Adaptive economic management of Australia's urban water. This project responds to the so-called 'wicked problem' of ensuring an adequate supply of water to urban consumers at the lowest price even during long-term droughts. The project will generate, for the first time in the world, an integrated, dynamic, and adaptive supply and demand model to manage urban water optimally over time.
Private Responses to Demographic Change and Pension Reform in Urban China. Social, economic, and political stability in China is important for Australia and its business community due to the sheer size of China and its market. The rapid aging and significant social welfare reform is a potential instability source. This project contributes to the improvement of policy making in this area, which will enhance China's long term stability. This study provides detailed information on Chinese household ....Private Responses to Demographic Change and Pension Reform in Urban China. Social, economic, and political stability in China is important for Australia and its business community due to the sheer size of China and its market. The rapid aging and significant social welfare reform is a potential instability source. This project contributes to the improvement of policy making in this area, which will enhance China's long term stability. This study provides detailed information on Chinese household behaviour in pension financing, which may be helpful to the Australian business sector in making judgments on important economic relationships in the Chinese insurance market. Australia is also facing a changing age structure and seeking financial solutions. Our study may feed into improved research in this area.Read moreRead less
Problem Gambling: effects on families, children and spouses. This project aims to produce evidence that can be used to address problem gambling in Australia. Problem gambling is a major issue, costing Australians over $4.7 billion per year. Better understanding of problem gambling and better policy coming from our project have the potential to significantly improve the lives of Australians--their labour market performance, their mental health and the quality of their relationships. This proj ....Problem Gambling: effects on families, children and spouses. This project aims to produce evidence that can be used to address problem gambling in Australia. Problem gambling is a major issue, costing Australians over $4.7 billion per year. Better understanding of problem gambling and better policy coming from our project have the potential to significantly improve the lives of Australians--their labour market performance, their mental health and the quality of their relationships. This project will generate new knowledge by using a novel approach where problem gamblers are considered in the context of their families. Using quantitative data over more than 10 years, this project seeks to produce new evidence about how problem gamblers affect their families and how families help or harm gamblers.Read moreRead less
The Wealth and Asset Holdings of Native- and Foreign-born Australian Families. The national/community benefits of this project are twofold. First, understanding net worth, portfolio allocation, and wealth accumulation is central to a number of Australian policy debates. Our ability to lessen the budget pressures caused by population aging will rest on finding incentives for families to accumulate more personal wealth, while the ability of immigration to solve this budget problem rests on determi ....The Wealth and Asset Holdings of Native- and Foreign-born Australian Families. The national/community benefits of this project are twofold. First, understanding net worth, portfolio allocation, and wealth accumulation is central to a number of Australian policy debates. Our ability to lessen the budget pressures caused by population aging will rest on finding incentives for families to accumulate more personal wealth, while the ability of immigration to solve this budget problem rests on determining whether foreign- and native-born families accumulate wealth in the same way. Second, this project allows Australia to make a unique contribution to the international evidence on the relationship between race, ethnicity, and nativity and economic well being. Read moreRead less
Policy-Related Lessons from the Econometric Analysis of Life Satisfaction Data in Australia. Our analyses will provide important information to policy-makers aiming to design policies that improve Australia's economic and social fabric. In particular, we will inform on the response of Australians to major life-events such as unemployment, ill-health or marital dissolution, but also exogenous shocks including drought and terrorism. Major focus will be on differentiating the determinants of life s ....Policy-Related Lessons from the Econometric Analysis of Life Satisfaction Data in Australia. Our analyses will provide important information to policy-makers aiming to design policies that improve Australia's economic and social fabric. In particular, we will inform on the response of Australians to major life-events such as unemployment, ill-health or marital dissolution, but also exogenous shocks including drought and terrorism. Major focus will be on differentiating the determinants of life satisfaction between rural and urban communities in Australia, and investigating the response of these communities to drought conditions. Moreover, we believe that a detailed international comparison using German and UK data will provide unique evidence on the relative quality of life in Australia and the role of culture and institutions. Read moreRead less
Bioeconomic Modelling of Marine Reserves. Australian waters contain a huge range of biodiversity, but are under threat from human activities. To face this challenge and resolve the problems of depleted fisheries and habitat destruction, innovative approaches are required to integrate marine biology with fisheries economics. The research meets this immediate need by developing bioeconomic models of marine reserves to determine reserve location and size, and analyse interactions between reserves a ....Bioeconomic Modelling of Marine Reserves. Australian waters contain a huge range of biodiversity, but are under threat from human activities. To face this challenge and resolve the problems of depleted fisheries and habitat destruction, innovative approaches are required to integrate marine biology with fisheries economics. The research meets this immediate need by developing bioeconomic models of marine reserves to determine reserve location and size, and analyse interactions between reserves and harvested areas under environmental uncertainty. The models will be developed using the latest developments in economics, biology and numerical methods and will be used to conserve Australia's marine biodiversity and improve fisheries management.Read moreRead less
An Economic Analysis of the Effect of Networks on Jobs and Mental Health in China: Patterns, Consequences and Policy Implications. China is a priority neighbour whose growth and stability will have a large impact on Australia. Urbanisation and economic reforms change the incentives to maintain and form social relations. Researching these changes to help policy makers keep the effects within acceptable borders is a top priority of the Chinese government and entirely in Australia's own interest. T ....An Economic Analysis of the Effect of Networks on Jobs and Mental Health in China: Patterns, Consequences and Policy Implications. China is a priority neighbour whose growth and stability will have a large impact on Australia. Urbanisation and economic reforms change the incentives to maintain and form social relations. Researching these changes to help policy makers keep the effects within acceptable borders is a top priority of the Chinese government and entirely in Australia's own interest. The project thus serves as a bridge between policymakers and researchers: it is done in consultation with AusAID, the Chinese ministry for labour, and international scientific organisations such as the Ford Foundation and the German Institute of Labour (IZA)Read moreRead less
Literacy and Numeracy, Schooling, Neighbourhoods and Labour Market Success. Our research will assess the role of literacy and numeracy in explaining the educational attainment and labour markets outcomes of young Australians, after accounting for background characteristics and school and neighbourhood effects. By exploiting differences in Australian jurisdictions? school structures, it will enable, for the first time, the direct estimation of the effect of schooling on literacy and numeracy. T ....Literacy and Numeracy, Schooling, Neighbourhoods and Labour Market Success. Our research will assess the role of literacy and numeracy in explaining the educational attainment and labour markets outcomes of young Australians, after accounting for background characteristics and school and neighbourhood effects. By exploiting differences in Australian jurisdictions? school structures, it will enable, for the first time, the direct estimation of the effect of schooling on literacy and numeracy. This will clarify the role of literacy and numeracy in subsequent decisions to acquire more human capital through education. This will enable more precise estimates of the contribution of literacy and numeracy to subsequent labour market outcomes achieved by young Australians.Read moreRead less
Work-related Training in Australia. The proposal will improve our understanding of the relationship between work-related training and wage formation, wage growth and inequality in Australia. It will contribute to a better-informed public debate about how to make Australia a knowledge-based economy and will ultimately improve economic policies that are relevant to skills acquisition. This has the potential to have a significant impact on the economic well-being and quality of life of many individ ....Work-related Training in Australia. The proposal will improve our understanding of the relationship between work-related training and wage formation, wage growth and inequality in Australia. It will contribute to a better-informed public debate about how to make Australia a knowledge-based economy and will ultimately improve economic policies that are relevant to skills acquisition. This has the potential to have a significant impact on the economic well-being and quality of life of many individuals and households in the economy, thereby contributing to the National Research Priorities, especially 'Strengthening Australia's Social and Economic Fabric'. Read moreRead less
Improving external validity of stated choice experiments. This project aims to deliver more accurate estimates of choice behaviour by reducing biases due to choice task complexity in surveys as well as design artefacts. Extracting 'true' preferences is challenging, not only due to possible hypothetical bias, but also due to increasingly complex choice tasks and the existence of design artefacts. This project will investigate the latter two in the context of marketing, transport, health, and envi ....Improving external validity of stated choice experiments. This project aims to deliver more accurate estimates of choice behaviour by reducing biases due to choice task complexity in surveys as well as design artefacts. Extracting 'true' preferences is challenging, not only due to possible hypothetical bias, but also due to increasingly complex choice tasks and the existence of design artefacts. This project will investigate the latter two in the context of marketing, transport, health, and environmental economics, and proposes new methodologies to extract preferences that more closely reflect true behaviour in real markets.Read moreRead less