Distributional Consequences of Mass-Market Higher Education in Business. Increased access to tertiary education has not been evaluated for its effects on the full spectrum of individuals served by the tertiary sector. Using longitudinal data on entire student populations at university business faculties, this project will provide the first Australian evidence on the trade-offs amongst the educational success of students with different levels of preparation that occur when those with poorer prep ....Distributional Consequences of Mass-Market Higher Education in Business. Increased access to tertiary education has not been evaluated for its effects on the full spectrum of individuals served by the tertiary sector. Using longitudinal data on entire student populations at university business faculties, this project will provide the first Australian evidence on the trade-offs amongst the educational success of students with different levels of preparation that occur when those with poorer preparation are added to classrooms. Short-term performance and medium-term attrition, a recent educational policy focus, will be evaluated. Theoretically grounded recommendations will result for undergraduate program design to suit a student population with varying levels of university preparation.Read moreRead less
Building flexible multivariate models and their application in Finance. The project will develop methods for analyzing the properties of dependent measurements that may evolve through time. The new methods will significantly improve on current best statistical practice and will be applied to important problems in the financial sector such as asset allocation and risk management. The financial sector is a vital part of the Australian economy and it is important to understand the joint behavior of ....Building flexible multivariate models and their application in Finance. The project will develop methods for analyzing the properties of dependent measurements that may evolve through time. The new methods will significantly improve on current best statistical practice and will be applied to important problems in the financial sector such as asset allocation and risk management. The financial sector is a vital part of the Australian economy and it is important to understand the joint behavior of financial assets in order to understand and allow for risk. The methods will have immediate application in other disciplines such as medicine, engineering and the environmental sciences. The project will train a postdoctoral student and three PhD students in cutting edge financial econometrics. Read moreRead less
The fundamental importance of foreign direct investment to Australia in the 21st century: Reforming treaty and dispute resolution practice. This project will evaluate the economic and legal risks associated with the Australian Government’s current policy on investor-state dispute settlement through multidisciplinary research, namely econometric modeling, empirical research through stakeholder surveys and interviews, as well as critical analysis of case law, treaties and regulatory approaches. Th ....The fundamental importance of foreign direct investment to Australia in the 21st century: Reforming treaty and dispute resolution practice. This project will evaluate the economic and legal risks associated with the Australian Government’s current policy on investor-state dispute settlement through multidisciplinary research, namely econometric modeling, empirical research through stakeholder surveys and interviews, as well as critical analysis of case law, treaties and regulatory approaches. The aim of this project is to identify optimal methods of investor-state dispute prevention, avoidance and resolution that efficiently cater to inbound and outbound investors as well as Australia as a whole. The goal is to promote a positive climate for investment inflows and outflows, while maintaining Australia's ability to take sovereign decisions on matters of public policy.Read moreRead less
Effects of Maternal Work, Day Care Use and Other Investments in Children on Child Cognitive Outcomes. Later life outcomes due to investments by individuals and/or society in children is crucial to many countries, including Australia. Appropriate policy responses require reliable and valid estimates of the likely effects of individual investments and policy interventions. Despite many research reports on this topic, almost all do not control for selection bias (eg, high achieving mothers tend to ....Effects of Maternal Work, Day Care Use and Other Investments in Children on Child Cognitive Outcomes. Later life outcomes due to investments by individuals and/or society in children is crucial to many countries, including Australia. Appropriate policy responses require reliable and valid estimates of the likely effects of individual investments and policy interventions. Despite many research reports on this topic, almost all do not control for selection bias (eg, high achieving mothers tend to put children in day care), which is a feature of our work. Thus, our empirical results will have major policy implications, and will suggest ways to obtain similar results for Australian environments. Read moreRead less
Regional Comparisons of Prices, Income and Growth in Australia. We will measure how much the cost of living and rates of inflation differ across the eight capital cities in Australia, and then test whether real per capita income levels across cities are converging or diverging over time. To make such comparisons, the ABS's databases on each capital city must first be harmonized. While doing this we will review the ABS's current procedures for data construction and quality assessment. A further a ....Regional Comparisons of Prices, Income and Growth in Australia. We will measure how much the cost of living and rates of inflation differ across the eight capital cities in Australia, and then test whether real per capita income levels across cities are converging or diverging over time. To make such comparisons, the ABS's databases on each capital city must first be harmonized. While doing this we will review the ABS's current procedures for data construction and quality assessment. A further aim is to show how statistical modelling using spanning-tree methods can resolve the conflict that arises for price indexes constructed on panel data sets between temporal and spatial consistency.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100748
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Robust inference for behavioural models in economics and finance. The project will develop novel methodology to estimate behavioural models in economics and finance, which may give better insights on economic development. Knowledge gained from this project will be useful for Australian industries, banks, investment funds and the government for the effective formulation of their business strategies and policies.
Managing the risk of price spikes, dependences and contagion effects in australian electricity markets. Australian electricity markets are more volatile and spike-prone than other comparable markets. Price spikes account for large parts of total price variation, and companies that are unprepared to manage these risks adequately face potentially substantial losses. The economic reality of price spikes in our interconnected electricity markets which are small and geographically isolated, unlike th ....Managing the risk of price spikes, dependences and contagion effects in australian electricity markets. Australian electricity markets are more volatile and spike-prone than other comparable markets. Price spikes account for large parts of total price variation, and companies that are unprepared to manage these risks adequately face potentially substantial losses. The economic reality of price spikes in our interconnected electricity markets which are small and geographically isolated, unlike the proximate markets of Europe and North America, emphasises the imperative of this Australian-focused research. Results will enable forecasting of extreme prices and enable market participants to manage better their risks, in Australia's unique electricity environment, and reduce chances of large losses or default.Read moreRead less
Back door listings: from hot rocks to hot stocks. The purpose of this research is to explain the incidence, characteristics and performance of firms who engaged in back door listings in the late 1990s. A back door listings is a means whereby a private company becomes listed by a merger with a public corporation.
We are focussing on a research topic that has not been examined at all in academic research. This is despite the significance of the going public process and mergers. We will provide e ....Back door listings: from hot rocks to hot stocks. The purpose of this research is to explain the incidence, characteristics and performance of firms who engaged in back door listings in the late 1990s. A back door listings is a means whereby a private company becomes listed by a merger with a public corporation.
We are focussing on a research topic that has not been examined at all in academic research. This is despite the significance of the going public process and mergers. We will provide evidence on the performance of back door listings, and our results will be the basis of suggestions to market regulators and future researchers.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
The predictive, behavioural and economic forecasting performance of alternative credit risk and bankruptcy models: a global study. This study empirically evaluates a range of "new age" credit risk models using a large global sample of failed firms and bond ratings data. The study will provide a substantive body of empirical evidence to assist regulators, creditors, investors and other users assess the merits, strengths and limitations of alternative risk modelling approaches.