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The performance of a stock market is intrinsically linked to the broader financial and economic landscape of a country. Stock prices, as integral indicators, not only mirror the financial health and collective economic circumstances of a nation but also serve as crucial barometers of tangible financial activities. This research paper aims to undertake a comprehensive exploration of the intricate relationship between specific macroeconomic determinants and the stock market within the context of India. Moreover, this study conducts an exhaustive analysis to assess the relative significance of these variables and their contributions to the predictive capacity of stock prices. This investigation harnesses a dataset consisting of monthly observations of the chosen macroeconomic variables. The outcomes of the cointegration analysis illuminate a robust and statistically significant long-term association between Indian stock prices and the selected macroeconomic factors. The results of the cointegration test affirm a lasting nexus between stock returns and crucial economic indicators, namely Gross Domestic Product (GDP), disposable income, and the participation of Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) in the market. Furthermore, this study underscores the enduring negative relationship between stock returns and factors, such as interest rates, government policies, exchange rates, and inflation. These findings provide valuable insights into the interplay between the stock market and macroeconomic forces in the Indian context. Impact Statement: This study comprehensively examines the intricate relationship between macroeconomic variables and the Indian stock market from 2009 to 2019. Utilizing a monthly dataset and rigorous statistical techniques, such as cointegration analysis and the VECM Granger causality test, the research elucidates a significant long-term relationship between macroeconomic variables like GDP, disposable income, and Foreign Institutional Investor (FII) participation, and Indian stock prices. The empirical results reveal a negative correlation with interest rates, government policies, exchange rates, and inflation, and a positive long-term correlation with GDP, disposable income, and FII involvement. The cointegration tests substantiate these findings, reaffirming the enduring nature of these relationships. Furthermore, the VECM Granger causality test highlights the substantial impact of changes in these macroeconomic variables on short-term stock price fluctuations. The study's conclusions shed new light on the dynamic relationship between macroeconomic factors and the stock market in India. By identifying the predictive capacity of key economic indicators on stock price movements, this research contributes to more informed and strategic decision-making for policymakers, investors, and economists, thereby enhancing the efficacy of economic planning and investment strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the cost and affordability of two fortnightly diets (representing the national guidelines and current consumption) across areas containing Australia's major supermarkets.Design: The Healthy Diets Australian Standardised Affordability and Pricing protocol was used.Setting: Price data were collected online and via phone calls in fifty-one urban and inner regional locations across Australia.Participants: Not applicable.Results: Healthy diets were consistently less expensive than current (unhealthy) diets. Nonetheless, healthy diets would cost 25-26 % of the disposable income for low-income households and 30-31 % of the poverty line. Differences in gross incomes (the most available income metric which overrepresents disposable income) drove national variations in diet affordability (from 14 % of the median gross household incomes in the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory to 25 % of the median gross household income in Tasmania).Conclusions: In Australian cities and regional areas with major supermarkets, access to affordable diets remains problematic for families receiving low incomes. These findings are likely to be exacerbated in outer regional and remote areas (not included in this study). To make healthy diets economically appealing, policies that reduce the (absolute and relative) costs of healthy diets and increase the incomes of Australians living in poverty are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Over four million people in Australia have some form of disability, of whom 2.1 million are of working age. This paper estimates the costs of disability in Australia using the standard-of-living approach. This approach defines the cost of disability as additional income required for people with a disability to achieve a similar living standard to those without a disability. We analyse data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey using a hybrid panel data model. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the costs of disability in Australia using a high quality, large, nationally-representative longitudinal data set. Methods: This study estimates the costs of disability in Australia by using the Standard of Living (SoL) and a dynamic model approach. It examines the dynamics of disability and income by using lagged disability and income status. The study also controls for unobserved individual heterogeneity and endogeneity of income. The longitudinal specification in this study allows us to separate short- and long-run costs of disability using a hybrid panel data regression approach. Results: Our results show that people with a disability need to increase their adult-equivalent disposable income by 50% (in the short-run) to achieve the same standard of living as those without a disability. This figure varies considerably according to the severity of the disability, ranging from 19% for people without work-related limitations to 102% for people with severe limitations. Further, the average cost of disability in the long-run is higher and it is 63% of the adult-equivalent disposable income. Conclusions: Firstly, our results show that with the same level of income, the living standard is lower in households with people with a disability compared to households without members with a disability. This indicates a strong relationship between poverty and disability. However, current poverty measures do not take into account disability, therefore, they fail to consider substantial differences in poverty rates between people with and without a disability. Secondly, the estimated costs reflected in this study do consider foregone income due to disability. Therefore, policymakers should seriously consider adopting disability-adjusted poverty and inequality measurements. Thirdly, increasing the income (e.g. through government payments) or providing subsidised services for people with a disability may increase their financial satisfaction, leading to an improved living standard. The results of this study can serve as a baseline for the evaluation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revisit the evidence on the effect of changes in household wealth on consumption using a panel of Australian states. We find that a one per cent increase in the value of housing wealth increases consumption by about 0.16 per cent in the long‐run, with half of the response occurring within two quarters. The size of this response has been stable over time and largely reflects changes in spending on motor vehicles, durable goods and other discretionary items. We then run counterfactual scenarios using the Reserve Bank of Australia's macroeconometric model, MARTIN, to assess the macroeconomic effects of changes in household wealth. We show that increases in household wealth supported household spending between 2013 and 2017, when growth in disposable income was weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims This study examines factors associated with alcohol-related attitudes and behaviours among 888 Australians aged 12 to 17 years. Although these influences have been examined in other countries, notably the USA, Australia's legal drinking age of 18 years is lower and adolescent drinking rates are substantially higher than in the USA. Design and Methods This is a survey of 888 adolescents aged 12-17; they were recruited via a variety of methods (including school based, interception in public places and online) to obtain a cross-section of participants across metropolitan, regional and rural New South Wales. Results Most respondents believed that people their age regularly consumed alcohol; and more than half believed that their siblings and peers would approve of them drinking. Predictors of frequent alcohol consumption included having a sibling or a friend who consumed alcohol; believing parents, friends and/or siblings approved of drinking; drinking behaviours of parents, friends and/or siblings; and having a higher disposable income. Discussion and Conclusions The results support previous findings from the USA. We find an even stronger effect of family and friends' drinking behaviours and attitudes in a country with a lower legal drinking age and high adult alcohol consumption rates.[Jones SC, Magee CA. The role of family, friends and peers in Australian adolescent's alcohol consumption. Drug Alcohol Rev 2014;33:304-313] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of home ownership on income distribution and the incidence of low-income, using data from the Household Expenditure Surveys conducted in 1993-1994 and 1998-1999. The market-value approach is used to derive an estimate of imputed rental income, which is added to disposable income. The results indicate that in 1998-1999, imputed rent had an equalising distributional impact, except at the very top of the distribution. This finding is robust with respect to changes in some of the assumptions that underlie it. Comparisons of low-income rates by housing tenure and age are very sensitive to the inclusion of imputed rent as part of income, and to the deduction of housing costs from income. Analysis of the changing distributional impact of imputed rent between 1993-1994 and 1998-1999 indicates that while the effect was equalising in both years it is not possible to determine whether the impact became more or less equalising over the period. Simulation results indicate that the 'disequalising' impact of changes in gross housing equity (which incorporates the effect of increased house prices) explains much of the observed change in the distribution of income plus imputed rent, and accounted for much of the changed distributional impact of imputed rent itself. Overall, the results highlight the importance of taking account of imputed rent when analysing the structure and distribution of Australian living standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents national income data from Australia for the period of 1990 to the third quarter of 2002. Gross domestic product (GDP) by type of expenditure; Composition of gross fixed capital formation; Disposable income.

Proposes an approach to testing for coefficient stability in cointegrating regressions in time series models. Analysis of the one-sided version of the Lagrange Multiplier test; Limit theory under local alternatives; Application of the method to the data on consumption, disposable income, inflation and money of Australia.

This paper considers options for addressing problems in the way the tax and social security systems interact. These are, complexity, with associated lack of clarity, loss of client understanding, possibilities of poor take-up, and lack of equity; high effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) over some income ranges due to tax and means test interactions, with associated "low income traps," "notches," where there is a "sudden death," loss of benefit at some point; means test "stacking," that is, where two or more means-tested benefits are withdrawn over the same range of income; "churning," meaning that some clients both receive benefits and pay tax at the same time; and lack of support for many low wage earners just outside the boundaries of the transfer system, with pressures for yet more targeted payments for low income earners. The important thing is that the average effective tax rate calculated over some sufficiently wide range of income should not be excessive. The other important thing is that the graph of net disposable income should rise fairly smoothly with rising private income, if anomalies in the EMTR schedule cause marked dips and hollows or long plateaux in the disposable income line then they should be regarded as a policy problem.

In recent years there has been growing concern about the work incentives implicit in Australia's current income tax and social security systems. This interest has stemmed largely from the growing complexity of the two systems over the last two decades. On the social security side, many new payments have been added and the income tests on existing payments have become more tightly targeted. The complexity of the tax and social security systems has brought to a head the debate on the reform of the two systems. Many of the new payments and taxes since the two earlier studies were undertaken have sudden-death income tests. The Maternity Allowance, the Family Tax Payment and the Medicare surcharge are some examples. While these payments and taxes influence a person's or family's disposable income, they do not influence their Effective marginal tax rates (EMTR). This is because of the nature of a sudden-death income test where a small increase in income that takes a family over a threshold results in the complete loss of a payment or a large increase in tax paid. In effect, sudden-death income tests have an infinite taper and generally there is no actual change in the EMTR when it takes effect. The sudden drop in disposable income when the income test takes effect can, however, result in a large disincentive for the family to increase their earned income to just over the threshold.

Presents the economic conditions in Australia from 1989-1994. Labor market; Gross national product growth rate; Household disposable income; National debt and productivity; Terms of trade; Interest rates and Australian dollar movements.

Provides on Australia's economy as of September 1991. Economic growth; Recession; Employment; Disposable income; Consumer sentiment; National debt and productivity; Interest rates and dollar movements; Labor supply; National accounts; Trade.

Presents the macroeconomic forecasts for the financial years 1989-90 and 1990-91 in Australia. Expenditure and income sides of the national accounts, the government accounts, the balance of payments and the computation of disposable income; Increase in real gross domestic product; Terms of trade; Rate of growth of employment and labor productivity.

Focuses on Australia's income test applied to the social security system as from November 1983. Interaction of the income test with the income tax; Joint effects of the income tests and the income tax in reducing the increases in disposable income; Pensions; Work disincentive effects of income testing.

The article presents information on the household disposable income in Australia in 1982. The growth in average wages and salaries has been particularly rapid during the past two financial years, with strong growth in both award wages and overaward payments. Growth of 11% in award wages during 1980-81 resulted from a combination of three indexation increases during that year and the continued spread of the work value round. The payment of large overaward payments was facilitated by the much more buoyant output and employment conditions of that year. The wage drift variable indicates that growth in 1980-81 was slightly more than double that of the previous year. This combined strength in award growth and overaward payments led to growth in average wages and salaries of 12.7%, some 4% points greater than the rate of increase in the previous year. Despite an initial slowing of award wage growth after the abandonment of the wage indexation guidelines, it is estimated that growth in 1981-62 was only slightly slower, at 10.5%, than in the previous year.

Provides an outlook for the household, business and public demand of Australia for 1980. Trends in private housing loans; Decrease in the funds used for welfare housing; Rate of growth of real consumer spending; Effect of tax cuts on consumer spending; Share of household disposable income distributed between durables, non-durables and saving; Factors influencing short-term investments.

Using Australian data, this note tests the stochastic implications of Hall's (1978) rational-expectations life-cycle consumption model. The strong version of the hypothesis can only be rejected using lagged values of the change in the unemployment rate and a particular measure of disposable income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes observations concerning the taxation of the family income in Australia. A family unit consisting of husband, wife and children requires a higher disposable income than does a single person, in order to live a comfortable life. Yet many welfare analysts and polemicists leave wealth factor entirely out of account in their use of the terms wealthy and high income in the context of family earnings and taxation. The requirement for intervention derives from the fact that the differential income needs of family and single earners do not accord well with the accounting methodology of the wage economy, neither unions nor employers have seriously contemplated adjusting wages to the number of dependents of the wage earner on an individual basis. The first major intervention to solve the life cycle problem of family disadvantage in Australia functioned at the market level of wages. Higher level wages were built on this structure. Thus government wage fixing engineered the redistribution of work value from the single to the family earner, raising the income of the latter without raising the total wages bill.

The article focuses on the financial consequences of the family providing unpaid care for family members with disabilities in Australia. The caregivers had reduced the inflation of financial burden on the nation's health care system and provides great benefits to the person they cared. However, the declined income of the family by 25% makes the financial status detrimental. In this regard, the federal government offers two types of payments for carers including the allowance of $98.50 and payment of $525.10 per fortnight.

The article presents information on the economic situation in Australia based on the 1982-83 budget. During a year when output growth was already expected to be negligible and inflation to increase, the 1982-83 budget will exert a contractionary and inflationary influence on the economy. Thus, the whole array of exogenous influences on the level of economic activity will be contractionary in 1982-83. The net impact of lower personal income tax rates, higher cash benefits and higher indirect taxes introduced in the budget is a modest boost to real disposable income. But the rate of growth of wages and non-farm business income is slowing and farm income will fall sharply because of drought. With inflation accelerating, the growth rates of real disposable income and of real consumption will slow. Real private investment spending will fall slightly and housing expenditure will fall even further than last year. Public sector spending will accelerate, but the upshot is a halving in the rate of growth of domestic demand to 2 per cent. A rundown in stocks and another big deficit in the real balance of trade in goods and services completes the gloomy demand picture.