall measures of economic activity. This gives us a different focus to much of the recent work done in this area. We use a simple forecasting framework (bivariate VARs) to compare the Westpac-Melbourne Institute (WM), NATSTAT and ABS leading indices’ predictive performance for real GDP, employment and unemployment in Australia. Within sample we find all three indices help predict all of the activity variables, although with varying leads. Out of sample evidence, however, is weaker. Within our framework, we only find evidence in favour of the WM index when used to forecast GDP. Otherwise, the indices do not make any substantive contribution to forecast quality. To gauge the usefulness of the simple bivariate VAR models, we compare the out of sample forecasts of GDP, using the WM index, to those from a single equation structural model due to Gruen and Shuetrim (1994). Over a forecasting sample of relatively stable growth, the WM index model performs quite well relative to the Gruen and Shuetrim model. Over a longer forecasting sample period, one which includes the downturn in the early 1990s, there is some evidence that the WM index model performs relatively poorly.forecasting; leading indices

    Development of a multifunctional panel for aerospace use through SLM additive manufacturing

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    Lattice materials can overcome the need of light and stiff structures in the aerospace industry. The wing leading edge is one of the most critical parts for both on-board subsystem and structure features: it must withstand to the aerodynamic loads and bird-strike, integrating also the anti-ice system functions. Nowadays, this part is made by different components bonded together such as external skin, internal passageways, and feeding tubes. In the present work, a single-piece multifunctional panel made by additive manufacturing will be developed. Optimal design and manufacturing are discussed according to technological constraints, aeronautical performances and sustainability

    Householders’ Inflation Expectations

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    Inflation expectations have wide-reaching effects on the macroeconomy and are an important part of the transmission of monetary policy. This paper analyses the Melbourne Institute survey of householders’ inflation expectations. Householders’ average inflation expectations vary with personal characteristics. People with better access to information or more developed information-processing skills – such as professionals, those with more education, or older people – tend to have lower and more accurate inflation expectations. While inflation expectations are not correlated with the structural determinants of inflation (like the output gap, exchange rate movements or wages growth), tighter monetary policy does appear to reduce expected inflation. People also associate ‘good times’ with strong growth, low unemployment and low inflation. It is shown that householders’ inflation expectations do not appear to fully incorporate information about past inflation and exchange rate movements.inflation expectations

    Node detection using high-dimensional fuzzy parcellation applied to the insular cortex

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    Several functional connectivity approaches require the definition of a set of regions of interest (ROIs) that act as network nodes. Different methods have been developed to define these nodes and to derive their functional and effective connections, most of which are rather complex. Here we aim to propose a relatively simple “one-step” border detection and ROI estimation procedure employing the fuzzy c-mean clustering algorithm. To test this procedure and to explore insular connectivity beyond the two/three-region model currently proposed in the literature, we parcellated the insular cortex of 20 healthy right-handed volunteers scanned in a resting state. By employing a high-dimensional functional connectivity-based clustering process, we confirmed the two patterns of connectivity previously described. This method revealed a complex pattern of functional connectivity where the two previously detected insular clusters are subdivided into several other networks, some of which are not commonly associated with the insular cortex, such as the default mode network and parts of the dorsal attentional network. Furthermore, the detection of nodes was reliable, as demonstrated by the confirmative analysis performed on a replication group of subjects

    Reconciling real interest parity and the expectations hypothesis

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