Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE180101503
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$357,996.00
Summary
Using improved markets to reduce over-extraction of groundwater. This project aims to investigate the key aspects needed for a successful groundwater market, including extraction limits, innovative trading systems and reasonable transaction costs. The outcomes of the project can contribute to environmental benefits that minimise short-term financial losses to irrigators. The project also expects to enhance the capacity of water agencies to implement cap and trade systems that can reduce over-ext ....Using improved markets to reduce over-extraction of groundwater. This project aims to investigate the key aspects needed for a successful groundwater market, including extraction limits, innovative trading systems and reasonable transaction costs. The outcomes of the project can contribute to environmental benefits that minimise short-term financial losses to irrigators. The project also expects to enhance the capacity of water agencies to implement cap and trade systems that can reduce over-extraction.Read moreRead less
Understanding, measuring and managing the benefits of urban waterways. This project aims to improve understanding of the contribution of urban waterways to enhanced liveability in cities. Australia needs better water resource management and the rapid growth of Australia’s cities places increased importance on managing natural assets in metropolitan areas. The project focuses on clarifying the link between the benefits of waterways and the measurement techniques used by economists, which in turn ....Understanding, measuring and managing the benefits of urban waterways. This project aims to improve understanding of the contribution of urban waterways to enhanced liveability in cities. Australia needs better water resource management and the rapid growth of Australia’s cities places increased importance on managing natural assets in metropolitan areas. The project focuses on clarifying the link between the benefits of waterways and the measurement techniques used by economists, which in turn inform management choices. The project aims to fill an important gap between the psychology and economics disciplines and outputs should significantly improve the way waterways are valued and managed. This is intended to offer benefits for urban residents and to improve the methodologies used for environmental valuation.Read moreRead less
Designing Better Landowner Contracts to Protect Australia's Environment. There will be two main benefits from this project. First a reduction in the cost of protecting the environment and second, a greater awareness amongst regulators of the determinants of compliance costs and their variability amongst landowners. By making environmental contracts more efficient, this project will contribute towards making Australian agriculture more sustainable in terms of protecting biodiversity, conserving ....Designing Better Landowner Contracts to Protect Australia's Environment. There will be two main benefits from this project. First a reduction in the cost of protecting the environment and second, a greater awareness amongst regulators of the determinants of compliance costs and their variability amongst landowners. By making environmental contracts more efficient, this project will contribute towards making Australian agriculture more sustainable in terms of protecting biodiversity, conserving water and reducing the rate of soil loss.Read moreRead less
Designing better soil quality indexes to improve land and environmental management. This project will develop sound methods for capturing diverse soil quality attributes in summary soil quality indexes to facilitate wiser land and environmental management. The project will generate benefits through: 1) improvements in the sustainability of our agricultural industries by providing better tools for matching soils with crops and for more efficient chemical input use on farms, 3) improvements in env ....Designing better soil quality indexes to improve land and environmental management. This project will develop sound methods for capturing diverse soil quality attributes in summary soil quality indexes to facilitate wiser land and environmental management. The project will generate benefits through: 1) improvements in the sustainability of our agricultural industries by providing better tools for matching soils with crops and for more efficient chemical input use on farms, 3) improvements in environmental water quality through reductions in nonpoint source pollution from agriculture, 3) tools for monitoring the recovery of degraded agricultural or mining soil resources, and 4) better conservation contract design.Read moreRead less
Enhancing regional resource synergies through the application of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development in the Kwinana Industrial Area. The project will investigate the potential contribution of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development at the regional level in heavy industrial areas, in particular the Kwinana Industrial Area (WA). Industrial ecology mimics natural processes in industrial production and consumption to achieve better environmental, economic and ....Enhancing regional resource synergies through the application of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development in the Kwinana Industrial Area. The project will investigate the potential contribution of industrial ecology strategies for sustainable development at the regional level in heavy industrial areas, in particular the Kwinana Industrial Area (WA). Industrial ecology mimics natural processes in industrial production and consumption to achieve better environmental, economic and social outcomes. Despite its compelling logic, industrial ecology faces a number of barriers. This research will investigate such barriers and develop and pilot test innovative ways for overcoming those, in particular through the provision of facilitating structures, operational arrangements and evaluation tools.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
Presumed Guilty: An Economics Analysis of the Efficiency of Environmental Bonds for the WA Mining Sector. Environmental bonds have two important economic effects. First they give an incentive for mining firms to manage environmental damage and second they prevent excessive costs falling on the regulator in the case of bankruptcy. The aim of this project is to assess if this policy can be redesigned to increase its economic efficiency.
Integrating economics and science for land, water and biodiversity policy. Australian government programs for land and water conservation involve expenditure of billions of dollars, combined with much larger contributions from program participants. However, various problems with these programs have been identified. This research will assist program investors to better target funding, to employ more appropriate policy mechanisms, and to operate in a cost-effective way, achieving the most highly v ....Integrating economics and science for land, water and biodiversity policy. Australian government programs for land and water conservation involve expenditure of billions of dollars, combined with much larger contributions from program participants. However, various problems with these programs have been identified. This research will assist program investors to better target funding, to employ more appropriate policy mechanisms, and to operate in a cost-effective way, achieving the most highly valued environmental outcomes that can be achieved with the available budget. The project will develop improved theories, frameworks and economic models, integrating information from physical, biological and social sciences, and decision tools for use by environmental decision makers.Read moreRead less
Economic Growth and Real Exchange Rates. Exchange rate movements are important elements of Australia's economic environment. Protectionist interests in the US and Europe, constrained by WTO trade rules, accuse East Asian economies of deliberate undervaluation. While exchange rate movements are not readily predictable in the short run, long run changes in underlying real exchange rates are amenable to economic analysis using structural models. The clearer understanding of these forces, toward ....Economic Growth and Real Exchange Rates. Exchange rate movements are important elements of Australia's economic environment. Protectionist interests in the US and Europe, constrained by WTO trade rules, accuse East Asian economies of deliberate undervaluation. While exchange rate movements are not readily predictable in the short run, long run changes in underlying real exchange rates are amenable to economic analysis using structural models. The clearer understanding of these forces, toward which this project is directed, will better guide investment in the region, including in Australia, and more importantly, it will better inform future policy debates surrounding currency movements.Read moreRead less
Climate Change, Industrial Structure and the Knowledge Economy: Key Issues for an Effective Response on Greenhouse Gases. The objectives of this project are to undertake a major, long term study of the impact of global structural change on greenhouse gas emissions and on climate change, and to develop a detailed knowledge base concerning trade in embodied emissions. It is hoped that the knowledge generated will both inform global responses to this vital problem and contribute to the continuing d ....Climate Change, Industrial Structure and the Knowledge Economy: Key Issues for an Effective Response on Greenhouse Gases. The objectives of this project are to undertake a major, long term study of the impact of global structural change on greenhouse gas emissions and on climate change, and to develop a detailed knowledge base concerning trade in embodied emissions. It is hoped that the knowledge generated will both inform global responses to this vital problem and contribute to the continuing development of effective responses within Australia. The output - a book and many papers - will be directed in part to contribute to the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report.Read moreRead less