KEY FEATURES OF NEW-ZEALAND BUSINESS CYCLES

By international standards, New Zealand's recent business cycle fluctu ations have been exceptionally volatile. Fluctuations in central gover nment and private fixed investment expenditure, the real net exports s hare, the terms of trade and interest rates have also been particularl y volatile. Many bivariate relationships change markedly over time, bu t 'real variable regularity' is confirmed. Fluctuations in government purchases have been acyclical. The real net exports share has been cou ntercyclical overall, but procyclical most recently. Domestic price fl uctuations have been basically countercyclical. The scale of changes o ver the past decade continues to present difficulties for establishing credible financial and open economy regularities.