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
Efficient pooling of cross-section and time series data using Bayesian machine learning with two econometric applications. In this project, we adapt a Bayesian modelling strategy, namely the minimum message length principle, to the problem of efficient partitioning of economic units, such as firms or countries, into groups whose behavioural patterns are similar within each group but distinct across groups. This methodology can incorporate the requirements of economic theory. The resulting softwa ....Efficient pooling of cross-section and time series data using Bayesian machine learning with two econometric applications. In this project, we adapt a Bayesian modelling strategy, namely the minimum message length principle, to the problem of efficient partitioning of economic units, such as firms or countries, into groups whose behavioural patterns are similar within each group but distinct across groups. This methodology can incorporate the requirements of economic theory. The resulting software will be developed for the Web. We consider two specific applications, namely modelling gasoline demand in OECD countries, and finding the foreign factor with the most predictive power for the growth rate of the Australian economy. The second application is of considerable national interest.Read moreRead less
Job retention and advancement of disadvantaged job-seekers. This project will use empirical methods to help determine what is necessary for job retainment and career advancement of disadvantaged jobseekers. Job retainment and advancement are essential to prolonged workforce participation and the development of human capital of disadvantaged jobseekers re-entering the workforce. Understanding and supporting the drivers of workforce participation is identified as a National Research Priority. Ther ....Job retention and advancement of disadvantaged job-seekers. This project will use empirical methods to help determine what is necessary for job retainment and career advancement of disadvantaged jobseekers. Job retainment and advancement are essential to prolonged workforce participation and the development of human capital of disadvantaged jobseekers re-entering the workforce. Understanding and supporting the drivers of workforce participation is identified as a National Research Priority. Therefore, the project findings will be of considerable importance to employment policy development in Australia to help ensure that future policy developments improve the human capital of disadvantaged entrants to the labour market and alleviate longer-term poverty and social exclusion. Read moreRead less
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
Understanding the Labour Market for Professional Nurses: An Economic Analysis of Skill Shortages, Nurse Retention and Turnover. There is currently a worldwide shortage of nurses. This shortage is particularly acute in a number of publicly dominated health care systems including the Australian, British and Canadian systems. Given that nurses are a key input in the production of health care and therefore health, the need to address this issue by increasing the number of school-leavers entering the ....Understanding the Labour Market for Professional Nurses: An Economic Analysis of Skill Shortages, Nurse Retention and Turnover. There is currently a worldwide shortage of nurses. This shortage is particularly acute in a number of publicly dominated health care systems including the Australian, British and Canadian systems. Given that nurses are a key input in the production of health care and therefore health, the need to address this issue by increasing the number of school-leavers entering the profession and/or improving the retention of training nurses is of paramount importance. This project will use high quality cross-sectional and longitudinal data on nurses to provide a detailed investigation of the retention and turnover behaviour of nurses and inform the policy debate.Read moreRead less
Consistent Space-Time Comparisons of Real Income. The project will result in internationally comparable macroeconomic data, spanning all years since 1950 and covering in excess of 120 countries. The Australian government, private sector and academic researchers will find from this project a wealth of economic information on Australia, its geographical neighbours and trading partners which can be used in assessing Australia's economic performance and role in a global context. Results from this pr ....Consistent Space-Time Comparisons of Real Income. The project will result in internationally comparable macroeconomic data, spanning all years since 1950 and covering in excess of 120 countries. The Australian government, private sector and academic researchers will find from this project a wealth of economic information on Australia, its geographical neighbours and trading partners which can be used in assessing Australia's economic performance and role in a global context. Results from this project will provide international organisations, multinationals and researchers with a much improved data set, to those currently available, thus enhancing the reputation of the research team, the University of Queensland and Australia. Read moreRead less
Construction of Consistent Panels of Real Gross Domestic Product and its Components at Current and Constant Prices. The Australian government, international organizations, private sector and academic researchers will find from this project a wealth of economic information on Australia, its geographical neighbours and trading partners which can be used in assessing Australia's economic performance and role in a global context. This project will result in internationally comparable real income, co ....Construction of Consistent Panels of Real Gross Domestic Product and its Components at Current and Constant Prices. The Australian government, international organizations, private sector and academic researchers will find from this project a wealth of economic information on Australia, its geographical neighbours and trading partners which can be used in assessing Australia's economic performance and role in a global context. This project will result in internationally comparable real income, consumption, investment and government expenditures spanning all years since 1950 and covering over 180 countries based on an econometric methodology that is superior to those currently in use. Successful completion of the project will place the research team, the University of Queensland and Australia on the international map.Read moreRead less
An econometric analysis of the impact of education on health in developing countries. This project will provide empirical knowledge on whether education affects health over the life course in developing countries. This research will aid the design of more cost effective strategies aiming to reduce poverty and promote economic development, which will ultimately lead to a more prosperous and safe region and world.
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
Understanding Dynamic Aspects of Economic Inequality. This project aims to study dynamic aspects of inequality in Australia by exploring the changes in labour and housing market conditions and their relation to the changes in the distribution of income and wealth over the last decade. The project also aims to develop new econometric techniques to examine the factors that are responsible for the changes in the distribution of income and wealth and a range of labour and housing market outcomes. Pa ....Understanding Dynamic Aspects of Economic Inequality. This project aims to study dynamic aspects of inequality in Australia by exploring the changes in labour and housing market conditions and their relation to the changes in the distribution of income and wealth over the last decade. The project also aims to develop new econometric techniques to examine the factors that are responsible for the changes in the distribution of income and wealth and a range of labour and housing market outcomes. Particular attention will be paid to the role of the changes in individual-specific characteristics (such as education, age, employment status, and occupation) and neighbourhood-specific characteristics (such as house prices and population ageing) in producing inequality.Read moreRead less