KEY FEATURES OF NEW-ZEALAND BUSINESS CYCLES

By international standards, New Zealand's recent business cycle fluctuations have been exceptionally volatile. Fluctuations in central government and private fixed investment expenditure, the real net exports share, the terms of trade and interest rates have also been particularly volatile. Many bivariate relationships change markedly over time, but 'real variable regularity' is confirmed. Fluctuations in government purchases have been acyclical. The real net exports share has been countercyclical overall, but procyclical most recently. Domestic price fluctuations have been basically countercyclical. The scale of changes over the past decade continues to present difficulties for establishing credible financial and open economy regularities.