Saturday Quiz – December 5, 2015

1. The wage share in national income has continued to fall in Australia in the last several years because the growth in nominal wages and salaries has failed to keep pace with the growth in labour productivity.

2. The automatic stabilisers work to underpin total spending in times of economic contraction. While the proportion of the fiscal outcome that operates in this way is not directly observable, the estimates provided by institutions such as the OECD and the IMF are overly pessimistic.

3. Under current public sector debt-issuance arrangements (where sovereign governments match their deficits with issues of debt), the government and the private domestic sector cannot simultaneously spend less than they earn.