Natural resources and ecosystem services in productivity measurement. This project aims to understand sources of productivity growth through addressing theoretical and practical problems in the economics of natural resources and ecosystem services. It will study the valuation of non-renewable resources and ecosystem services, acknowledging their contributions to economic activity and the effect on national income from their depletion and degradation. It will develop approaches to incorporating n ....Natural resources and ecosystem services in productivity measurement. This project aims to understand sources of productivity growth through addressing theoretical and practical problems in the economics of natural resources and ecosystem services. It will study the valuation of non-renewable resources and ecosystem services, acknowledging their contributions to economic activity and the effect on national income from their depletion and degradation. It will develop approaches to incorporating natural resource depletion and degradation into productivity analysis with the aim of better informing environmental, innovation and industry policy.Read moreRead less
The Role of the Family in Facilitating the Human Capital and Labour Market Investments of Young Australians. A nation's future lies in its young people, and society as a whole must take part in ensuring that today's youth acquire the skills, experience, and training necessary not only to cope, but to thrive. The proposed research will make a substantial step forward in understanding how families make decisions about supporting their young adult children and how those decisions are shaped by Aust ....The Role of the Family in Facilitating the Human Capital and Labour Market Investments of Young Australians. A nation's future lies in its young people, and society as a whole must take part in ensuring that today's youth acquire the skills, experience, and training necessary not only to cope, but to thrive. The proposed research will make a substantial step forward in understanding how families make decisions about supporting their young adult children and how those decisions are shaped by Australian social policy. The findings will inform social policy development by providing evidence on pressing issues such as the effects of rising house prices or weakening labour markets on young Australians' ability to invest in education.Read moreRead less
A Principled Approach to Computer Simulation of Dynamic General Equilibrium Macroeconomic Models. In the last two decades a new generation of computer-intensive
modeling techniques has risen to prominence in macroeconomics. These
methods have broad policy applications, from public finance and
reserve bank operation to analysis of long-run productivity growth,
taxation reform, unemployment, international trade policy and natural
resource conservation. The size and complexity of these model ....A Principled Approach to Computer Simulation of Dynamic General Equilibrium Macroeconomic Models. In the last two decades a new generation of computer-intensive
modeling techniques has risen to prominence in macroeconomics. These
methods have broad policy applications, from public finance and
reserve bank operation to analysis of long-run productivity growth,
taxation reform, unemployment, international trade policy and natural
resource conservation. The size and complexity of these models means
that even computer-based techniques will rely for the foreseeable
future on efficient program design to solve them. The project will
construct a comprehensive set of solution techniques and software for
this class of macroeconomic models, including detailed mathematical
analysis on accuracy of model output.Read moreRead less
The Determinants of Australia's Productivity Performance. Productivity growth is the key to increasing prosperity for all Australians. The scholar will survey the theoretical and empirical literature pertinent to explaining trends and cycles in the productivity of the Australian economy over the past thirty years. The scholar will then select specific areas for focused research which will lead to academic papers and the submission of a PhD thesis.
A New Phase and New Issues of Rural-Urban Migration in China. China’s urbanisation has come to a turning point. The large pool of rural young workers (16-25 years of age), which fed the industrialisation needs of the 1990s and 2000s, has exhausted. Future growth needs to rely on the increase in the length of stay of the existing migrants and the increase in older new migrants. Due to this shift, the institutional restrictions, which deter family migration, become the key challenge. This project ....A New Phase and New Issues of Rural-Urban Migration in China. China’s urbanisation has come to a turning point. The large pool of rural young workers (16-25 years of age), which fed the industrialisation needs of the 1990s and 2000s, has exhausted. Future growth needs to rely on the increase in the length of stay of the existing migrants and the increase in older new migrants. Due to this shift, the institutional restrictions, which deter family migration, become the key challenge. This project examines the cost of the migration restrictions (shortened labour supply and reduced human capital accumulation for the current and next generation migrants: their education, health and pro-social behaviour); and the best way to reform the restrictions on family migration and the priority for the reform.Read moreRead less
How do company announcements affect trading frequency in stocks? This project addresses the question of how financial markets respond to news by investigating how company announcements affect trading patterns in Australian banking stocks. Analysis will be based on new extensions to autoregressive conditional hazard (ACH) models, with research focussing on how to incorporate announcement variables into an ACH framework and how to modify standard ACH analysis to account for simultaneous transactio ....How do company announcements affect trading frequency in stocks? This project addresses the question of how financial markets respond to news by investigating how company announcements affect trading patterns in Australian banking stocks. Analysis will be based on new extensions to autoregressive conditional hazard (ACH) models, with research focussing on how to incorporate announcement variables into an ACH framework and how to modify standard ACH analysis to account for simultaneous transactions, market frictions and spillover effects. The results of this research will assist government and companies in choosing announcement times, aid traders in portfolio adjustment and will lead to a better understanding of the microstructure of Australian stock markets.Read moreRead less
Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Economic Empowerment, Wealth Creation and Institutional Reform for Sustainable Indigenous and Local Communities. The project researches government, private sector and indigenous initiatives enhancing indigenous economic development and well-being outcomes. It provides culturally relevant data to analyse the flow of benefits (incl. employment) from the resources sector to indigenous peoples; links between government policy/services for indigenous well-being; and in ....Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Economic Empowerment, Wealth Creation and Institutional Reform for Sustainable Indigenous and Local Communities. The project researches government, private sector and indigenous initiatives enhancing indigenous economic development and well-being outcomes. It provides culturally relevant data to analyse the flow of benefits (incl. employment) from the resources sector to indigenous peoples; links between government policy/services for indigenous well-being; and investigates legal forms (land title, securities, taxation law/incentives) for indigenous economic empowerment. The project strengthens the socio-economic fabric of indigenous communities benefiting the nation, indigenous peoples in commercial engagements, corporations seeking a 'licence to operate' and government agencies responsible for indigenous economic/social development.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
Rich Cousin, Poor Cousin - What Controls the Formation and Size of Orogenic Gold Deposits? What are the geological and geochemical factors that control the formation and size of gold deposits in Phanerozoic mountain belts (?orogens?)? The answer to this question lies in a combination of methods we will use to establish the importance of source, absolute timing of mineralisation, genetic links to magmas, and geochemical processes that result in the transport, and deposition of gold in three separ ....Rich Cousin, Poor Cousin - What Controls the Formation and Size of Orogenic Gold Deposits? What are the geological and geochemical factors that control the formation and size of gold deposits in Phanerozoic mountain belts (?orogens?)? The answer to this question lies in a combination of methods we will use to establish the importance of source, absolute timing of mineralisation, genetic links to magmas, and geochemical processes that result in the transport, and deposition of gold in three separate, geologically young orogens. The wider implications of this research include a greatly improved understanding of lesser known Phanerozoic orogenic gold provinces, ore genesis at convergent plate margins, and the formation of gold deposits in older terrains.Read moreRead less
Banking System Competition and the Macro-economy. Australia has one of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world, generating concerns regarding its efficiency. This project aims to develop unified frameworks to understand and evaluate quantitatively how the structure of the banking industry affects the macro-economy and provide policy recommendations for establishing a healthy and efficient banking industry. This project expects to improve understanding of the welfare trade-off between ....Banking System Competition and the Macro-economy. Australia has one of the most concentrated banking sectors in the world, generating concerns regarding its efficiency. This project aims to develop unified frameworks to understand and evaluate quantitatively how the structure of the banking industry affects the macro-economy and provide policy recommendations for establishing a healthy and efficient banking industry. This project expects to improve understanding of the welfare trade-off between bank competition and economic well-being to enable policymakers to better determine the optimal concentration of banking sector in Australia. This will enhance the productivity and international competitiveness of Australia’s financial system and the broader economy.Read moreRead less