Understanding and Improving Teacher Quality. The quality of Australia's schooling system is a key determinant of skills in the economy, affecting economic growth, unemployment and inequality. With 3 percent of GDP currently devoted to primary and secondary education, improving educational productivity could lead to enormous gains. International evidence suggests that a promising approach to improving our education system is to boost teacher quality, yet we currently know little about the differe ....Understanding and Improving Teacher Quality. The quality of Australia's schooling system is a key determinant of skills in the economy, affecting economic growth, unemployment and inequality. With 3 percent of GDP currently devoted to primary and secondary education, improving educational productivity could lead to enormous gains. International evidence suggests that a promising approach to improving our education system is to boost teacher quality, yet we currently know little about the differences between the best and worst teachers. With large numbers of teachers due to retire in the next decade, now is an ideal time to learn more about teacher quality, and implement policies to ensure that the calibre of the teaching profession is as good as it can be.Read moreRead less
Literacy and Numeracy, Schooling, Neighbourhoods and Labour Market Success. Our research will assess the role of literacy and numeracy in explaining the educational attainment and labour markets outcomes of young Australians, after accounting for background characteristics and school and neighbourhood effects. By exploiting differences in Australian jurisdictions? school structures, it will enable, for the first time, the direct estimation of the effect of schooling on literacy and numeracy. T ....Literacy and Numeracy, Schooling, Neighbourhoods and Labour Market Success. Our research will assess the role of literacy and numeracy in explaining the educational attainment and labour markets outcomes of young Australians, after accounting for background characteristics and school and neighbourhood effects. By exploiting differences in Australian jurisdictions? school structures, it will enable, for the first time, the direct estimation of the effect of schooling on literacy and numeracy. This will clarify the role of literacy and numeracy in subsequent decisions to acquire more human capital through education. This will enable more precise estimates of the contribution of literacy and numeracy to subsequent labour market outcomes achieved by young Australians.Read moreRead less
Modelling the Impact of Home and Market Productivities on Employment Status, Part-time and Full-time Wages, and Household Formation. Australia has one of the highest proportions of part-time workers of OECD countries. The project aims to investigate, both theoretically and empirically, the determinants of full-time/part-time wage differentials, and of employment status and household formation. This will be done in a new framework that incorporates demand and supply side factors; that explicitly ....Modelling the Impact of Home and Market Productivities on Employment Status, Part-time and Full-time Wages, and Household Formation. Australia has one of the highest proportions of part-time workers of OECD countries. The project aims to investigate, both theoretically and empirically, the determinants of full-time/part-time wage differentials, and of employment status and household formation. This will be done in a new framework that incorporates demand and supply side factors; that explicitly allows for a distribution of productivities across home and market production; and that allows for the augmentation of workplace productivity by investment in human capital. The study will produce new models and empirical results, and contribute to rigorous, informed debate on these important issues.Read moreRead less
The impact of income support design on the outcomes of children and youth. This project aims to assess how children from low-income families are affected by welfare policy design in Australia – specifically, by policy intended to influence welfare payment receipt and workforce participation of their parent(s). Causal impacts of policy design on children will be identified and evaluated using unique administrative and survey data, and treating recent welfare reforms in Australia as natural experi ....The impact of income support design on the outcomes of children and youth. This project aims to assess how children from low-income families are affected by welfare policy design in Australia – specifically, by policy intended to influence welfare payment receipt and workforce participation of their parent(s). Causal impacts of policy design on children will be identified and evaluated using unique administrative and survey data, and treating recent welfare reforms in Australia as natural experiments.. This will be the first comprehensive Australian analysis of intergenerational impacts of welfare policy design.Read moreRead less
Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia: Patterns, Consequences and Policy Intervention. China and Indonesia are two of Australia's most important neighbours. Their process of economic development and the social and political stability have tremendous impact on Australia's economic performance and prosperity. Assisting China and Indonesia to effectively manage the unprecedented large scale rural-urban migration is consistent with Australia's own interest. This project will lead to important ....Rural-Urban Migration in China and Indonesia: Patterns, Consequences and Policy Intervention. China and Indonesia are two of Australia's most important neighbours. Their process of economic development and the social and political stability have tremendous impact on Australia's economic performance and prosperity. Assisting China and Indonesia to effectively manage the unprecedented large scale rural-urban migration is consistent with Australia's own interest. This project will lead to important policy analyses that help the effective and efficient allocation of Australia's development aid budget. It will also build research and policy collaborations and cross-fertilisation amongst Australian government agencies, the Chinese government agencies in Indonesia as well as domestic and international research institutes.Read moreRead less
ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. New solutions are needed to underpin the Australian social ideal of a fair go, and to drive future global economic productivity. The Australian Productivity Commission identifies deep and persistent disadvantage as a significant problem in Australia given the failure of growing national prosperity over the past two decades to benefit underprivileged Australians. Social disadvantage is a global challenge. This Centre will ad ....ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. New solutions are needed to underpin the Australian social ideal of a fair go, and to drive future global economic productivity. The Australian Productivity Commission identifies deep and persistent disadvantage as a significant problem in Australia given the failure of growing national prosperity over the past two decades to benefit underprivileged Australians. Social disadvantage is a global challenge. This Centre will advance basic, applied and translational research to reduce intergenerational and long-term disadvantage. Through the maturation of longitudinal datasets and advanced data integration we can follow the journeys of Australian families over generations and across the life course. This data will provide evidence for new policies and make a real difference to the lives of children and families.Read moreRead less
PATHWAYS TO IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS UNDERLYING SCHOOL PARTICIPATION. This project aims to provide an economic analysis of social environmental and institutional factors associated with educational participation of Indigenous and other Australian youth. The incentives for Indigenous youth to attend school, include: local labour market conditions, and the extent/nature of Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system. B ....PATHWAYS TO IMPROVED EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: SOCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS UNDERLYING SCHOOL PARTICIPATION. This project aims to provide an economic analysis of social environmental and institutional factors associated with educational participation of Indigenous and other Australian youth. The incentives for Indigenous youth to attend school, include: local labour market conditions, and the extent/nature of Indigenous interaction with the criminal justice system. By identifying the relative importance of the factors underlying education, policy can be directed to reducing dependence on welfare by enhancing their competitiveness in the mainstream labour market. The resulting increase in social inclusion of Indigenous people is no doubt a pre-condition for achieving a lasting reconciliation of Indigenous and other Australians.Read moreRead less
How do macroeconomic fluctuations affect the educational choices of young Australians? The 1990-1991 recession, recent evidence, and econometric issues. The educational choices of young people are crucial for any nation's future. The project's empirical findings will inform public policy, particularly in the areas of education and training and youth unemployment. The research will help policy makers target people who need extra support in tough times and help determine the demand for different k ....How do macroeconomic fluctuations affect the educational choices of young Australians? The 1990-1991 recession, recent evidence, and econometric issues. The educational choices of young people are crucial for any nation's future. The project's empirical findings will inform public policy, particularly in the areas of education and training and youth unemployment. The research will help policy makers target people who need extra support in tough times and help determine the demand for different kinds of education. The findings have implications for future policies aimed at reducing inequality. The project's methodological contributions will lead to better and more reliable research in economics and other fields such as biology and engineering. The findings will be suitable for the top economics journals and contribute to Australia's standing in the academic community.Read moreRead less