Researcher Profiles Jonathan Hambur

Jonathan Hambur is the Deputy Head of the Economic Research Department. He previously lead its the Microdata analysis research stream of the at the Economic Research Department at the RBA, having previously held a role at the Australian Treasury. He is part of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia’s Member Advisory Council on Dynamism, and is a research associate in the ‘Micro-Heterogeneity and Macroeconomic Performance’ program at the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis at the Australian National University. Jonathan holds an MSc in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics and PhD from ANU. His research focuses on using microdata to better understand macroeconomic questions, particularly around productivity and labour markets.

Academic publications

• Bowman J, J Hambur and N Markovski (2026) ‘Examining the Macroeconomic Costs of Occupational Entry Regulations’ Economic Record.
• Hauser A and J Hambur (2025) ‘What has Australian Macroeconomic Thought Achieved in the Past Century – and Where Can it Contribute in the Next?’ Economic Record.
• Hambur J, O Majeed, and Robert Breunig (2025) ‘Does monetary policy impact innovation? Evidence from Australian Administrative Data’ Journal of Macroeconomics, 86.
• Andrews D, E Bahar and J Hambur (2025) ‘The Effects of COVID‐19 and JobKeeper on Productivity‐Enhancing Reallocation in Australia’ Economic Record, 101(333).
• Hambur J and Q Haque (2024) ‘Can we Use High‐Frequency Data to Better Understand the Effects of Monetary Policy and its Communication? Yes and No!’ Economic Record, 100(328).
  Also released as RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-04.
• Hambur J (2023) ‘Product Market Competition and its Implications for the Australian Economy’ Economic Record, 99(324).
• Ballantyne A, T Cusbert, R Evans, R Guttmann, J Hambur, A Hamilton, E Kendall, R McCririck, G Nodari, DM Rees (2020) ‘MARTIN Has Its Place: A Macroeconometric Model of the Australian Economy’ Economic Record, 96(314), pp 225–251.
  Also released as RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2019-07.
• Gibbs C, J Hambur and G Nodari (2021) ‘Housing and Commodity Investment Booms in a Small Open Economy’ Economic Record, 97(317), pp 212–242.

Research Papers

• Hambur J and Haque Q (2026) ‘Perceived Monetary Policy Rules: Evidence from Professional Forecasters in Australia’ CAMA Working Paper 09/2023, February.
• Das M, J Hambur, KP Hellwig and JA Spray (2026) ‘Labor Supply Effects of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Australian Mortgage Holders’ IMF Working Paper WP/26/71.
• Fink M and J Hambur (2026) ‘Shifts in Australian Price-setting Behaviour around Large Shocks’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2026-02.
  Also released as CAMA Working Paper 07/2026.
• Twohig D, J Hambur and A Yadav (2025) ‘Do Housing Investors Pass-through Changes in Their Interest Costs to Rents?’ Paper presented at ABS and RBA Joint Conference ‘Opening Doors: Data and Analytics Shedding Light on Housing Challenges’, Sydney, 23–24 June.
• Bradshaw N, J Hambur, M McCarthy and S Nash (2025) ‘Overview and Early Analysis of the New Wealth and Housing Asset Module (WHAM)’ Paper presented at ABS and RBA Joint Conference ‘Opening Doors: Data and Analytics Shedding Light on Housing Challenges’, Sydney, 23–24 June.
• Hambur J and O Freestone (2025) ‘How Costly are Mark-ups in Australia? The Effect of Declining Competition on Misallocation and Productivity’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2025-05.
• Hambur J, Nolan G and P Vermeulen (2025) ‘How does Monetary Policy Affect Business Investment? Evidence from Australia’ CAMA working paper No. 2025-09.
  Also released as RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-09.
• Win NN, J Hambur and R Breunig (2024) ‘Are Investment Tax Breaks Effective? Australian Evidence’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2025-01.
• Barreto C, J Fluchtmann, A Hijzen, S Lombardi, P Bennett, A Bertheau, W Chan, A Gorshkov, J Hambur, N Johnstone, B Lochner, J Meekes, T Mehdi, B Muraközy, G Nolan, K Salvanes, O Nordström Skans and R Vejlin (2024) ‘The “Clean Energy Transition” and the Cost of Job Displacement in Energy-intensive Industries’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2024-09. Also released as OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Paper No 310.
• Brassil A, Y Haidari, J Hambur, G Nolan and C Ryan (2024) ‘How Do Households Form Inflation and Wage Expectations?’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2024-07.
• Bowman J, J Hambur and N Markovski (2024) ‘Examining the Macroeconomic Costs of Occupational Entry Regulations’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2024-06. Also released as NSW Treasury Technical Research Paper TRP24-25.
• Bruno A, J Hambur and L Wang (2024) ‘Measuring Labour Quality in (Closer to) Real Time Using Emerging Microdata Sources’ Paper presented at ABS and RBA Joint Conference ‘Human Capital’, Sydney, 11–12 June.
• Majeed O, J Hambur and R Breunig (2024) ‘Do Monetary Policy and Economic Conditions Impact Innovation? Evidence from Australian Administrative Data’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2024-01.
• Nguyen K and J Hambur (2023) ‘Adoption of Emerging Digital General-purpose Technologies: Determinants and Effects’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-10.
• Nolan G , J Hambur and P Vermeulen (2023) ‘Does Monetary Policy Affect Non-mining Business Investment in Australia? Evidence from BLADE’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-09.
• Champion M, C Edmond and J Hambur (2023) ‘Competition, Markups, and Inflation: Evidence from Australian Firm-level Data’ Paper presented at the annual Reserve Bank of Australia Conference on ‘Inflation’, Sydney, 25–26 September.
• Fink M, J Hambur and O Majeed (2023) ‘Using New Data Sources to Understand and Monitor Changes in Prices, Wages and Incomes’ Paper presented at ABS and RBA Joint Conference ‘Underneath the Headlines: Understanding Price Change in the Australian Economy’, Sydney, 22–23 May.
• Hambur J and Q Haque (2023) ‘Can We Use High-frequency Yield Data to Better Understand the Effects of Monetary Policy and Its Communication? Yes and No!’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-04.
• Hambur J and D Andrews (2023) ‘Doing Less, with Less: Capital Misallocation, Investment and the Productivity Slowdown in Australia’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-03.
• Hambur J (2023) ‘Did Labour Market Concentration Lower Wages Growth Pre-COVID?’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2023-02. Also released as Treasury Working Paper 2023-01.
• Hambur J, M Montaigne, S Parsons and E Whalan (2022) ‘Looking under the Lamppost or Shining a New Light: New Data for Unseen Challenges’ Paper presented at ABS and RBA Joint Conference ‘Economic Implications of the Digital Economy’, Sydney, 9–10 March.
• Andrews D, J Hambur, D Hansell and A Wheeler (2022) ‘Reaching for the Stars: Australian Firms and the Global Productivity Frontier’ Treasury Working Paper No 2022-01.
• Andrews D, E Bahar and J Hambur (2021) ‘The COVID-19 Shock and Productivity-enhancing Labour Reallocation in Australia: Real-time Evidence from Single Touch Payroll’ OECD Economics Department Working Paper No 1677.
• Hambur J (2021) ‘Market Power and its Implications for the Australian Economy’ Treasury Working Paper No 2021-03.
• Gibbs C, J Hambur and G Nodari (2021) ‘Housing and Commodity Investment Booms in a Small Open Economy’ The Economic Record, 97(317), pp 212–242.
• Andrews D, N Deutscher, J Hambur and D Hansell (2020) ‘The Career Effects of Labour Market Conditions at Entry’ OECD Productivity Working Paper No 20.
• Andrews D, N Deutscher, J Hambur and D Hansell (2019) ‘Wage Growth in Australia: Lessons from Longitudinal Microdata’ Treasury Working Paper No 2019-04.
• Rodgers R and J Hambur (2018) ‘The GFC Investment Tax Break’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2018-07.
• Hambur J and G La Cava (2018) ‘Do Interest Rates Affect Business Investment? Evidence from Australian Company-level Data’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2018-05.
• Hambur J and R Finlay (2018) ‘Affine Endeavour: Estimating a Joint Model of the Nominal and Real Term Structures of Interest Rates in Australia’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2018-02.
• Hambur J and N Stenner (2017) ‘Financialisation and the Term Structure of Commodity Risk Premiums’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2017-03.
• Hambur J, L Cockerell, C Potter, P Smith and M Wright (2015) ‘Modelling the Australian Dollar’ RBA Research Discussion Paper No 2015-12.

Policy Publications

• Twohig D A Yadav and J Hambur (2024) ‘Do Housing Investors Pass-through Changes in Their Interest Costs to Rents?’ RBA Bulletin, October.
• Nguyen K and J Hambur (2023) ‘Adoption of General-purpose Technologies (GPT) in Australia: The Role of Skills’ RBA Bulletin, September.
• Beckers B, J Hambur and T Williams (2023) ‘Estimating the Relative Contributions of Supply and Demand Drivers to Inflation in Australia’ RBA Bulletin, June.
• Hambur J (2023) ‘Can Wage-setting Mechanisms Affect Labour Market Reallocation and Productivity?’ RBA Bulletin, March.
• Hambur J and K Jenner (2019) ‘Can Structural Change Account for the Low Level of Non-mining Investment?’ RBA Bulletin, June.
• Hambur J and G La Cava (2018) ‘Business Concentration and Mark-ups in the Retail Trade Sector’ RBA Bulletin, December.
• Araujo G and J Hambur (2018) ‘Which Firms Get Credit? Evidence from Firm-level Data’ RBA Bulletin, December.