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The research activities of the Centre are built around a series of Research Programs headed by a Program Director (or Directors). The Program Director will be responsible for organizing research in a particular area. Proposals for new programs are welcome and will be considered by the Executive Committee. Proposals should be directed to the Centre Director. It is envisaged that Programs will be for three years after which they will be reviewed. The responsibilities of the Program Directors can be found here. 1. Behavioural Macroeconomics
Behavioural macroeconomics seeks to refine our understanding of the discipline by accounting for relevant features of human behaviour that are absent in the standard economics framework. Instead of assuming a hyper-rational representative agent, the basis for analysis are empirically well-documented psychological and sociological factors such as cognitive bias, reciprocity fairness, herding, and social status. Finance theorists have long acknowledged that individuals are bounded in many dimensions, in particular in their rationality, self-control and self-interest. Other economic sub-disciplines, however, have been slow to appreciate the growing econometric and experimental evidence that human behaviour often fails the predictions of the rational expectations, full-information paradigm. Behavioural macroeconomics is still in its infancy but is rapidly making inroads into the mainstream. This research program provides an umbrella for all research dedicated to melding the insights from behavioural economics and psychology with modern macroeconomics in a sound and rigorous way. The emphasis is both on theoretical and empirical models:
These models are not only supposed to refine our understanding of individual choice but also help us understand and design better economic institutions and enhance overall welfare analysis. The program seeks to foster a strong and growing network of researchers enthusiastic about behavioural macroeconomics. Activities will include workshops/conferences on behavioural macroeconomics, collaboration with other CAMA research programs, and graduate courses/seminars on this topic.
Rapid global economic growth, particularly in China and India, has important implications for global energy use as well as causing a rapid rise in greenhouse gas emissions with implication for climate change. This program focuses on the importance of energy use and climate change as well as the associated policy responses on the macro-economy. This program focuses on:
3. Economic Growth and Development
The program focuses on the following key areas:
4. Finance and the Macroeconomy
Financial market developments impact directly and indirectly on real economy outcomes, particularly in the short term, and developments in the macroeconomy affect financial markets, systems and institutions. This program brings together work on financial interactions with an assessment of the impact of markets and institutions on the economy and implications for policy. It includes assessment of broader trends in the macroeconomy and finance. Areas of investigation include:
The linkages between countries are influenced by their macroeconomic policies. These policies can be conducted so as to reduce risks and increase the likelihood of good outcomes. The objective of this program is to undertake research into design of policies in three areas. The first of these is the overall framework of macroeconomic policy, including the extent to which policy can influence exchange rates in a world of a high degree of capital mobility, and the integration of fiscal and monetary policy in the management of the economy. The second is the extent to which the financial system can be regulated so as to minimise the risk of currency and financial crises, and to lessen the costs of such crises as occur. The third is the way in which the liberalisation of international trade can be managed so as to avoid the growth of preferential discrimination between countries, and the growth of discriminatory trading blocs. Research in this program will also be conducted into the connection between these areas: the extent to which trade liberalisation strategies demand a change to exchange rate strategies, and the extent to which the need to minimise the risks of financial crises has implications for exchange rate strategies. 6. Macro-econometric Models and Methods
The objective of the program is to pursue research into the design of macro-econometric models, to develop techniques to assist in this process, to evaluate the finished product and to examine their role in forecasting and the analysis of economic processes. The program includes:
7. Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks
This program will bring together analytical and policy researchers interested in evaluating and advancing work in areas such as:
This program brings together various research agendas in the area of theoretical macroeconomics. The emphasis is on (i) the construction of macroeconomic models that have well-specific decision-theoretic foundations and equilibrium concepts; and/or (ii) the use of such models to understand observed economic phenomena, analyse policy regimes and other institutional features; and/or (iii) research that refines and expands the set of tools for undertaking research in (i) and (ii).
The program's activities include:
9. Macroeconomics and Longer Run Issues
This program covers a range of topics focusing on longer run issues in macroeconomics such as:
(b) Macroeconomics and Aging Demographic change has important impacts on the macro economy through changes in labour supply, human wealth accumulation, consumption and saving decisions, asset accumulation, investment demand and adjustment of asset prices. There are also important impacts on fiscal positions and the balance of payments. The objective of this program is to explore the macroeconomic implications of an aging society within a variety of modeling frameworks.
Environmental change has potentially significant macroeconomic impacts both directly through the links between the environment and economics activity and indirectly through the impact on the macro economy of policies aimed at environmental outcomes such as climate change policy. This sub program will explore the links between changes in the environment and macroeconomics outcomes.
10. Multi-Country Models and Methods
Countries are linked through trade flows and asset markets. The modeling of these interactions has been undertaken in large scale model such as: computable general equilibrium models (for trade); large scale macro-econometric models (aggregated trade and capital flows); and intertemporal general equilibrium models (trade detail and asset flows). There is also an emerging literature of smaller theoretical simulation models particularly of real business cycle and new Keynesian theories which attempt to understand global interdependence better. This program will bring together researchers interested in the linkages between countries and how these linkages impact on our understanding of economic outcomes in small open and large open economies.
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Enquiries to: info.cbe@anu.edu.au. Phone: 1300 732 120. Page authorised by: Dean, Business and Economics. |
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