Innovation, Competition and Economic Performance: Understanding the Dynamics of Industry Development. An improved understanding of the impact of innovation on competition and economic performance will inform the design of public policy in terms of industry assistance, research and development support, competition policy and regulatory activity. This will help ensure that the billions of dollars of private and public expenditure devoted to innovative activities and industry development has the gr ....Innovation, Competition and Economic Performance: Understanding the Dynamics of Industry Development. An improved understanding of the impact of innovation on competition and economic performance will inform the design of public policy in terms of industry assistance, research and development support, competition policy and regulatory activity. This will help ensure that the billions of dollars of private and public expenditure devoted to innovative activities and industry development has the greatest possible impact in terms of improved products, lower prices and the enhanced competitiveness of Australian businesses.Read moreRead less
Technical Change, Productivity Growth and Pricing in Australian Manufacturing. We examine productivity growth and price competitiveness of Australian manufacturing by estimating an econometric model for aggregate manufacturing and as well as individual industries. The parameter estimates from the econometric model are used to identify the separate impacts on productivity growth and price changes due to technical change, economies of scale, capacity utilization and market power. We then estimate ....Technical Change, Productivity Growth and Pricing in Australian Manufacturing. We examine productivity growth and price competitiveness of Australian manufacturing by estimating an econometric model for aggregate manufacturing and as well as individual industries. The parameter estimates from the econometric model are used to identify the separate impacts on productivity growth and price changes due to technical change, economies of scale, capacity utilization and market power. We then estimate how each separate impact is affected by industry characteristics, including seller concentration and investment in physical, human and intellectual capital, and policy related variables, such as tariff rates and degree of unionisation of the labour force. This will provide an important contribution of the knowledge of how the economic environment and government policies impact on productivity growth and the international competitiveness of Australian manufacturing.Read moreRead less
The impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on economic growth and productivity, and the role of Government Policy. While it is widely agreed that the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has many national benefits, the role of law and policy on the extent of ICT uptake and related productivity effects have not been directly researched. A stronger research base on the role of law and policy on the use and economic effects of ICT can potentially create a numb ....The impact of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on economic growth and productivity, and the role of Government Policy. While it is widely agreed that the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has many national benefits, the role of law and policy on the extent of ICT uptake and related productivity effects have not been directly researched. A stronger research base on the role of law and policy on the use and economic effects of ICT can potentially create a number of national and community benefits. It can assist Governments and firms to isolate the drivers of the information economy and economic growth; it can facilitate the development of appropriate policy and legislation, and inform better administration of existing policies.Read moreRead less
Privatisation, Regulation and Institutional Structures of Airports: An International Study. Airports are typically locational monopolies possessing strong market power - abuse of this is controlled by public ownership, regulation or not-for-profit operation. All these pose problems for achieving economic efficiency while meeting environmental standards. Design of efficient regulation, and the Australian experiment with price monitored private airports, will be analysed. Using data from Austr ....Privatisation, Regulation and Institutional Structures of Airports: An International Study. Airports are typically locational monopolies possessing strong market power - abuse of this is controlled by public ownership, regulation or not-for-profit operation. All these pose problems for achieving economic efficiency while meeting environmental standards. Design of efficient regulation, and the Australian experiment with price monitored private airports, will be analysed. Using data from Australian and overseas airports, the performance of airports operating under the alternative systems will be evaluated, enabling an assessment of performance and privatisation; a comparison of private, public and not-for-profit systems; and pointing out how better governance options can be designed.Read moreRead less
Growth, Trade, and Economic Development in Asia. Future growth in Asia has strong implications for growth, relative wages, skill levels, human capital accumulation and trade in Australia. This project seeks to gain insight into whether the high economic growth rates experienced in Asia will continue into the future and whether low income Asian countries will take off in the future. This information will be used to simulate future demand for skills, relative wages, trade and the incentives to inv ....Growth, Trade, and Economic Development in Asia. Future growth in Asia has strong implications for growth, relative wages, skill levels, human capital accumulation and trade in Australia. This project seeks to gain insight into whether the high economic growth rates experienced in Asia will continue into the future and whether low income Asian countries will take off in the future. This information will be used to simulate future demand for skills, relative wages, trade and the incentives to invest in Australia and give insight into the effects of various policies in Australia on educational decision, skill composition, relative wages, trade and growth.Read moreRead less
Economic interactions between scientists and commercial interests and their impact on scientific knowledge dissemination: a theoretical and empirical investigation. In recent decades, the debate between scientists, policy-makers and businesses on the usefulness of scientific discoveries has been intense. Despite its clear economic implications, there has been very little economic modeling of the interactions between scientists and firms on key choices such as publication rights and licensing agr ....Economic interactions between scientists and commercial interests and their impact on scientific knowledge dissemination: a theoretical and empirical investigation. In recent decades, the debate between scientists, policy-makers and businesses on the usefulness of scientific discoveries has been intense. Despite its clear economic implications, there has been very little economic modeling of the interactions between scientists and firms on key choices such as publication rights and licensing agreements associated with patent protection. These choices impact on the diffusion of scientific knowledge and their productive applications. This project will examine those interactions both at a theoretical and empirical level with the goal of generating insights into whether and how public policy makers should regulate or leave unchecked the commercialisation of science.Read moreRead less
State-contingent analysis of productivity, efficiency and innovation. Productivity growth is a fundamental precondition for sustainable improvements in living standards. The main drivers of productivity growth are technological innovation and improvements in the efficiency of resource use. Effective public policy in this area requires identification of these components. This project develops improved productivity measurement methods that are applicable in economic environments characterised b ....State-contingent analysis of productivity, efficiency and innovation. Productivity growth is a fundamental precondition for sustainable improvements in living standards. The main drivers of productivity growth are technological innovation and improvements in the efficiency of resource use. Effective public policy in this area requires identification of these components. This project develops improved productivity measurement methods that are applicable in economic environments characterised by production and/or demand uncertainty. The methods will be used to obtain improved estimates of rates of innovation and changes in the relative efficiency of selected Australian enterprises. The empirical results will inform National Competition Policy and the process of microeconomic reform.Read moreRead less
Analysis of the Global Price Competitiveness of Tourism with particular reference to Australia. Price competitiveness is a key determinant of tourism flows, and this project will measure and explain global patterns in competitiveness. Building on earlier work by the investigators, it will expand the measures of competitiveness and develop a new method for measuring competitiveness in package tourism. Cross country differences in industry productivity are a primary reason why competitiveness di ....Analysis of the Global Price Competitiveness of Tourism with particular reference to Australia. Price competitiveness is a key determinant of tourism flows, and this project will measure and explain global patterns in competitiveness. Building on earlier work by the investigators, it will expand the measures of competitiveness and develop a new method for measuring competitiveness in package tourism. Cross country differences in industry productivity are a primary reason why competitiveness differs; productivity will be measured using input and output prices. Patterns in productivity will be analysed, and the hypothesis that productivity varies inversely with real incomes, observed in other service industries, will be tested.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
Robust Productivity Measurement: An Econometric Distance Function Approach. Accurate measures of productivity are required in a range of economic analyses. For example, in the assessment of the success of microeconomic reforms, or in price-cap regulation of utility and transport infrastructure firms. In this project we investigate the use of econometric distance functions as a means of obtaining improved productivity measures. This new approach addresses the main criticisms of alternative ap ....Robust Productivity Measurement: An Econometric Distance Function Approach. Accurate measures of productivity are required in a range of economic analyses. For example, in the assessment of the success of microeconomic reforms, or in price-cap regulation of utility and transport infrastructure firms. In this project we investigate the use of econometric distance functions as a means of obtaining improved productivity measures. This new approach addresses the main criticisms of alternative approaches, such as the single output restriction in the production function approach, the optimisation assumptions embedded in both the value dual approach and the Törnqvist index approach, and the statistical noise criticism of the data envelopment analysis approach.Read moreRead less