Public Policy and Immigrant Settlement in Australia. The proposed research will assess the relative importance of labour market conditions, income-support policy, and immigrant selection criteria in facilitating the settlement of recent immigrants in Australia. The project will be the first major academic study to make use of the complete data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia to compare two cohorts of recent immigrants who arrived under different policy settings and econom ....Public Policy and Immigrant Settlement in Australia. The proposed research will assess the relative importance of labour market conditions, income-support policy, and immigrant selection criteria in facilitating the settlement of recent immigrants in Australia. The project will be the first major academic study to make use of the complete data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia to compare two cohorts of recent immigrants who arrived under different policy settings and economic conditions and whose initial settlement outcomes varied dramatically. The results will advance our understanding of how immigrants adjust to Australia and will be useful for future policy development.
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The Dynamics of Low Income, Welfare reliance, and Changes in the Family Stucture of Parents with Dependent children. We build a new seven-year longitudinal database, from FaCS administrative records and supplementary surveys, for low income parents with dependent children to analyse the dynamics of, and interrationships among, changes in family structure, income and welfare reliance. We identify and analyse exit and entry routes from low income, short and long run welfare receipt and movement fr ....The Dynamics of Low Income, Welfare reliance, and Changes in the Family Stucture of Parents with Dependent children. We build a new seven-year longitudinal database, from FaCS administrative records and supplementary surveys, for low income parents with dependent children to analyse the dynamics of, and interrationships among, changes in family structure, income and welfare reliance. We identify and analyse exit and entry routes from low income, short and long run welfare receipt and movement from one program to another, and highlight locational/regional variations in these movements. The project will help policy makers evaluate the impacts of existing programs and will change the nature and significance of Australian research and policy development in welfare dependency and support.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Improving Teacher Quality. The quality of Australia's schooling system is a key determinant of skills in the economy, affecting economic growth, unemployment and inequality. With 3 percent of GDP currently devoted to primary and secondary education, improving educational productivity could lead to enormous gains. International evidence suggests that a promising approach to improving our education system is to boost teacher quality, yet we currently know little about the differe ....Understanding and Improving Teacher Quality. The quality of Australia's schooling system is a key determinant of skills in the economy, affecting economic growth, unemployment and inequality. With 3 percent of GDP currently devoted to primary and secondary education, improving educational productivity could lead to enormous gains. International evidence suggests that a promising approach to improving our education system is to boost teacher quality, yet we currently know little about the differences between the best and worst teachers. With large numbers of teachers due to retire in the next decade, now is an ideal time to learn more about teacher quality, and implement policies to ensure that the calibre of the teaching profession is as good as it can be.Read moreRead less
Intergenerational Transmission of Dependence on Income Support: Patterns, Causation and Implications for Australian Social Policy. This project examines the consequences of growing up in an income-support family. The first stage describes the relationship between parents' and children's income-support receipt to determine whether these children are more likely to access income-support programs themselves. Stage 2 identifies the causal mechanisms through which parental income-support receipt in ....Intergenerational Transmission of Dependence on Income Support: Patterns, Causation and Implications for Australian Social Policy. This project examines the consequences of growing up in an income-support family. The first stage describes the relationship between parents' and children's income-support receipt to determine whether these children are more likely to access income-support programs themselves. Stage 2 identifies the causal mechanisms through which parental income-support receipt influences children's outcomes. Identification of these transmission mechanisms is a necessary first step in formulating policies targeted towards breaking any cycle of welfare dependence. This project is innovative in its use of survey data merged to unique administrative data that link the income-support records of some 53,000 young Australians and their parents.
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Optimal taxation when the allocation of time matters. This project aims to incorporate evidence-based models of time allocation, which go beyond the simple division between work and leisure, in optimal tax settings. This approach will help to inform the public policy debate on child support, by questioning whether, and if so how, to subsidise childcare, where parental time use plays a crucial role.
Economic Inequality: Trends, Causes and Consequences. Measuring inequality and understanding its determinants is important for three reasons. First, knowing the causes and consequences of inequality is critical to making trade-offs between equity and efficiency. Second, the degree of economic mobility over the lifecycle determines how much opportunity people have to move upwards, and how much risk they face on moving downwards. This informs policies that guard against risk (eg. social insurance) ....Economic Inequality: Trends, Causes and Consequences. Measuring inequality and understanding its determinants is important for three reasons. First, knowing the causes and consequences of inequality is critical to making trade-offs between equity and efficiency. Second, the degree of economic mobility over the lifecycle determines how much opportunity people have to move upwards, and how much risk they face on moving downwards. This informs policies that guard against risk (eg. social insurance) and those that encourage risk (eg. entrepreneurship). Third, by learning more about intergenerational mobility, we can improve policies that seek to boost the life chances of children in disadvantaged households. 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
PATHWAYS TO IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS UNDERLYING SCHOOL PARTICIPATION. This project aims to provide an economic analysis of social environmental and institutional factors associated with educational participation of Indigenous and other Australian youth. The incentives for Indigenous youth to attend school, include: local labour market conditions, and the extent/nature of Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system. B ....PATHWAYS TO IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS UNDERLYING SCHOOL PARTICIPATION. This project aims to provide an economic analysis of social environmental and institutional factors associated with educational participation of Indigenous and other Australian youth. The incentives for Indigenous youth to attend school, include: local labour market conditions, and the extent/nature of Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system. By identifying the relative importance of the factors underlying education, policy can be directed to reducing dependence on welfare by enhancing their competitiveness in the mainstream labour market. The resulting increase in social inclusion of Indigenous people is no doubt a pre-condition for achieving a lasting reconciliation of Indigenous and other Australians.Read moreRead less