Technological innovation, trade liberalization, unemployment, and policy design. Australia, like all economies, is heavily influenced by technological changes and shifting trade patterns. Understanding these influences, and the impact they have on the distribution of income, the unemployment rate, and the job mix, is very important for the design of appropriate policy initiatives. The proposed research aims to achieve exactly this by developing a mathematical model which incorporates technologic ....Technological innovation, trade liberalization, unemployment, and policy design. Australia, like all economies, is heavily influenced by technological changes and shifting trade patterns. Understanding these influences, and the impact they have on the distribution of income, the unemployment rate, and the job mix, is very important for the design of appropriate policy initiatives. The proposed research aims to achieve exactly this by developing a mathematical model which incorporates technological change, trade, and unemployment. The model will be used to analyse the effects of these changes and, thus, to design optimal policy. The results from this project should also stimulate policy discussions both within Australia and abroad - enriching academic relations between domestic and international universities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101014
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$349,785.00
Summary
Extending economic design to non-market settings: An experimental study of mechanism design with intention-based preferences. Mechanism design is the engineering side of economic theory, which starts with assumptions regarding human nature and builds economic systems to best maximise efficiency according to these assumptions. This project studies mechanism design in experimental settings where individuals exhibit a desire to be kind to those who have been kind to them and unkind to those who ha ....Extending economic design to non-market settings: An experimental study of mechanism design with intention-based preferences. Mechanism design is the engineering side of economic theory, which starts with assumptions regarding human nature and builds economic systems to best maximise efficiency according to these assumptions. This project studies mechanism design in experimental settings where individuals exhibit a desire to be kind to those who have been kind to them and unkind to those who have not. Such preferences are common in many non-market settings and can have dramatic effects on the efficiency of potential mechanisms. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop applied mechanisms that are robust to heterogeneity in such intention-based preferences and which can be used in bilateral exchange, contract design and many other non-market settings.Read moreRead less
Honesty and efficiency in the provision of expert services: doctors and other experts as participants in economic experiments. Experts serve us when we see the doctor, the financial planner or the car mechanic. In all these case the expert can take advantage of his superior knowledge and sell us something we do not need. This research will inform policy makers about the underlying motives of real world experts and allow them to design better institutions.
Advertising and Drinking: Does it Matter? The Health profession and various community groups have been demanding the government introduce new alcohol advertising policies that aim to reduce the social cost and misery associated with the misuse of alcohol (estimated to cost Australians about $8 billion, cause about 3,300 deaths and 72,000 hospitalisations annually) and to maintain the health and future well-being of Australians. This project will assess the impact of current advertising policies ....Advertising and Drinking: Does it Matter? The Health profession and various community groups have been demanding the government introduce new alcohol advertising policies that aim to reduce the social cost and misery associated with the misuse of alcohol (estimated to cost Australians about $8 billion, cause about 3,300 deaths and 72,000 hospitalisations annually) and to maintain the health and future well-being of Australians. This project will assess the impact of current advertising policies and the impact of a possible ban on alcohol advertising on the level of alcohol consumption in Australia. The results will be useful to the Australian government, the Australian community and the alcohol industry in developing new advertising policies that aim to reduce alcohol consumption.Read moreRead less
An Improved Framework for Analysing the Fiscal Implications of Population Ageing. The Commonwealth Government's 'National Strategy for an Ageing Australia' explicitly acknowledged the potential for intergenerational conflict in Australia as relatively fewer young people must provide for the consumption of a growing proportion of retired people. The Intergenerational Report (IGR) in 2002 was an important step in national planning to avoid such a conflict. The proposed project seeks to address maj ....An Improved Framework for Analysing the Fiscal Implications of Population Ageing. The Commonwealth Government's 'National Strategy for an Ageing Australia' explicitly acknowledged the potential for intergenerational conflict in Australia as relatively fewer young people must provide for the consumption of a growing proportion of retired people. The Intergenerational Report (IGR) in 2002 was an important step in national planning to avoid such a conflict. The proposed project seeks to address major shortcomings in the IGR and provide an improved framework for future IGRs. The project addresses two Priority Goals within the Designated National Research Priority 2. These are: 'Ageing well, ageing productively' and 'strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric'.Read moreRead less
The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to deve ....The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to develop a view of humans' cooperative behaviour that unites several strands of economics literature and offers new insights about how institutions that counter free-riding and rent-seeking arise and are maintained.Read moreRead less
Investigating the Concordance and Transmission of International Business Cycles. Business cycle recessions are costly. Apart from the economic cost, there is the devastating social and psychological impact of unemployment on individuals and families. The 1990/91 recession cost Australia somewhere between $25 and $30 billion in lost output and resulted in a half a million additional unemployed. Australia will certainly experience another recession and, given its openness to international influenc ....Investigating the Concordance and Transmission of International Business Cycles. Business cycle recessions are costly. Apart from the economic cost, there is the devastating social and psychological impact of unemployment on individuals and families. The 1990/91 recession cost Australia somewhere between $25 and $30 billion in lost output and resulted in a half a million additional unemployed. Australia will certainly experience another recession and, given its openness to international influences, it is likely that it will originate elsewhere in the world. In delivering a greater understanding of the interdependencies in international business cycles, the project will assist economic policymakers in their efforts to ameliorate Australia's next recession. Read moreRead less
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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How does the Structure of Government, in Particular the Extent of Fiscal Decentralisation, Affect Long Term Economic Performance in Australia? The research analyses how Australia should best structure its government to maximise long-term economic performance in terms of economic growth and the optimal provision of public goods such as health, education and other public infrastructure. The optimal division of revenue raising and spending responsibilities between the federal government, State gove ....How does the Structure of Government, in Particular the Extent of Fiscal Decentralisation, Affect Long Term Economic Performance in Australia? The research analyses how Australia should best structure its government to maximise long-term economic performance in terms of economic growth and the optimal provision of public goods such as health, education and other public infrastructure. The optimal division of revenue raising and spending responsibilities between the federal government, State governments and other sub-national bodies like city and regional councils will be rigorously assessed from an economic perspective. The research will lead to recommendations regarding improvements in the structure of Australia's government sector, particularly the extent and nature of fiscal decentralisation, capable of improving productivity and future living standards.Read moreRead less
Population Ageing and National Housing Demand in Australia. This project seeks to determine the likely impact of population ageing on the demand for housing in Australia. A seminal study for the U.S. predicted that the relative demand for, and therefore price of, housing will fall substantially in the next two or three decades due to population ageing. If this were to occur in Australia, it could have a significant impact on personal wealth, the national saving rate, employment and economic welf ....Population Ageing and National Housing Demand in Australia. This project seeks to determine the likely impact of population ageing on the demand for housing in Australia. A seminal study for the U.S. predicted that the relative demand for, and therefore price of, housing will fall substantially in the next two or three decades due to population ageing. If this were to occur in Australia, it could have a significant impact on personal wealth, the national saving rate, employment and economic welfare. This question will be addressed by extending two different types of models - an analytical model of optimal national saving and an econometric model of housing demand.Read moreRead less