ABSTRACT
Perhaps the most celebrated event in the Australian economy in recent years has been financial market liberalization. Deregulation of the financial system – including ‘freeing’ the exchange rate, the establishment of fifteen foreign trading banks, the removal of interest rate ceilings on all trading and savings bank deposits, and other bank deregulations – has initiated structural change not only in banking but also in other sectors of the economy. Moreover, it has been the experience of financial deregulation that has largely motivated policy-makers to call for microeconomic reform of other key sectors of the Australian economy, including transport, the labour market and, more recently, telecommunications.
