Economic Papers: A Journal of Applied Economics and Policy 

About: Economic Papers: A Journal of Applied Economics and Policy is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Monetary policy & Economics. It has an ISSN identifier of 0812-0439. Over the lifetime, 304 publications have been published receiving 1734 citations.

Key Findings from a Survey of Sellers to the Restoring the Balance Programme

Abstract: This study provides the key results from a survey of water entitlement sellers to the Commonwealth's Restoring the Balance programme. At the start of 2012, the programme was a third of the way to achieving the current environmental water target. A large-scale survey of water sellers found that 60 per cent of respondents had sold some water and kept farming; 30 per cent sold all water and left farming; and 10 per cent sold all water and continued farming. The majority were compelled to sell water because of debt and cash flow issues, but many used the sale as an opportunity to restructure and achieve other objectives. Half of the respondents who continued farming said selling water had no farm production consequences.

A Review of Islamic Investment Literature

Abstract: This paper reviews the empirical literature on the contemporary issues of Islamic investments and highlights the future research directions. The growing literature during the last several years and the penetration of Islamic investments beyond the Muslim majority countries motivate us to review the empirical studies in the area. We therefore focus our literature review on mutual funds, sukuk and equity investments, analysing 81 articles from the most important journals dealing with the topic. The mixed findings in this area help the understanding of professionals not familiar with Islamic investment to identify the trends of the literature for important decisions. Our results have also important financial implications for asset managers willing to include Islamic financial instruments into a well‐diversified portfolio.

Individualism and Corruption: A Cross-Country Analysis

Abstract: While the role of cultural norms in determining corruption is well-explored in the empirical literature, the relationship between a specific aspect of culture, that is, individualism versus collectivism, and corruption is rather unexplored. This paper investigates the relationship between individualism/collectivism and corruption in a large cross-section of countries. To establish causality, the paper uses an index of historical prevalence of infectious diseases and a measure of genetic distance between the population in a country from that in the United States to instrument the individualism/collectivism variable. We find that more individualistic countries have lower levels of corruption (perception). This relationship is robust to the inclusion of a rich set of control variables and to the use of alternative measures of corruption.

Healthcare Expenditure Profile of Older Australians: Evidence from Linked Survey and Health Administrative Data

Abstract: This article provides a comprehensive profile of individual healthcare expenditure using the 45 and Up Study of over 267,000 NSW residents linked to administrative medical service records. Individuals aged 45 and over consume two-thirds of healthcare expenditure in Australia. We compute annual total healthcare expenditure comprising hospital admissions, emergency presentations, out-of-hospital medical consultations and diagnostic tests and subsidised drugs. The average annual expenditure in the sample is $4334 in 2009 dollars. Less than 3 per cent have zero expenditure. Health service mix varies with age, with the share of hospital expenditure increasing with age. The age trends of total expenditure and its components are then examined by key demographic, socioeconomic and health characteristics, providing important insights into future healthcare demand and a foundation for future research into the drivers of healthcare expenditures and the distribution of health subsidies.

The ASEAN Stock Market Performance and Economic Policy Uncertainty in the United States

Abstract: This study investigates if the changes of economic policy uncertainty in the U.S. can explain the returns on stock markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. This study also examines how the stock market returns in the five countries respond to the changes in economic policy uncertainty in the U.S. The Granger causality tests are also performed to determine if the changes in economic policy uncertainty cause the returns on the five stock markets. The results, from analysing monthly date from 1985:2 to 2012:2, show that the changes in economic policy uncertainty in the U.S. are negatively linked to the returns on the five ASEAN stock markets. Controlling for the effect of the U.S stock market, only Philippines coefficient becomes insignificant. The vector autoregressive analyses show that returns on the five ASEAN stock markets negatively respond to the changes in economic policy uncertainty immediately. The Granger causality tests reveal that the changes in economic policy uncertainty in the U.S. cause the returns on the Singapore and Malaysia stock markets; the same cannot said for the case of Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand.