RDP 9008: Financial Deregulation and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism Appendix: Data Sources and Methods

(a) Employment

Total employment consists of full time and part time employment. Seasonally adjusted monthly data are obtained from ABS Cat. No. 6203.0. Data are available from February 1978.

(b) Inflation

The inflation rate is the log change in the Consumer Price Index, ABS Cat. No. 6401.0. Monthly values are obtained by geometrically interpolating the quarterly values. The series has been adjusted for the introduction of the Medicare program in the March quarter of 1984.

(c) Financial Variables

Data are obtained from the May and June 1990 Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Bulletin. Differences to other Bulletin figures for the same series reflect revisions.

(i) Interest rates

Data for the yield of 90-Day bank accepted bills of exchange (the Bank Bill rate) are from the RBA Bulletin, Table F.1, various issues.

(ii) Credit

Credit (Table D.5 RBA Bulletin, various issues) is loans and advances by all financial institutions included in the broad money aggregate plus bank bills outstanding.

Credit has been adjusted for the following major breaks:

1. Feb 1983: the inclusion of Cash Management Trusts added $1,493 million.
2. July 1984: The identification of double counting between NBFIs removed $3,001 million.
3. July 1987: The inclusion of Primary Industries Bank of Australia added to credit.
4. Jan. 1989: The inclusion of The Australian Resource Development Bank of Australia and the Commonwealth Development Bank added to credit.

The monthly growth rates of credit were adjusted in the month of each break. The last published figure available, March 1990, was taken as the best indicator of the true level of the aggregate, and previous months figures for the aggregate were then calculated using the adjusted growth rate series. The new adjusted levels series were then seasonally adjusted using X-11.

The data are available from the authors upon request.