The paradox of choice: Unravelling complex superannuation decisions. Australia has been a world-leader in retirement savings policy, but there remains a pervasive lack of understanding about how best to communicate complex financial information to decision-makers, along with a push by government for clearer disclosure and greater financial literacy. This project will inform regulators and the superannuation industry on how choices are made and how to present clearer, better-designed information ....The paradox of choice: Unravelling complex superannuation decisions. Australia has been a world-leader in retirement savings policy, but there remains a pervasive lack of understanding about how best to communicate complex financial information to decision-makers, along with a push by government for clearer disclosure and greater financial literacy. This project will inform regulators and the superannuation industry on how choices are made and how to present clearer, better-designed information to be understood by ordinary participants, thus encouraging active, well-informed participation rather than passive 'default' decisions. More efficient investment and benefit choices will improve the economic welfare of retirees, reduce the burden on the working-age population and improve fiscal sustainability.Read moreRead less
Consumption, Financial Wealth and Housing Wealth over the Long Run. Our research gives economic policymakers a better understanding of the linkage between housing and financial market fluctuations and economic stability in Australia. In this, it focuses on how long run social trends have helped or hindered macroeconomic stability. It promotes a deeper knowledge of consumption patterns across different age groups, with a focus on financial security of retirees. Finally, we make a basic contrib ....Consumption, Financial Wealth and Housing Wealth over the Long Run. Our research gives economic policymakers a better understanding of the linkage between housing and financial market fluctuations and economic stability in Australia. In this, it focuses on how long run social trends have helped or hindered macroeconomic stability. It promotes a deeper knowledge of consumption patterns across different age groups, with a focus on financial security of retirees. Finally, we make a basic contribution to basic research by developing new techniques for examining panel datasets.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100644
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,000.00
Summary
Nonlinear econometric panel models with fixed effects. This project aims to develop effective quantitative methods tailored to policy questions in public health and international trade. Many nonlinear panel models are essential to answer policy-relevant research questions, but cannot estimate key objects of interest, while default procedures for inference are often misleading, making magnitudes of identified effects impossible to quantify. This project will develop methods to overcome these limi ....Nonlinear econometric panel models with fixed effects. This project aims to develop effective quantitative methods tailored to policy questions in public health and international trade. Many nonlinear panel models are essential to answer policy-relevant research questions, but cannot estimate key objects of interest, while default procedures for inference are often misleading, making magnitudes of identified effects impossible to quantify. This project will develop methods to overcome these limitations for many econometric models, and apply them to important models in health economics and international trade. Such improvements are expected to reduce risk in public decision-making, resulting in better and more effective policies.Read moreRead less
The econometrics of gravity models of trade: a re-assessment. This research will lead a much greater understanding of the empirical determinants of trade flows between countries. This project will apply cutting-edge data econometric techniques to the popular Gravity model of international trade flows. These more appropriate techniques will shed more light on some previous puzzling findings, such that regional trade agreements had little, or no, affect on trade.
Insecure Work and the Mental Health of Workers and their Families. This project aims to explore the relationship between insecure work and mental health by applying advanced econometric methods to large survey and administrative datasets, and newly collected survey data. This project expects to provide causal policy-relevant estimates of how insecure work is affecting the wellbeing of workers and their families, and for whom the effects are most harmful. It also expects to inform on how poor men ....Insecure Work and the Mental Health of Workers and their Families. This project aims to explore the relationship between insecure work and mental health by applying advanced econometric methods to large survey and administrative datasets, and newly collected survey data. This project expects to provide causal policy-relevant estimates of how insecure work is affecting the wellbeing of workers and their families, and for whom the effects are most harmful. It also expects to inform on how poor mental health influences the types of jobs that people enter into. This should provide significant benefits, including evidence needed to improve existing workplace and employment programs, and evidence ensuring that assistance is efficiently targeted to those workers and industries with the greatest need.Read moreRead less
The impact of crime on the mental wellbeing of communities. Considering not only the direct impact of crime on the victims but also the indirect consequences of living in a community with a higher crime rate may in fact lead to a more accurate analysis of the size of the consequences of criminal activities on the society. Further, it may also be the case that the negative externality of crime on non-victims is much larger for some crimes than for others. If this were the case, it could have impl ....The impact of crime on the mental wellbeing of communities. Considering not only the direct impact of crime on the victims but also the indirect consequences of living in a community with a higher crime rate may in fact lead to a more accurate analysis of the size of the consequences of criminal activities on the society. Further, it may also be the case that the negative externality of crime on non-victims is much larger for some crimes than for others. If this were the case, it could have implications for the way in which police resources are presently distributed across different crimes. Better understanding the total societal cost of crime - to both victims and non-victims - could therefore help improve public policy. Read moreRead less
Work-related Training in Australia. The proposal will improve our understanding of the relationship between work-related training and wage formation, wage growth and inequality in Australia. It will contribute to a better-informed public debate about how to make Australia a knowledge-based economy and will ultimately improve economic policies that are relevant to skills acquisition. This has the potential to have a significant impact on the economic well-being and quality of life of many individ ....Work-related Training in Australia. The proposal will improve our understanding of the relationship between work-related training and wage formation, wage growth and inequality in Australia. It will contribute to a better-informed public debate about how to make Australia a knowledge-based economy and will ultimately improve economic policies that are relevant to skills acquisition. This has the potential to have a significant impact on the economic well-being and quality of life of many individuals and households in the economy, thereby contributing to the National Research Priorities, especially 'Strengthening Australia's Social and Economic Fabric'. Read moreRead less
Living on the Margin: The Relationship between Mental Health and Work in Australia. This project will assess the relationship between Australians' mental health and their work, for example, employment status, work conditions and hours. The study is the first to exploit the detailed timing of mental health and employment transitions to identify whether poor labour market outcomes lead to poor mental health or whether the reverse is true. New Australian data will be used to understand whether the ....Living on the Margin: The Relationship between Mental Health and Work in Australia. This project will assess the relationship between Australians' mental health and their work, for example, employment status, work conditions and hours. The study is the first to exploit the detailed timing of mental health and employment transitions to identify whether poor labour market outcomes lead to poor mental health or whether the reverse is true. New Australian data will be used to understand whether the link between mental health and work adds to the economic vulnerability of families and those at risk of homelessness. The results will advance our understanding of the way that mental health affects overall economic well-being and will inform current policy initiatives to promote economic participation and good mental health.Read moreRead less
Non-cognitive skills and human capital investments: the importance of individuals' sense of control. This project investigates whether people's sense of control over their lives influences their decision to get an education, do job training, migrate, or adopt a healthy lifestyle. The results are important in helping policymakers to understand why some individuals work harder than others to ensure good outcomes for themselves.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100463
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,364.00
Summary
Exceptional upward mobility against all odds: Non-cognitive skills and early-childhood disadvantage. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who exceed their parents' social achievements are pioneers. The aims of this project are to introduce this exceptional upward mobility as an alternative measure of economic success and to study its distribution and determinants. The main hypothesis is that these pioneers, apart from being intelligent, have a set of non-cognitive skills that mak ....Exceptional upward mobility against all odds: Non-cognitive skills and early-childhood disadvantage. Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who exceed their parents' social achievements are pioneers. The aims of this project are to introduce this exceptional upward mobility as an alternative measure of economic success and to study its distribution and determinants. The main hypothesis is that these pioneers, apart from being intelligent, have a set of non-cognitive skills that make them successful. This will be the first study to analyse these individuals and the personality-related determinants of their life trajectories. It will contribute to understand the various pathways via which non-cognitive skills affect upward mobility, and assess their malleability during childhood or adolescence.Read moreRead less