Privatisation, Regulation and Institutional Structures of Airports: An International Study. Airports are typically locational monopolies possessing strong market power - abuse of this is controlled by public ownership, regulation or not-for-profit operation. All these pose problems for achieving economic efficiency while meeting environmental standards. Design of efficient regulation, and the Australian experiment with price monitored private airports, will be analysed. Using data from Austr ....Privatisation, Regulation and Institutional Structures of Airports: An International Study. Airports are typically locational monopolies possessing strong market power - abuse of this is controlled by public ownership, regulation or not-for-profit operation. All these pose problems for achieving economic efficiency while meeting environmental standards. Design of efficient regulation, and the Australian experiment with price monitored private airports, will be analysed. Using data from Australian and overseas airports, the performance of airports operating under the alternative systems will be evaluated, enabling an assessment of performance and privatisation; a comparison of private, public and not-for-profit systems; and pointing out how better governance options can be designed.Read moreRead less
Estimation of School Cost Functions. The main objective of the project is to determine the efficient school size for government schools. To achieve this cost functions for WA government schools will be estimated. Knowledge of the cost functions will shed light on whether regional non-government schools are disadvantaged by Federal and Sate funding models, the impact of school size and expenditure on outcomes and the extent of savings or costs as the enrolment shares of private and public schools ....Estimation of School Cost Functions. The main objective of the project is to determine the efficient school size for government schools. To achieve this cost functions for WA government schools will be estimated. Knowledge of the cost functions will shed light on whether regional non-government schools are disadvantaged by Federal and Sate funding models, the impact of school size and expenditure on outcomes and the extent of savings or costs as the enrolment shares of private and public schools changes. Knowledge of the latter is critical to the proper functioning of the Enrolment Benchmark Adjustment (EBA) used to address cost-shifting in Commonwealth-State education funding arrangements.Read moreRead less
Survival of Australia's Family Farms: Capital Raising and Credit Access. Family-run farms are an integral part of rural Australia. Given the evolving global financial crisis and the expanding complexity of managing a family farm in Australia due to increasing competition from large incorporated holdings and overseas producers, a persisting drought, rising climate variability, and constraining carbon markets, one critical issue for the sustainability of family farms is their ability to access an ....Survival of Australia's Family Farms: Capital Raising and Credit Access. Family-run farms are an integral part of rural Australia. Given the evolving global financial crisis and the expanding complexity of managing a family farm in Australia due to increasing competition from large incorporated holdings and overseas producers, a persisting drought, rising climate variability, and constraining carbon markets, one critical issue for the sustainability of family farms is their ability to access and manage successfully competitive sources of credit. This study examines the extent to which family farms are currently at a disadvantage, and what policies could be implemented to ensure their sustainability into the future via access to competitive lines of credit and appropriate financial management practices.Read moreRead less
Tackling the Tough Problems in Productivity Measurement: Infrastructure, Services and R&D. Productivity is seen as a main driver of economic growth and welfare improvements. Productivity indexes are used in a variety of policy contexts, in particular in determining the effectiveness (or otherwise) of government policies. Most industrialized countries have productivity accounts, but measurement problems persist and may even be more problematic in the future given an expansion in new goods and ser ....Tackling the Tough Problems in Productivity Measurement: Infrastructure, Services and R&D. Productivity is seen as a main driver of economic growth and welfare improvements. Productivity indexes are used in a variety of policy contexts, in particular in determining the effectiveness (or otherwise) of government policies. Most industrialized countries have productivity accounts, but measurement problems persist and may even be more problematic in the future given an expansion in new goods and services. Improved productivity measurement and an improved understanding of its sources can inform aggregate and regional policy. The project includes collaboration with the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Productivity Commission, with the participation of the Reserve Bank of Australia.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
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
The Consistency of Price Regulation of Infrastructure Businesses across Australian Jurisdictions. The spread of regulation across the majority of the economy necessitates that regulatory policy should be consistent across jurisdictions and industries. This project would offer policy and regulatory institutions quantitative analysis of the consistency of regulatory decisions across Australia. This research would develop a new database that would maintain and supply details on regulatory decision ....The Consistency of Price Regulation of Infrastructure Businesses across Australian Jurisdictions. The spread of regulation across the majority of the economy necessitates that regulatory policy should be consistent across jurisdictions and industries. This project would offer policy and regulatory institutions quantitative analysis of the consistency of regulatory decisions across Australia. This research would develop a new database that would maintain and supply details on regulatory decisions across jurisdictions and industries. This project would enable the new Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics (ACORE) to supply independent database and quantitative analysis from an open, fully documented, scholarly environment to Australia's policy and regulatory agencies and its regulated firms.Read moreRead less
The Market for Technology in Australia. Over the last 5 years, formalised markets for technology have accelerated in the US. However, there is no recognised formal market in Australia. Results from our primary data collection and analysis will highlight whether deficiencies in the market for technology are creating obstacles for the commercialisation of Australian technology. This is a particularly important issue for Australia given our relative isolation arising from geographical distance and ....The Market for Technology in Australia. Over the last 5 years, formalised markets for technology have accelerated in the US. However, there is no recognised formal market in Australia. Results from our primary data collection and analysis will highlight whether deficiencies in the market for technology are creating obstacles for the commercialisation of Australian technology. This is a particularly important issue for Australia given our relative isolation arising from geographical distance and lack of attachment to a major trading bloc such as the EU or NAFTA.Read moreRead less
Information and market price manipulation in trade. As we can see from the financial crisis, speculative trading in financial markets can have real world effects. Inside traders can exploit their information for more profits. At this stage, we do not fully understand the role of diverse information in the financial system and we need better ways to model price manipulation and information in a dynamic setting. This proposal seeks to supply a reference framework for analyzing price manipulatio ....Information and market price manipulation in trade. As we can see from the financial crisis, speculative trading in financial markets can have real world effects. Inside traders can exploit their information for more profits. At this stage, we do not fully understand the role of diverse information in the financial system and we need better ways to model price manipulation and information in a dynamic setting. This proposal seeks to supply a reference framework for analyzing price manipulation. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the informed trader's dynamic strategy. By strengthening this research area, this project will give new momentum to Australian economic theory.Read moreRead less
Innovation, Competition and Economic Performance: Understanding the Dynamics of Industry Development. An improved understanding of the impact of innovation on competition and economic performance will inform the design of public policy in terms of industry assistance, research and development support, competition policy and regulatory activity. This will help ensure that the billions of dollars of private and public expenditure devoted to innovative activities and industry development has the gr ....Innovation, Competition and Economic Performance: Understanding the Dynamics of Industry Development. An improved understanding of the impact of innovation on competition and economic performance will inform the design of public policy in terms of industry assistance, research and development support, competition policy and regulatory activity. This will help ensure that the billions of dollars of private and public expenditure devoted to innovative activities and industry development has the greatest possible impact in terms of improved products, lower prices and the enhanced competitiveness of Australian businesses.Read moreRead less