Rate My Professor La Cava

Gianni La Cava is an economist serving as an Adjunct Fellow in the Department of Economics within Macquarie University’s Business School. He holds the position of Research Director at the e61 Institute. La Cava earned his PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics, where his dissertation examined the US housing market, and a Bachelor of Arts/Commerce from the University of Sydney. Earlier in his career, he occupied several senior roles at the Reserve Bank of Australia, including Principal Economist in the Economic Analysis Department, leading the Micro Analysis and Data (MAD) team that applied microeconomic data to macroeconomic analysis.

La Cava’s research focuses on using micro data to address macroeconomic policy issues, including household wellbeing, income and wealth inequality, housing markets, consumer spending, monetary policy transmission, corporate investment, and the financial sector’s influence on the economy. His key publications feature RBA Research Discussion Papers such as “The Rise in Household Liquidity” (2021, with Lydia Wang), “Smells Like Animal Spirits: The Effect of Corporate Sentiment on Investment” (2021), “Job Loss, Subjective Expectations and Household Spending” (2021, with Gabrielle Penrose), “The Distributional Effects of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Local Housing Markets” (2020, with Calvin He), “The Effect of Mortgage Debt on Consumer Spending: Evidence from Household-level Data” (2019, with Fiona Price and Benjamin Beckers), “Do Interest Rates Affect Business Investment? Evidence from Australian Company-level Data” (2018, with Jonathan Hambur), “The Household Cash Flow Channel of Monetary Policy” (2016, with Helen Hughson and Greg Kaplan), and “Why Do Companies Hold Cash?” (2016, with Callan Windsor). Affiliated with Macquarie University, he co-authored “Housing Accessibility for First Home Buyers” (2017, with Hannah Leal and Andrew Zurawski) and “International Trade Costs, Global Supply Chains and Value-Added Trade in Australia” (2014, with Gerard Kelly). These contributions have shaped insights into Australian economic dynamics, particularly housing affordability, liquidity, and policy effects on households and firms.