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.
Read moreRead less
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
Sustainable reform of the Murray-Darling system: Property rights, uncertainty and institutions. The project will develop tools for the modelling of uncertainty in the absence of probabilities and with imperfect knowledge about possible events. It will also formalise and assess the precautionary principle for the sustainable management of complex systems. Finally, the project will apply these tools to analyse and improve policies for the reform of property rights, institutions and land and water ....Sustainable reform of the Murray-Darling system: Property rights, uncertainty and institutions. The project will develop tools for the modelling of uncertainty in the absence of probabilities and with imperfect knowledge about possible events. It will also formalise and assess the precautionary principle for the sustainable management of complex systems. Finally, the project will apply these tools to analyse and improve policies for the reform of property rights, institutions and land and water management in the Murray?Darling system. The project will assist in the formulation of sustainable responses to problems of drought and irrigation related salinity in the Murray?Darling system.Read moreRead less
Understanding and Modeling Individual Choices in Applied Economics. The fellowship will create a critical mass of researchers in choice modeling theory and methods in areas that Australia needs to sustain economic progress and plan for the future. It will significantly advance knowledge in several major areas: design of health insurance markets; tests for adverse selection in insurance markets; ability of people to plan for retirement (superannuation choices); ability of people to plan and choos ....Understanding and Modeling Individual Choices in Applied Economics. The fellowship will create a critical mass of researchers in choice modeling theory and methods in areas that Australia needs to sustain economic progress and plan for the future. It will significantly advance knowledge in several major areas: design of health insurance markets; tests for adverse selection in insurance markets; ability of people to plan for retirement (superannuation choices); ability of people to plan and choose in dynamic environments; and decisions to adopt new technologies/products in evolving technology markets. The outcome will be new ways to understand and predict choices that can significantly improve practices in business and other organisations.Read moreRead less
Optimism, Pessimism and Confidence - Their economic impacts. When modelling uncertainty, economists typically assume people utilise well-behaved and precise probabilities. As most people have only the vaguest conception of chances of terrorist acts, of contracting SARS, or of extreme market volatility, this limits usefulness of the standard model in predicting or guiding choice. This project aims to incorporate a richer set of attitudes about uncertainty into economic theory, including impreci ....Optimism, Pessimism and Confidence - Their economic impacts. When modelling uncertainty, economists typically assume people utilise well-behaved and precise probabilities. As most people have only the vaguest conception of chances of terrorist acts, of contracting SARS, or of extreme market volatility, this limits usefulness of the standard model in predicting or guiding choice. This project aims to incorporate a richer set of attitudes about uncertainty into economic theory, including imprecise estimates of chance, optimistic (or pessimistic) bias, and relative confidence. This will enable more rigorous analysis of topics like irrational exuberance (panic), consumer stampedes, and (in)tolerance of risk, thereby improving the measurement of benefits and costs of related actions or policies.Read moreRead less
Science for resilience of coral reef systems. Hughes's Fellowship has enormous capacity to provide economic, cultural, environmental and social benefits for Australia. The coral reefs of Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Lord Howe Island World Heritage Area are Australian national icons, of great economic, social, and aesthetic value to this country. Hughes and his collaborators in a newly-created ARC Centre of Excellence will be the premier providers of the scie ....Science for resilience of coral reef systems. Hughes's Fellowship has enormous capacity to provide economic, cultural, environmental and social benefits for Australia. The coral reefs of Australia, particularly the Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef, and Lord Howe Island World Heritage Area are Australian national icons, of great economic, social, and aesthetic value to this country. Hughes and his collaborators in a newly-created ARC Centre of Excellence will be the premier providers of the scientific expertise that underpins the management of Australian reefs, which is vital for the sustainable use of biodiversity goods and services (e.g. by the tourist industry, fisheries, and recreational users).Read moreRead less