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
Modelling the APEC Digital Divide. Study of private sector motivation for the uptake of ICT is helpful in formulating regulatory and commercial responses to foster growth of competitive information-using and information-producing industries. The project will help clarify the relative benefits of production and use of ICT. Additionally, in an APEC context, analysis of the digital divide will inform policy appropriate to enhancing Australia's contribution to the region. The general purpose infor ....Modelling the APEC Digital Divide. Study of private sector motivation for the uptake of ICT is helpful in formulating regulatory and commercial responses to foster growth of competitive information-using and information-producing industries. The project will help clarify the relative benefits of production and use of ICT. Additionally, in an APEC context, analysis of the digital divide will inform policy appropriate to enhancing Australia's contribution to the region. The general purpose information technology of the Internet network is fast evolving into the enabling technology of choice for innovation and creative applications of a platform for communication and electronic transactions.Read moreRead less
Estimating and evaluating the predictive accuracy of structural macroeconomic models. This project will provide improved methods to inform Australia's macroeconomic policies and its strategies for economic development by suggesting the most adequate structural macroeconomic model for the Australian economy. Effective macroeconomic policies, in turn, assure stable economic development, smoothes effects of economic cycles and balances inflation, unemployment, the exchange rate and other macroecono ....Estimating and evaluating the predictive accuracy of structural macroeconomic models. This project will provide improved methods to inform Australia's macroeconomic policies and its strategies for economic development by suggesting the most adequate structural macroeconomic model for the Australian economy. Effective macroeconomic policies, in turn, assure stable economic development, smoothes effects of economic cycles and balances inflation, unemployment, the exchange rate and other macroeconomic indicators. All these indicators are closely linked to the welfare of the Australian people and prosperity of the Australian economy. The importance of an accurate macroeconomic analysis is increased in the current condition of inflationary pressures, fiscal challenges, climate change, and world market instabilities.Read moreRead less
Distributional Consequences of Mass-Market Higher Education in Business. Increased access to tertiary education has not been evaluated for its effects on the full spectrum of individuals served by the tertiary sector. Using longitudinal data on entire student populations at university business faculties, this project will provide the first Australian evidence on the trade-offs amongst the educational success of students with different levels of preparation that occur when those with poorer prep ....Distributional Consequences of Mass-Market Higher Education in Business. Increased access to tertiary education has not been evaluated for its effects on the full spectrum of individuals served by the tertiary sector. Using longitudinal data on entire student populations at university business faculties, this project will provide the first Australian evidence on the trade-offs amongst the educational success of students with different levels of preparation that occur when those with poorer preparation are added to classrooms. Short-term performance and medium-term attrition, a recent educational policy focus, will be evaluated. Theoretically grounded recommendations will result for undergraduate program design to suit a student population with varying levels of university preparation.Read moreRead less
Information Content of Order Flows in the Foreign Exchange and Commodities Markets. The Australian economy depends heavily on resources and commodities markets. The Australian dollar is the sixth most actively traded currency in the world and is more volatile than all other major currencies except the Japanese yen. The proposed study seeks to improve volatility forecasts and hedging effectiveness for foreign exchange and commodity risks, which will create significant benefits for the Australian ....Information Content of Order Flows in the Foreign Exchange and Commodities Markets. The Australian economy depends heavily on resources and commodities markets. The Australian dollar is the sixth most actively traded currency in the world and is more volatile than all other major currencies except the Japanese yen. The proposed study seeks to improve volatility forecasts and hedging effectiveness for foreign exchange and commodity risks, which will create significant benefits for the Australian economy, corporations, and investors. In addition, the project will enhance investment performance and risk management practice of financial institutions, improving the overall safety of our financial system. It will also foster research culture and increase research capacity of Australian financial institutions.Read moreRead less
Building flexible multivariate models and their application in Finance. The project will develop methods for analyzing the properties of dependent measurements that may evolve through time. The new methods will significantly improve on current best statistical practice and will be applied to important problems in the financial sector such as asset allocation and risk management. The financial sector is a vital part of the Australian economy and it is important to understand the joint behavior of ....Building flexible multivariate models and their application in Finance. The project will develop methods for analyzing the properties of dependent measurements that may evolve through time. The new methods will significantly improve on current best statistical practice and will be applied to important problems in the financial sector such as asset allocation and risk management. The financial sector is a vital part of the Australian economy and it is important to understand the joint behavior of financial assets in order to understand and allow for risk. The methods will have immediate application in other disciplines such as medicine, engineering and the environmental sciences. The project will train a postdoctoral student and three PhD students in cutting edge financial econometrics. Read moreRead less
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
Patient waiting times at public hospitals and the demand for private care. Public hospital waiting times compromise the objective of accessible health care for all Australians. Past policy focused on private insurance incentives to ease pressure on public hospitals. Current policy focuses on extra public provision. This will be the first Australian research to model the impact of waiting times on private health insurance and the choice between private and public hospital treatment. We will analy ....Patient waiting times at public hospitals and the demand for private care. Public hospital waiting times compromise the objective of accessible health care for all Australians. Past policy focused on private insurance incentives to ease pressure on public hospitals. Current policy focuses on extra public provision. This will be the first Australian research to model the impact of waiting times on private health insurance and the choice between private and public hospital treatment. We will analyse how waiting times differ by income, medical procedure and region, and quantify the benefits associated with different ways of reducing waiting lists. This research will provide an evidence base for effective policy design and lead to better targeting of health care investments.Read moreRead less