Non-cognitive skills and human capital investments: the importance of individuals' sense of control. This project investigates whether people's sense of control over their lives influences their decision to get an education, do job training, migrate, or adopt a healthy lifestyle. The results are important in helping policymakers to understand why some individuals work harder than others to ensure good outcomes for themselves.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100463
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,364.00
Summary
Exceptional upward mobility against all odds: Non-cognitive skills and early-childhood disadvantage. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who exceed their parents' social achievements are pioneers. The aims of this project are to introduce this exceptional upward mobility as an alternative measure of economic success and to study its distribution and determinants. The main hypothesis is that these pioneers, apart from being intelligent, have a set of non-cognitive skills that mak ....Exceptional upward mobility against all odds: Non-cognitive skills and early-childhood disadvantage. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who exceed their parents' social achievements are pioneers. The aims of this project are to introduce this exceptional upward mobility as an alternative measure of economic success and to study its distribution and determinants. The main hypothesis is that these pioneers, apart from being intelligent, have a set of non-cognitive skills that make them successful. This will be the first study to analyse these individuals and the personality-related determinants of their life trajectories. It will contribute to understand the various pathways via which non-cognitive skills affect upward mobility, and assess their malleability during childhood or adolescence.Read moreRead less
Discrimination in Policing: Evidences from Natural Experiments. Ensuring that institutions are discrimination-free is key for the harmony of a society and the strength of a nation’s social contract. This research aims to investigate whether Australian law enforcement discriminates against certain groups and to explore the mechanisms explaining how it decides with whom to strictly enforce the law and
with whom to be lenient. This research program focuses on speeding fines as they offer unique nat ....Discrimination in Policing: Evidences from Natural Experiments. Ensuring that institutions are discrimination-free is key for the harmony of a society and the strength of a nation’s social contract. This research aims to investigate whether Australian law enforcement discriminates against certain groups and to explore the mechanisms explaining how it decides with whom to strictly enforce the law and
with whom to be lenient. This research program focuses on speeding fines as they offer unique natural experiments allowing rigorous exploration of these issues. The expected outcome is a better understanding of discrimination in Australia and the factors explaining it, which should contribute to better policy design and lead to more equitable treatment for all Australians.Read moreRead less
Intergenerational Disadvantage: Causes, Pathways, and Consequences. This Project aims to prevent poor Australian children from becoming poor adults by developing scientific evidence and creative policy approaches to overcome entrenched disadvantage. The Project will generate new knowledge on how social assistance dependence is linked across generations using new Australian data. Expected outcomes are the identification of i) the causal link between parents’ and children’s social assistance depen ....Intergenerational Disadvantage: Causes, Pathways, and Consequences. This Project aims to prevent poor Australian children from becoming poor adults by developing scientific evidence and creative policy approaches to overcome entrenched disadvantage. The Project will generate new knowledge on how social assistance dependence is linked across generations using new Australian data. Expected outcomes are the identification of i) the causal link between parents’ and children’s social assistance dependence; ii) the pathways through which youths overcome disadvantage; and iii) the role of family structure in transmitting disadvantage. Transforming the evidence base, the findings will have significant benefits in redesigning the Australian social safety net, promoting social and economic mobility.Read moreRead less
Econometric studies of the dynamics of loneliness and social isolation. This project aims to provide new insights into the socioeconomic dynamics of loneliness and social isolation using advanced econometric modelling techniques applied to longitudinal data from Australia and the UK. This project will apply advanced econometric modelling techniques to data from four nationally-representative longitudinal surveys to substantively help address these knowledge gaps, giving policy-makers new informa ....Econometric studies of the dynamics of loneliness and social isolation. This project aims to provide new insights into the socioeconomic dynamics of loneliness and social isolation using advanced econometric modelling techniques applied to longitudinal data from Australia and the UK. This project will apply advanced econometric modelling techniques to data from four nationally-representative longitudinal surveys to substantively help address these knowledge gaps, giving policy-makers new information about how to address these growing societal concerns. The expected outcomes will provide policy-makers with a better understanding of the socioeconomic triggers for loneliness and social isolation; quantify the costs of loneliness and social isolation on health and wellbeing; and identify policy interventions aimed at reducing loneliness and social isolation.Read moreRead less
Time Delay, Externalities and Attitudes Toward Taxation. Public attitudes toward a policy have a significant impact on its effectiveness. The aim of this project is to investigate the determinants of public attitudes for incentive-based institutions, particularly taxes, by highlighting the importance of considering the intertemporal properties of taxation: when costs and benefits of taxation occur at different times. This project is designed to be a controlled study of how and why public attitud ....Time Delay, Externalities and Attitudes Toward Taxation. Public attitudes toward a policy have a significant impact on its effectiveness. The aim of this project is to investigate the determinants of public attitudes for incentive-based institutions, particularly taxes, by highlighting the importance of considering the intertemporal properties of taxation: when costs and benefits of taxation occur at different times. This project is designed to be a controlled study of how and why public attitudes towards taxation are influenced by the temporal structure of the externalities that the taxes are meant to control. The anticipated goal is to inform the design of institutions that the public will accept and, more generally, improve the understanding of intertemporal decision-making in environments with delayed externalities.Read moreRead less
Maximum Acceptable Risk Of Complication In Total Knee Arthroplasty (MARKA) Study: Using Discreet Choice Experiments To Elicit Patient And Surgeon Perception Of Acceptable Risk In Total Knee Arthroplasty
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$465,199.00
Summary
Patient expectation is the strongest predictor of satisfaction following total knee replacement. Dissatisfaction with surgery is reported in approximately 1 in 5 patients undergoing knee replacement. Unrealistic patient expectations and uninformed perceptions of potential benefits, risks and limitations of surgery lead to dissatisfaction in many cases. This study will examine the “risk-benefit” preferences in patients and surgeons considering total knee replacement as a treatment option for end- ....Patient expectation is the strongest predictor of satisfaction following total knee replacement. Dissatisfaction with surgery is reported in approximately 1 in 5 patients undergoing knee replacement. Unrealistic patient expectations and uninformed perceptions of potential benefits, risks and limitations of surgery lead to dissatisfaction in many cases. This study will examine the “risk-benefit” preferences in patients and surgeons considering total knee replacement as a treatment option for end-stage osteoarthritis.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101260
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$390,821.00
Summary
Tackling obesity: What role for behavioural and standard economics? The international community is grappling with the obesity epidemic. Behavioural economics has gained international attention by offering insights into individual decision making that can potentially be used in policy to nudge individuals to change their behaviour to improve their health. However, there is a paucity of evidence regarding its likely success in this endeavour. This project uses discrete choice and economic laborato ....Tackling obesity: What role for behavioural and standard economics? The international community is grappling with the obesity epidemic. Behavioural economics has gained international attention by offering insights into individual decision making that can potentially be used in policy to nudge individuals to change their behaviour to improve their health. However, there is a paucity of evidence regarding its likely success in this endeavour. This project uses discrete choice and economic laboratory experiments to investigate social acceptability of, and predicted behaviour change in response to, a range of behavioural and standard economic inspired policies. Results will inform optimal investment and targeting of policy to prevent and reduce obesity.Read moreRead less
Posted prices, bargaining and auctions: an experimental examination. This project uses economic methods to investigate how trading institutions affect prices and efficiency. It examines markets with directed search: buyers visit sellers based on any information they have. Simultaneous buyer choices and sellers’ capacity constraints lead to “frictions” where not all profitable exchanges occur - more realistic than the usual “frictionless” assumption. The project will vary: whether sellers can pos ....Posted prices, bargaining and auctions: an experimental examination. This project uses economic methods to investigate how trading institutions affect prices and efficiency. It examines markets with directed search: buyers visit sellers based on any information they have. Simultaneous buyer choices and sellers’ capacity constraints lead to “frictions” where not all profitable exchanges occur - more realistic than the usual “frictionless” assumption. The project will vary: whether sellers can post prices in advance; and, whether and how negotiation occurs based on how many buyers (one vs two or more) visit a seller. The project will use results from auction, bargaining, game and search theories, and new analysis, to form predictions, which will be tested using experiments. The results should have implications for labour and competition policies.Read moreRead less
A Multi-centre RCT To Prevent Secondary Falls In Older People Presenting To The Emergency Department With A Fall
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,534,471.00
Summary
Falls are a leading cause for presentation to Emergency Departments (EDs) by older patients. More than 50% who present to ED with a fall injury have fallen in the previous year. RESPOND is an innovative post-ED discharge program designed to reduce secondary falls in older people. RESPOND extends current falls prevention research and practice by incorporating patient-centred education with behaviour change strategies proven to be effective in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular events.