MODELLING DEMAND FOR BROAD MONEY IN AUSTRALIA*

The existence of a valid long-run money demand function is still important for the conduct of monetary policy. It is argued that previous work on the demand for money in Australia has not been very satisfactory in a number of ways. This paper examines the long- and short-run determinants of the demand for broad money employing the Johansen cointegration technique. Using quarterly data for the period 1976:3–2002:2, this paper finds, inter alia, that the demand for broad money is cointegrated with real income, the rate of return on 10-year Treasury bonds, the cash rate and inflation. It appears that a disequilibrium in the demand for money can affect the efficacy of interest rate policy in the long run via its impact on future output growth and output gap.