Granger causality among house price and macroeconomic variables in Victoria

This study analyses the dynamic causality of four macroeconomic variables on house prices. The four macroeconomic variables have interrelationships with house prices in certain lagged terms, but these relationships are not always the same as the notions put forward in prior research. The relationships are detected to be unstable in the three observation periods. The instability of these relationships would cause difficulty in predicting house prices in the market, especially for policy makers and market participants.

How is gender-based violence covered in the sporting news? An account of the Australian Football League sex scandal

Despite the significant amount of feminist and sociological research devoted to the question of sexual harassment and assault in sport, there has been little accompanying exploration of how the media discuss gender-based violence by sportsmen. This study examines the narratives of gendered behaviour that emerge in stories about Australian rules footballers and violence against women in the sport sections of two major Australian newspapers. As the audience for sport news is primarily male, the way that sexual misconduct by footballers is reported in this section of the newspaper provides an important dimension in theorising how media institutions influence public discourse and understandings of gender.

Intelligent financial news digest system

We present an agent-based system Intelligent Financial News Digest System (IFNDS) for analyzing online financial news articles and associated material. The system can abstract, synthesize, digest, and classify the contents, and assesses whether the report is favorable to any company discussed in the reports. It integrates artificial intelligence technologies including traditional information retrieval and extraction techniques for the news analysis. It makes use of keyword statistics and backpropagation training data to identify companies named in reportage whether it is, evaluatively speaking, positive, negative or neutral. The system would be of use to media such as clipping services, media management, advertising, public relations, public interest, and e-commerce professionals and government non-governmental bodies interested in monitoring the media profiles of corporations, products, and issues.

Constructing a Structural Macroeconomic Model Using Multiple Techniques

This project constructs a structural model of the United States Economy. This task is tackled in two separate ways: first econometric methods and then using a neural network, both with a structure that mimics the structure of the U.S. economy. The structural model tracks the performance of U.S. GDP rather well in a dynamic simulation, with an average error of just over 1 percent. The neural network performed well, but suffered from some theoretical, as well as some implementation issues.

"Information effect" of economic news: SPI futures

The present study investigates the behaviour of Share Price Index (SPI) futures returns, volatility, and trading volume behaviour around the announcement of Current Account Deficit (CAD), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Inflation (CPI). The futures market data are sampled at 1-, 5-, and 10-min intervals at the announcement time. After controlling for risk, a significant positive abnormal return can be earned based on the good news release. However, it is unlikely that traders could make an economic profit by exploiting this effect. In this sense, this futures market returns are found to react efficiently to good news. Volatility behaviour around announcements provides the same conclusion. As for the relationship between returns, volatility, and volume upon information arrival, returns are positively related to trading volume, which is inconsistent with the ‘short sales constraint’ theory. Trading volume is found to increase as the level of volatility rises. The redenomination of the SPI futures and options contract from A$100 to A$25 per basis point is found to increase trading volume in excess of that expected due to the redenomination. However, market return and volatility are unaffected by the redenomination.

Conversations on convergence : insiders' views on news production in the twenty-first century

Convergence is a major topic of discussion at professional and academic journalism conferences and seminars around the world. This book presents the insights of major players and academics in the field of convergence. Here is your chance to read what the experts think about one of the most significant changes that journalism faces. It should be on the desk of all managers keen to know where the future will take us, and on the reading list of every student of journalism and media.

Research news

The number of research studies in music education undertaken in Australian universities whether in whole or partial fulfilment of graduate and post-graduate qualifications continues to show healthy growth. These studies are highlighted in this article.

News from Down Under : DE + IT = eLearning?

In the current era of eLearning with everything, distance education students have to not only master the intricacies of their discipline but also master sufficient information technology skills to access and use the eLearning environment. This article outlines some technology-relatedproblems that such students have to overcome in order to meet the online requirements of their studies

Research news

Information is given about three major conferences which were held in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region during 2003. A summary of recently completed post-graduate research studies in music education in Australia is provided.