Measurement and Sources of Productivity Growth under Imperfect Competition. The relative growth performance of countries using net output will free comparisons from the contentious and differing adjustments made by many statistical agencies in an attempt to take account of quality change in capital goods. Thus, Australia will have a better understanding of its relative performance in terms of growth, and thus be better positioned to make informed policy decisions. In addition, whether producti ....Measurement and Sources of Productivity Growth under Imperfect Competition. The relative growth performance of countries using net output will free comparisons from the contentious and differing adjustments made by many statistical agencies in an attempt to take account of quality change in capital goods. Thus, Australia will have a better understanding of its relative performance in terms of growth, and thus be better positioned to make informed policy decisions. In addition, whether productivity growth is mainly driven by technical progress or returns to scale, and the size of monopolistic markups, has a large bearing on how we view the performance of an economy and its potential for future growth.Read moreRead less
The Consistency of Price Regulation of Infrastructure Businesses across Australian Jurisdictions. The spread of regulation across the majority of the economy necessitates that regulatory policy should be consistent across jurisdictions and industries. This project would offer policy and regulatory institutions quantitative analysis of the consistency of regulatory decisions across Australia. This research would develop a new database that would maintain and supply details on regulatory decision ....The Consistency of Price Regulation of Infrastructure Businesses across Australian Jurisdictions. The spread of regulation across the majority of the economy necessitates that regulatory policy should be consistent across jurisdictions and industries. This project would offer policy and regulatory institutions quantitative analysis of the consistency of regulatory decisions across Australia. This research would develop a new database that would maintain and supply details on regulatory decisions across jurisdictions and industries. This project would enable the new Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics (ACORE) to supply independent database and quantitative analysis from an open, fully documented, scholarly environment to Australia's policy and regulatory agencies and its regulated firms.Read moreRead less
Estimation of School Cost Functions. The main objective of the project is to determine the efficient school size for government schools. To achieve this cost functions for WA government schools will be estimated. Knowledge of the cost functions will shed light on whether regional non-government schools are disadvantaged by Federal and Sate funding models, the impact of school size and expenditure on outcomes and the extent of savings or costs as the enrolment shares of private and public schools ....Estimation of School Cost Functions. The main objective of the project is to determine the efficient school size for government schools. To achieve this cost functions for WA government schools will be estimated. Knowledge of the cost functions will shed light on whether regional non-government schools are disadvantaged by Federal and Sate funding models, the impact of school size and expenditure on outcomes and the extent of savings or costs as the enrolment shares of private and public schools changes. Knowledge of the latter is critical to the proper functioning of the Enrolment Benchmark Adjustment (EBA) used to address cost-shifting in Commonwealth-State education funding arrangements.Read moreRead less
Resource Inflows, Intrahousehold Resource Allocation and their Impact on Expenditure Patterns, Child Health and Household Composition. This project will examine the impact of resource inflows in the household and intrahousehold distribution on different household outcomes like expenditure patterns, child health and household composition. The project will examine the interaction between private and public transfers. It will develop new tests to examine whether income accruing from different sourc ....Resource Inflows, Intrahousehold Resource Allocation and their Impact on Expenditure Patterns, Child Health and Household Composition. This project will examine the impact of resource inflows in the household and intrahousehold distribution on different household outcomes like expenditure patterns, child health and household composition. The project will examine the interaction between private and public transfers. It will develop new tests to examine whether income accruing from different sources and accruing to different individuals are pooled so that the identity of the recipient or the source of the resource does not matter. The results of this project will also help to answer the important policy question of whether aid should be targeted to specific individuals within the household.Read moreRead less
International exchanges of knowledge, temporary skilled labour movements, and Australia's economic growth. It is known that skilled labour is a significant source of economic growth as it creates new knowledge and innovation, and that Australia, like other countries, uses policies to attract skilled migrants. It is less known however that thousands of skilled workers also migrate temporarily, often to exchange knowledge. Whilst the effect of permanent migration is widely researched, this project ....International exchanges of knowledge, temporary skilled labour movements, and Australia's economic growth. It is known that skilled labour is a significant source of economic growth as it creates new knowledge and innovation, and that Australia, like other countries, uses policies to attract skilled migrants. It is less known however that thousands of skilled workers also migrate temporarily, often to exchange knowledge. Whilst the effect of permanent migration is widely researched, this project will examine the economic impact of short-term labour movements. Using data from DIMIA and surveying temporary migrants, this project will analyse the consequences of temporary labour movements on Australia's innovation ability, productivity and economic growth, contributing to develop migration policy.Read moreRead less
House Prices in Australia: A Hedonic Analysis. House prices are an important input to monetary policy since they impact directly on inflation and may be a source of speculative bubbles. The Governor of the Reserve Bank, however, recently described housing as the ``weakest link in all the price data.'' This project will attempt to resolve this problem. The resulting indexes should be of considerable interest to the Reserve Bank, the media, home owners, the real estate industry, and enhance the re ....House Prices in Australia: A Hedonic Analysis. House prices are an important input to monetary policy since they impact directly on inflation and may be a source of speculative bubbles. The Governor of the Reserve Bank, however, recently described housing as the ``weakest link in all the price data.'' This project will attempt to resolve this problem. The resulting indexes should be of considerable interest to the Reserve Bank, the media, home owners, the real estate industry, and enhance the reputation of Australian universities. They will also quantify the extent of the burden imposed on young people by rising house prices, and its consequent strain on society.Read moreRead less
Can Electronic Point-of-Sale (POS) Data Improve the Australian Consumer Price Index? This project will investigate how new sources of data can be used to improve the accuracy of price indexes that are used in policy formation, such as the consumer price index. The adoption of bar-code labelling for products has provided statistical agencies with an information-rich source of 'scanner data' on prices and quantities of purchased goods. In collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, thi ....Can Electronic Point-of-Sale (POS) Data Improve the Australian Consumer Price Index? This project will investigate how new sources of data can be used to improve the accuracy of price indexes that are used in policy formation, such as the consumer price index. The adoption of bar-code labelling for products has provided statistical agencies with an information-rich source of 'scanner data' on prices and quantities of purchased goods. In collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics, this project will develop mathematical and statistical methods for exploiting this new data source. The findings will contribute to the improvement of price indexes, and subsequently the many government policies that depend on these indexes.Read moreRead less
Scanner Data in the Consumer Price Index: How to expand and improve their use. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used in a variety of policy contexts, such as setting interest rates and determining the level of welfare payments, as well as by private industry for determining wages. The CPI is aggregate measure of price changes. It is typically constructed using survey data, which is a small sample of all the goods purchased. Electronic recording of sales, using scanned product bar codes, provide ....Scanner Data in the Consumer Price Index: How to expand and improve their use. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is used in a variety of policy contexts, such as setting interest rates and determining the level of welfare payments, as well as by private industry for determining wages. The CPI is aggregate measure of price changes. It is typically constructed using survey data, which is a small sample of all the goods purchased. Electronic recording of sales, using scanned product bar codes, provides a huge amount of price and quantity information that potentially can be used to construct an improved CPI, and hence improved policies. The project includes the collaboration of the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Central Bureau of Statistics (The Netherlands).Read moreRead less
Indigenous community organisations and miners: Partnering sustainable regional development? The project applies an innovative social sciences framework to an analysis of how Indigenous community organisations in remote Australia can better develop capacity to maximise the sustainable benefits of adjacent long-life mines. The roles of mining companies, governments and other stakeholders, as well as Indigenous organisations, in maintaining social capital within communities experiencing development ....Indigenous community organisations and miners: Partnering sustainable regional development? The project applies an innovative social sciences framework to an analysis of how Indigenous community organisations in remote Australia can better develop capacity to maximise the sustainable benefits of adjacent long-life mines. The roles of mining companies, governments and other stakeholders, as well as Indigenous organisations, in maintaining social capital within communities experiencing development strain associated with economic, social and environmental impacts of mining will be investigated. The project will make an important theoretical contribution to refining an emerging framework that includes the key element 'social capital'. Practical recommendations for policy change that facilitate better socio-economic outcomes will be provided.Read moreRead less
Analysis of Drug Consumption in Australia Using New Microeconometric Techniques for Unit Record Data. The consumption of licit and illicit recreational drugs and its adverse health, social and economic effects are everyday topics in Australian society. Much debate has surrounded government drug policies implemented through education, legislation and taxation. This study will provide comprehensive empirical knowledge of Australians' consumption of alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs for non-med ....Analysis of Drug Consumption in Australia Using New Microeconometric Techniques for Unit Record Data. The consumption of licit and illicit recreational drugs and its adverse health, social and economic effects are everyday topics in Australian society. Much debate has surrounded government drug policies implemented through education, legislation and taxation. This study will provide comprehensive empirical knowledge of Australians' consumption of alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs for non-medical purpose, and illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine. It will help identify social, economic and demographic determinants of drug consumption, information which is invaluable for targeting drug policies and education programs. New microeconometric techniques will also be developed that have wide application in other fields.Read moreRead less