Using behavioural economic insights to overcome student procrastination. This project aims to study the relations between present-biased time preference, procrastination, and achievement at school, using economic experiments. Investment in human capital generates economic benefits for students, families, employers, and society, but its benefits are realised far into the future. Because of these immediate costs and delayed benefits, behavioural economic theory predicts that students will procrast ....Using behavioural economic insights to overcome student procrastination. This project aims to study the relations between present-biased time preference, procrastination, and achievement at school, using economic experiments. Investment in human capital generates economic benefits for students, families, employers, and society, but its benefits are realised far into the future. Because of these immediate costs and delayed benefits, behavioural economic theory predicts that students will procrastinate. This project will identify the characteristics of students at greatest risk of procrastination, evaluate practical strategies to overcome it, and examine whether it is associated with poorer outcomes. This should help schools and policy makers reduce educational inequalities, and yield long-term benefits over students’ lives.Read moreRead less
Microeconomic effects of Australian natural disasters. This project aims to describe and identify the effects of Australian natural disasters – such as the Black Saturday bushfires and the Brisbane floods – on important microeconomic outcomes, including health, education and employment. Natural disasters have profound economic and social effects on individuals and communities. This project intends to bring evidence on how disasters affect individuals and how the effects can be lessened. The proj ....Microeconomic effects of Australian natural disasters. This project aims to describe and identify the effects of Australian natural disasters – such as the Black Saturday bushfires and the Brisbane floods – on important microeconomic outcomes, including health, education and employment. Natural disasters have profound economic and social effects on individuals and communities. This project intends to bring evidence on how disasters affect individuals and how the effects can be lessened. The project expects to inform policy-makers on these critical issues by analysing field, survey and administrative data on individuals before and after past disasters.Read moreRead less
The socioeconomic determinants and dynamics of mental health and disorders in Australia and the United Kingdom: evidence from childhood to the elderly years. Poor mental health and specific mental disorders are prevalent in Australia, and have severe consequences for the social and economic functioning of individuals, families and communities. This project will shed new light on the long-term socio-economic determinants and dynamics of mental health, using data that tracks individuals over time.
A benefit-cost analysis of the Early Years Education Program. This project undertakes a benefit-cost analysis of the Early Years Education Program (EYEP). EYEP is an innovative early years education and childcare program for children at risk of abuse and neglect that is being trialled by the Children’s Protection Society in Melbourne. The use of the randomised evaluation method in the trial, the innovative and extensive nature of EYEP, the inter-disciplinary research team, and the breadth of dat ....A benefit-cost analysis of the Early Years Education Program. This project undertakes a benefit-cost analysis of the Early Years Education Program (EYEP). EYEP is an innovative early years education and childcare program for children at risk of abuse and neglect that is being trialled by the Children’s Protection Society in Melbourne. The use of the randomised evaluation method in the trial, the innovative and extensive nature of EYEP, the inter-disciplinary research team, and the breadth of data collection, provide the opportunity to complete a high quality benefit-cost analysis that will be internationally unique. Results from the study have the potential to influence the design of childcare and education for 30,000 at-risk children in Australia, as well as informing approaches in regular childcare.Read moreRead less
Macro and micro level subjective expectations information and economic behaviour. This project examines the importance of economic expectations on the future state of the economy in decision making. It focuses on large life decisions such as going into retirement, paying for a university education and buying a house. The project also assess the extent to which people are able to make these predictions accurately.
Combating HIV/AIDS in Indonesia: understanding the behaviour of sex workers and their clients. The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the behaviour of sex workers and their clients in Indonesia, which has the fastest growing HIV epidemic in Asia. A comparison of the behavioural characteristics of sex workers and their clientele will tell us which groups are likely to be more responsive to particular types of policies.
Non-cognitive skills and human capital investments: the importance of individuals' sense of control. This project investigates whether people's sense of control over their lives influences their decision to get an education, do job training, migrate, or adopt a healthy lifestyle. The results are important in helping policymakers to understand why some individuals work harder than others to ensure good outcomes for themselves.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100463
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,364.00
Summary
Exceptional upward mobility against all odds: Non-cognitive skills and early-childhood disadvantage. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who exceed their parents' social achievements are pioneers. The aims of this project are to introduce this exceptional upward mobility as an alternative measure of economic success and to study its distribution and determinants. The main hypothesis is that these pioneers, apart from being intelligent, have a set of non-cognitive skills that mak ....Exceptional upward mobility against all odds: Non-cognitive skills and early-childhood disadvantage. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who exceed their parents' social achievements are pioneers. The aims of this project are to introduce this exceptional upward mobility as an alternative measure of economic success and to study its distribution and determinants. The main hypothesis is that these pioneers, apart from being intelligent, have a set of non-cognitive skills that make them successful. This will be the first study to analyse these individuals and the personality-related determinants of their life trajectories. It will contribute to understand the various pathways via which non-cognitive skills affect upward mobility, and assess their malleability during childhood or adolescence.Read moreRead less
Endgame: managing superannuation in later life. This project aims to come up with strategies for improving superannuation advice for the elderly - including retirees, and also those on the cusp of retirement, who often have little or no scope for working harder or longer to restore their finances. It applies recent developments in financial economics to improve the quality of financial planning advice.
Human Capital, Cognitive Skills and Labour Market Outcomes. As Australia competes in the ‘educational race,’ this project will generate new knowledge on the relationship between education, skill attainment and economic outcomes in Australia. The research will provide new empirical evidence on cognitive and non-cognitive skills formation over the life-cycle, and the relationship between these skills and labour market outcomes in Australia within the broader international context. The research wil ....Human Capital, Cognitive Skills and Labour Market Outcomes. As Australia competes in the ‘educational race,’ this project will generate new knowledge on the relationship between education, skill attainment and economic outcomes in Australia. The research will provide new empirical evidence on cognitive and non-cognitive skills formation over the life-cycle, and the relationship between these skills and labour market outcomes in Australia within the broader international context. The research will advance methodological techniques for the economic analysis of cognitive skills and their economic impacts. The research will inform public policy formulation relating to educational attainment, skill development, and strategies to encourage longer workforce engagement over the life-cycle.Read moreRead less