Status seeking and economic behaviour. The project will look at the importance of status seeking behaviour for the health system, behavioural experiments, international growth, and labelling. The insights will be useful for optimal redistribution policies, international cooperation, and behavioural research.
Designing for uncertainty in conservation auctions. Economic theory and case study evidence show that tenders or auctions are more efficient than grant mechanisms for encouraging landholders to produce environmental outcomes on private land. These studies have ignored the effects of uncertainty of both bidders and administrators about factors such as landholder participation and the level of environmental benefits that will be delivered. This project will test whether distributing environmental ....Designing for uncertainty in conservation auctions. Economic theory and case study evidence show that tenders or auctions are more efficient than grant mechanisms for encouraging landholders to produce environmental outcomes on private land. These studies have ignored the effects of uncertainty of both bidders and administrators about factors such as landholder participation and the level of environmental benefits that will be delivered. This project will test whether distributing environmental funds via tenders is still efficient when uncertainty about various important factors is considered. Results from this research are expected to inform the cost effective design of systems to pay landholders for the provision of environmental benefits even when there is high uncertainty.Read moreRead less
A study of consumers' competence when choosing between complex mobile phone contracts and the regulatory implications of their coping strategies. The main outcome of this project will be a better understanding of which kinds of mobile phone contracts and methods of displaying them to potential users are the biggest sources of decision making errors, and which techniques for coping with a plethora of such contracts are the most reliable ones. This knowledge will be used to derive recommendations ....A study of consumers' competence when choosing between complex mobile phone contracts and the regulatory implications of their coping strategies. The main outcome of this project will be a better understanding of which kinds of mobile phone contracts and methods of displaying them to potential users are the biggest sources of decision making errors, and which techniques for coping with a plethora of such contracts are the most reliable ones. This knowledge will be used to derive recommendations for consumer policy agencies and advice for consumers that will increase financial welfare and reduce mental stress for consumers. Some of the findings may have implications for regulators seeking to design consumer protection policies in other area where firms deliberately offer customers opaque contracts.Read moreRead less
Banks, endogenous network formations and financial crisis. This project aims to understand how endogenous network formations affect financial crisis and how such situations can be made into a coherent microeconomic model of financial network formations using modern tools in economics. The project intends to study the properties of financial systems in the presence of possible financial crisis, conduct applied economic policy analysis and provide policy implications for lifting productivity and e ....Banks, endogenous network formations and financial crisis. This project aims to understand how endogenous network formations affect financial crisis and how such situations can be made into a coherent microeconomic model of financial network formations using modern tools in economics. The project intends to study the properties of financial systems in the presence of possible financial crisis, conduct applied economic policy analysis and provide policy implications for lifting productivity and economic growth. The projects expected outcomes would contribute to the theoretical understanding of financial crisis and consequences in financial markets as well as the economy and public policy. In the longer term, the project should benefit the health of the financial system.Read moreRead less
Using behavioural economic insights to overcome student procrastination. This project aims to study the relations between present-biased time preference, procrastination, and achievement at school, using economic experiments. Investment in human capital generates economic benefits for students, families, employers, and society, but its benefits are realised far into the future. Because of these immediate costs and delayed benefits, behavioural economic theory predicts that students will procrast ....Using behavioural economic insights to overcome student procrastination. This project aims to study the relations between present-biased time preference, procrastination, and achievement at school, using economic experiments. Investment in human capital generates economic benefits for students, families, employers, and society, but its benefits are realised far into the future. Because of these immediate costs and delayed benefits, behavioural economic theory predicts that students will procrastinate. This project will identify the characteristics of students at greatest risk of procrastination, evaluate practical strategies to overcome it, and examine whether it is associated with poorer outcomes. This should help schools and policy makers reduce educational inequalities, and yield long-term benefits over students’ lives.Read moreRead less
Voter behaviour and polarisation: The role of social preferences. This project aims to investigate how peer pressure and other social concerns affect voter participation, vote choice, and political polarisation. It will marry behavioural experimental economics with political economics and make use of complementary experimental methods that will allow for the study of carefully controlled elections, followed by a large-scale real-world test of the results. Expected outcomes include improved under ....Voter behaviour and polarisation: The role of social preferences. This project aims to investigate how peer pressure and other social concerns affect voter participation, vote choice, and political polarisation. It will marry behavioural experimental economics with political economics and make use of complementary experimental methods that will allow for the study of carefully controlled elections, followed by a large-scale real-world test of the results. Expected outcomes include improved understanding of how social media and other social factors, and political institutions such as compulsory voting, distort election representation and outcomes. Major benefits include the ability to advise policies to reduce polarisation and improve political institutions to ensure they reflect true societal preferences.Read moreRead less
Redesigning Landcare policy to better coordinate across landholders. This project aims to study how landscape-sensitive economic incentives and social norms can be leveraged to enhance the short- and long-term effectiveness of conservation programs. It will yield new knowledge for innovative designs in conservation contracting that is urgently needed to address worsening environmental threats in Australia and worldwide. In collaboration with Nobel laureate Vernon Smith’s team, new methods and pr ....Redesigning Landcare policy to better coordinate across landholders. This project aims to study how landscape-sensitive economic incentives and social norms can be leveraged to enhance the short- and long-term effectiveness of conservation programs. It will yield new knowledge for innovative designs in conservation contracting that is urgently needed to address worsening environmental threats in Australia and worldwide. In collaboration with Nobel laureate Vernon Smith’s team, new methods and protocols will improve our ability to generate better data and better understand how social and incentive mechanisms can constructively interact to facilitate collaborative environmental action. Results will help make the achievement of environmental targets and the use of public funds more cost-effective. Read moreRead less
Microeconomic effects of Australian natural disasters. This project aims to describe and identify the effects of Australian natural disasters – such as the Black Saturday bushfires and the Brisbane floods – on important microeconomic outcomes, including health, education and employment. Natural disasters have profound economic and social effects on individuals and communities. This project intends to bring evidence on how disasters affect individuals and how the effects can be lessened. The proj ....Microeconomic effects of Australian natural disasters. This project aims to describe and identify the effects of Australian natural disasters – such as the Black Saturday bushfires and the Brisbane floods – on important microeconomic outcomes, including health, education and employment. Natural disasters have profound economic and social effects on individuals and communities. This project intends to bring evidence on how disasters affect individuals and how the effects can be lessened. The project expects to inform policy-makers on these critical issues by analysing field, survey and administrative data on individuals before and after past disasters.Read moreRead less
Managing Carbon Offsets to Improve Australian Climate Policy Effectiveness. This project aims to evaluate the Emissions Reduction Fund-Australia’s flagship climate policy-by using a combination of state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental economic methods. This project expects to generate new knowledge by investigating how the use of aggregators (intermediaries) and contract design impact the current regulation. Expected outcomes of this project include a clear scholarly understanding of how ....Managing Carbon Offsets to Improve Australian Climate Policy Effectiveness. This project aims to evaluate the Emissions Reduction Fund-Australia’s flagship climate policy-by using a combination of state-of-the-art theoretical and experimental economic methods. This project expects to generate new knowledge by investigating how the use of aggregators (intermediaries) and contract design impact the current regulation. Expected outcomes of this project include a clear scholarly understanding of how to redesign the regulatory system to deliver better environmental outcomes for less public funds. The insights gained should provide significant benefits to both Federal and State Australian policymakers (as well as policymakers worldwide) on the design and implementation of carbon offsetting mechanisms.Read moreRead less
Information acquisition and voting behaviour. This project aims to understand citizens’ decisions to acquire information about different policy proposals within a democracy and how such information affects their voting behaviour. Proper democracies rely on the informed participation of their citizens in the political debate and political institutions. The project intends to provide formal theories of information acquisition together with empirical evidence on how voting decisions are shaped by t ....Information acquisition and voting behaviour. This project aims to understand citizens’ decisions to acquire information about different policy proposals within a democracy and how such information affects their voting behaviour. Proper democracies rely on the informed participation of their citizens in the political debate and political institutions. The project intends to provide formal theories of information acquisition together with empirical evidence on how voting decisions are shaped by the quantity and quality of information. Understanding how citizens decide to acquire information would help devise policies to reduce polarisation and improve the quality of the political debate and the democracy.Read moreRead less