Search

This paper examines the dynamic impact of both bank- and market-based financial development on economic growth in Australia during the period from 1980 to 2012. The study uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to examine this linkage. Unlike certain previous studies, this study uses both bank- and market-based financial development indices to measure the level of financial sector development in Australia. These indices were computed using the means-removed average method. The empirical results of this study show that while bankbased financial development has a short-run positive impact on economic growth in Australia, market-based financial development has no significant impact on economic growth, both in the short run and in the long run. These results imply that, in Australia, it is of paramount importance to concentrate on pro-banking sector policies, at least in the short run, to stimulate growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of oil shocks on return and volatility in the sectors of Australian stock market and finds significant effects for most sectors. For the overall market index, an increase in oil price return significantly reduces return, and an increase in oil price return volatility significantly reduces volatility. An advantage of looking at sector returns rather than a general index of stock returns is that sectors may well differ markedly in how they respond to oil price shocks. The energy and material sectors (as expected) and the financial sector (surprisingly) are out of step (in different ways) with results for the other sectors and for the overall index. A rise in oil price increases returns in the energy and material sectors and an increase in oil price return volatility increases stock return volatility in the financial sector. Explanation for the negative (positive) association between oil return (oil return volatility) and returns (volatility of returns) in the financial sector must be based on the association via lending to and/or holdings of corporate bonds issued by firms with significant exposure to oil price fluctuations and their speculative positions in oil-related instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the determinants of credit spreads (levels and changes) via credit derivatives, using an Australian sample. We incorporate a number of different relationships to assess the contributions of various market-wide and firm-specific factors in determining levels, and changes in credit spreads, of corporate bonds. Using over-the-counter credit default swap (CDS) premium data as a proxy for the default risk of the entity, we find that both CDS and liquidity are priced into credit spreads, with liquidity explaining more credit spreads than credit risk (proxied using CDS premia) itself. We also find that a number of firm-specific and market-wide variables, namely, firm leverage, market-to-book ratio, market value, volatility, liquidity, the spot rate, the slope of the yield curve, the time to maturity of the underlying bond and the level and return on the All Ordinaries Index, are in many cases significant determinants of credit spreads. Finally, in additional robustness testing, a potential sample selection bias is accommodated via the Heckman ((1979) Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica 47: 153–162) procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]