Climate change: adaptation and resilience in the face of uncertainty. Climate change poses a wide range of challenges to Australia's agricultural sector and for the management of natural ecosystems. These challenges are recognised in the National Research Priorities 1, An Environmentally Sustainable Australia, and 4, Safeguarding Australia. The potential economic costs of climate change to vital national assets such as the Murray-Darling Basin and the Great Barrier Reef, amount to billions of do ....Climate change: adaptation and resilience in the face of uncertainty. Climate change poses a wide range of challenges to Australia's agricultural sector and for the management of natural ecosystems. These challenges are recognised in the National Research Priorities 1, An Environmentally Sustainable Australia, and 4, Safeguarding Australia. The potential economic costs of climate change to vital national assets such as the Murray-Darling Basin and the Great Barrier Reef, amount to billions of dollars per year, and ecological costs are even more significant. Uncertainty about the rate at which climate change will take place and about effects in different regions is central to the problem. This project will explore adaptive management strategies that promote resilience in the face of uncertainty.
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Innovative financing mechanisms for higher education. Advances in statistical modelling are used to highlight the potential to apply creatively income contingent loans for the expansion of Australian and international higher education. Alternative student loan mechanisms for income support and tuition are critically analysed, and new arrangements are proposed for equitable reforms in higher education.
Voter behaviour and polarisation: The role of social preferences. This project aims to investigate how peer pressure and other social concerns affect voter participation, vote choice, and political polarisation. It will marry behavioural experimental economics with political economics and make use of complementary experimental methods that will allow for the study of carefully controlled elections, followed by a large-scale real-world test of the results. Expected outcomes include improved under ....Voter behaviour and polarisation: The role of social preferences. This project aims to investigate how peer pressure and other social concerns affect voter participation, vote choice, and political polarisation. It will marry behavioural experimental economics with political economics and make use of complementary experimental methods that will allow for the study of carefully controlled elections, followed by a large-scale real-world test of the results. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of how social media and other social factors, and political institutions such as compulsory voting, distort election representation and outcomes. Major benefits include the ability to advise policies to reduce polarisation and improve political institutions to ensure they reflect true societal preferences.Read moreRead less
Sustaining Australia's Marine Fisheries: Modelling and Managing Highly Migratory Fish Stocks of the Indian and Western and Central Pacific Oceans. The research program will enable Australia to sustainably use key marine resources by modelling and developing management strategies for tuna and billfish of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The interdisciplinary research program will (1) develop a set of hypotheses about the critical variables and positive and negative feedbacks of highly migratory fis ....Sustaining Australia's Marine Fisheries: Modelling and Managing Highly Migratory Fish Stocks of the Indian and Western and Central Pacific Oceans. The research program will enable Australia to sustainably use key marine resources by modelling and developing management strategies for tuna and billfish of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The interdisciplinary research program will (1) develop a set of hypotheses about the critical variables and positive and negative feedbacks of highly migratory fish stocks, (2) model the ecological and economic systems of tuna and billfish in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and (3), link the models to a framework to adaptively manage the resources in a multilateral context while ensuring their long-term sustainability.Read moreRead less
Estimating the potential supply of environmental services by landholders. Wilderness, natural habitats, biodiversity and other aspects of natural capital and their associated ecosystem services are in decline. Increasing scarcity is driving a surge in interest in these services and their value. It potentially provides opportunities for landholders to be generating income from environmental services provision, and lessens dependency on livestock, crop and fibre production. But how realistic are t ....Estimating the potential supply of environmental services by landholders. Wilderness, natural habitats, biodiversity and other aspects of natural capital and their associated ecosystem services are in decline. Increasing scarcity is driving a surge in interest in these services and their value. It potentially provides opportunities for landholders to be generating income from environmental services provision, and lessens dependency on livestock, crop and fibre production. But how realistic are these prospects? A critical aspect of potential markets for environmental services is their supply. This project examines the supply side of environmental services by exploring determinants of ability and willingness of landholders to provide these services.Read moreRead less
Information acquisition and voting behaviour. This project aims to understand citizens’ decisions to acquire information about different policy proposals within a democracy and how such information affects their voting behaviour. Proper democracies rely on the informed participation of their citizens in the political debate and political institutions. The project intends to provide formal theories of information acquisition together with empirical evidence on how voting decisions are shaped by t ....Information acquisition and voting behaviour. This project aims to understand citizens’ decisions to acquire information about different policy proposals within a democracy and how such information affects their voting behaviour. Proper democracies rely on the informed participation of their citizens in the political debate and political institutions. The project intends to provide formal theories of information acquisition together with empirical evidence on how voting decisions are shaped by the quantity and quality of information. Understanding how citizens decide to acquire information would help devise policies to reduce polarisation and improve the quality of the political debate and the democracy.Read moreRead less
Climate change and energy policy: elements of a robust policy mix. The national benefits of the project lie directly in assisting Australia achieve significant emissions reductions (at least 60% by 2050) as part of the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change. This needs to be done in an effective, efficient and equitable manner that takes into account other national policy goals including those of the energy sector. There are clear benefits in developing a framework that can assist in cr ....Climate change and energy policy: elements of a robust policy mix. The national benefits of the project lie directly in assisting Australia achieve significant emissions reductions (at least 60% by 2050) as part of the global effort to avoid dangerous climate change. This needs to be done in an effective, efficient and equitable manner that takes into account other national policy goals including those of the energy sector. There are clear benefits in developing a framework that can assist in creating a policy mix that explicitly deals with the complementarities and trade-offs that arise in the interaction of the various policy instruments employed to achieve these multiple goals.Read moreRead less
Impact of Mosquito Control Strategies: Cost Benefit Analysis. Arbovirus diseases are increasing in Queensland (and in Australia). In Queensland, Local Government is responsible for mosquito control. Even though mosquito control programs have existed in Queensland for several decades, no one has assessed their impact on the incidence of disease or on mosquitoes nor have the benefits and costs of control been measured. We propose to investigate this via a PhD scholarship which will survey local go ....Impact of Mosquito Control Strategies: Cost Benefit Analysis. Arbovirus diseases are increasing in Queensland (and in Australia). In Queensland, Local Government is responsible for mosquito control. Even though mosquito control programs have existed in Queensland for several decades, no one has assessed their impact on the incidence of disease or on mosquitoes nor have the benefits and costs of control been measured. We propose to investigate this via a PhD scholarship which will survey local government in Queensland, assess the costs and benefits of mosquito control and analyse differences in their distribution in time and space, with a view to explaining the differences and ultimately informing management.Read moreRead less
Social Safety Nets in India: Effectiveness, Nutritional Impact and Political Economy. India is, potentially, one of Australia's most significant trading and strategic partners. As India, a democratic country with low per capita income deepens its economic reforms programs, their success depends critically upon domestic political support which would require that the policies adopted make a significant dent on poverty. The proposed research will examine the impact of two of the most significant p ....Social Safety Nets in India: Effectiveness, Nutritional Impact and Political Economy. India is, potentially, one of Australia's most significant trading and strategic partners. As India, a democratic country with low per capita income deepens its economic reforms programs, their success depends critically upon domestic political support which would require that the policies adopted make a significant dent on poverty. The proposed research will examine the impact of two of the most significant policy initiatives for poverty alleviation and thus provide critical analyses of how a democratic polity should address poverty. The project's results will also have significant implications for the design of AusAID's recommended anti-poverty interventions in other developing countries. Read moreRead less
Applying satellite luminosity data to analyse the redistributive aspects of corruption and rent-seeking. This project applies satellite luminosity data as a proxy for regional economic activity to analyse the redistributive effects of political rent-seeking, corruption and the shadow economy. This project will identify the beneficiaries of rent-seeking, the sources of these rents and political institutions that reduce rent-seeking activities.