RDP 2003-03: Australia's Medium-Run Exchange Rate: A Macroeconomic Balance Approach Appendix A: Data

This appendix provides a glossary of all the variables with details of the data sources. The data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the IMF'S International Financial Statistics (IFS), the OECD, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), and our own calculations.

The base year for all price and volume indices is 1995. The dates in brackets indicate the timespan of the individual series. Unless otherwise stated all variables are seasonally adjusted. World prices/quantities are marked with an asterisk (*). Lower-case variables are logs of the corresponding upper-case variables.

At Foreign assets
Definition: Foreign assets in A$, converted into real terms using Pgdp
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 (1994:Q1–2001:Q4)
CAt Current account
Definition: Current account, converted into A$ using eus
Source: IFS line AUI78ALDA (1960:Q1–2001:Q1)
Dt Foreign liabilities
Definition: Foreign liabilities in A$, converted into real terms using Pgdp
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 (1991:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Trade-weighted exchange rate
Definition: Trade-weighted exchange rate index for the A$
Source: RBA (1988:Q1–2002:Q3); own calculations using geometric weights (see also Ellis (2001)) (1970:Q2–1987:Q4)
Inline Equation Nominal bilateral exchange rate (US$)
Definition: Nominal bilateral exchange rate, A$ units per US$
Source: IFS line AUI.AF (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Mt,gds Import volume (goods)
Definition: Volume of goods imports
Source: Calculated using Inline Equation (1960: Q1–2001: Q4)
Mt,srv Import volume (services)
Definition: Volume of service imports
Source: Calculated using Inline Equation (1984:Q3–2001:Q4)
NTt Net transfers
Definition: Real net transfers, converted into A$
Source: IFS line AUI78AJDA minus AUI78AKDA, converted into A$ using eus and into real terms using Pgdp (1960:Q1–2001:Q1)
Inline Equation Import price (goods)
Definition: Implicit price deflator of goods imports
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 (1960:Q1–2002:Q1)
Inline Equation Import price (services)
Definition: Implicit price deflator of service imports
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 (1984:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export price (agriculture)
Definition: Implicit price deflator of agricultural exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation deflated by a chain volume measure of rural exports (ABS Cat No 5302.0) (1974:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export price (manufacturing)
Definition: Implicit price deflator of manufactured exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation deflated by a chain volume measure of manufactured exports (ABS Cat No 5302.0) (1974:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export price (resources)
Definition: Implicit price deflator of resource exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation deflated by a chain volume measure of resource exports (ABS Cat No 5302.0) (1974:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export price (services)
Definition: Implicit price deflator of service exports
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 (1984:Q3–2002:Q1)
Pt,cpi Consumer price index
Definition: Australian consumer price index
Source: IFS line AUI64…F (1960:Q1–2001:Q3)
Pt,gdp GDP deflator
Definition: Australian GDP deflator
Source: ABS Cat No 5206.0 (1960:Q1–2002:Q1)
Pt,lab Real unit labour costs
Definition: Real unit labour costs
Source: Calculation using Plab = Pulc /Pgdp (1975:Q1–2001:Q3)
Pt,ppi Producer prices
Definition: Price index of manufactured goods (articles produced)
Source: RBA, unpublished (1968:Q3–2001:Q4)
Pt,ulc Nominal unit labour costs
Definition: Nominal unit labour costs
Source: Calculation using total wage divided by productivity, where productivity is GDP divided by the average hours worked (1975:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation World export prices
Definition: Trade-weighted world export price index
Source: Own calculation using the TWI weights and the export price series for each country from Datastream (1970:Q2–2002:Q2)
Inline Equation World consumer prices
Definition: World consumer price index
Source: IFS line WDI64…F (1968:Q1–2001:Q3)
Inline Equation World oil price
Definition: World spot price of petroleum, index
Source: IFS line WDI76AAZA in US$ per barrel, converted into an index (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation World food price
Definition: World food price index in US$
Source: IFS line WDI76EXDF (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation World base metals prices
Definition: World base metals price index in US$
Source: IFS line WDI76AYDF (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation World coal price
Definition: World price of coal, index
Source: IFS line AUI74VRDF in US$ per metric ton, converted into an index (1966:Q3–2002:Q1)
Inline Equation World price of resources
Definition: World price of resources
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation. The weights are value weights for each subcategory as at March 2002 (1966:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Rate of return of foreign assets
Definition: Implied return on foreign assets
Source: Calculation using income credits (IFS line AUI78AGDA), converted into A$ using eus and into real terms using Pgdp. The implied rate is then calculated from quarterly estimates of A (1994:Q1–2001:Q1)
Inline Equation Rate of return of foreign liabilities
Definition: Implied return on foreign liabilities
Source: Calculation using income debits (IFS line AUI78AHDA), converted into A$ using eus and into real terms using Pgdp. The implied rate is then calculated from quarterly estimates of D (1991:Q3–2001:Q1)
St,agr Agricultural subsidies
Definition: Agricultural subsidies
Source: ABS Cat No 5206.0 in A$, converted into real terms using Pgdp (1977:Q4–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Import value (goods)
Definition: Value of goods imports, not seasonally adjusted
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 in A$ (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Import value (services)
Definition: Volume of service imports, not seasonally adjusted
Source: ABS Cat No 5368.0 in A$ (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export value (agriculture)
Definition: Value of agricultural exports
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 in A$ (1969:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export value (manufacturing)
Definition: Value of manufactured exports
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 in A$ (1969:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export value (resources)
Definition: Value of resource exports
Source: ABS Cat No 5302.0 in A$ (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export value (services)
Definition: Value of service exports, not seasonally adjusted
Source: ABS Cat No 5368.0 in A$ (1960:Q1–2001:Q4)
Vt,y Australian nominal GDP
Definition: Australian nominal GDP
Source: ABS Cat No 5206.0 in A$ (1960:Q1–2002:Q1)
Inline Equation Export volume (agriculture)
Definition: Volume of agricultural exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation (1974: Q3–2001: Q4)
Inline Equation Export volume (manufacturing)
Definition: Volume of manufactured exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation (1974:Q3–2001:Q4)
Inline Equation Export volume (resources)
Definition: Volume of resource exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation (1974:Q3–2001: Q4)
Inline Equation Export volume (services)
Definition: Volume of service exports
Source: Calculation using Inline Equation (1984:Q3–2001 :Q4)
Yt Australian real GDP
Definition: Australian real GDP
Source: Calculation using Y = Vy/Pgdp (1960:Q1–2002:Q1)

The estimate of the domestic output gap in the reference periods for Table 2 and Figure 6 was taken from Gruen, Robinson and Stone (2002). We modified their output gap measure in order to obtain a cyclical measure which is ‘at trend’ when actual inflation is constant. For this, we adjusted the final output gap estimate in their Table 2 by setting the bond market inflation expectations to zero. We did this by calculating Inline Equation.

Inline Equation World real GDP
Definition: OECD real GDP
Source: OECD, QNA line OC001000D (annual) in US$ at 1995 prices and PPP exchange rates, converted into quarterly numbers (1960:Q1–2001:Q3)

The estimate of the world output gap in the reference periods for Table 2 and Figure 6 was taken from OECD (2002).