Drug Companies, their Patenting Strategies and High-Cost Pharmaceuticals: An Empirical Investigation. Pharmaceuticals are a vital part of clinical services that maintain and improve Australia's health; they are also costly, absorbing a substantial proportion of the national health expenditures. By conferring market protections, the patent system helps the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals to recoup the high costs of research associated with developing new products. Abuses of the patent system by ....Drug Companies, their Patenting Strategies and High-Cost Pharmaceuticals: An Empirical Investigation. Pharmaceuticals are a vital part of clinical services that maintain and improve Australia's health; they are also costly, absorbing a substantial proportion of the national health expenditures. By conferring market protections, the patent system helps the manufacturers of pharmaceuticals to recoup the high costs of research associated with developing new products. Abuses of the patent system by pharmaceutical manufacturers have the potential to stifle competition and inappropriately raise the costs of pharmaceuticals to society. This innovative, cross-disciplinary, research will investigate the existence of abusive patents and, if necessary, propose reforms that will prevent further abuse and reduce the size of the health budget. Read moreRead less
A longitudinal study of the housing stability of the homeless in Victoria. This is a longitudinal panel study of the homeless in urban and rural Victoria; it will interview residents of transitional housing over two years, analysing factors that contribute to success or failure in achieving housing stability. The research starts from the assumption that homelessness is not simply a condition of being without shelter at a specific point in time, but is a situation of chronic housing instability. ....A longitudinal study of the housing stability of the homeless in Victoria. This is a longitudinal panel study of the homeless in urban and rural Victoria; it will interview residents of transitional housing over two years, analysing factors that contribute to success or failure in achieving housing stability. The research starts from the assumption that homelessness is not simply a condition of being without shelter at a specific point in time, but is a situation of chronic housing instability. The project proposal has the support of a consortium of housing agencies in urban and rural Victoria who anticipate specific outcomes in service design evaluation and in detailed knowledge about the causes of homelessness.Read moreRead less
Financing aged care in Australia: Mitigating fiscal gaps and maintaining intergenerational equity. Aged care has been identified as a significant contributor to the growing fiscal problems predicted for Australian government finances during the next 10 to 20 years. This project will develop the cutting-edge modelling tools needed to allow Australia to make informed decisions about possible reforms in aged care financing. It will create significant national benefits by allowing detailed assessmen ....Financing aged care in Australia: Mitigating fiscal gaps and maintaining intergenerational equity. Aged care has been identified as a significant contributor to the growing fiscal problems predicted for Australian government finances during the next 10 to 20 years. This project will develop the cutting-edge modelling tools needed to allow Australia to make informed decisions about possible reforms in aged care financing. It will create significant national benefits by allowing detailed assessment of the distributional impact of a wide range of possible reforms, including how the outcomes of any policy change will affect disadvantaged sections of our society, whether different generations will be fairly treated, and the impact by gender.Read moreRead less
Rural General Practitioners in Australia: Costs, Returns and Relative Work Value of Rural Compared with Urban Private General Practitioners. Aims:
* To conduct a rurally focused study of GPs in Australia, to address rural GPs' concerns about remuneration, and consumers' concerns about access to rural GPs.
* To examine costs, prices, returns and work value differentials between rural and urban GPs.
Significance:
* The first systematic economic evaluation of rural GP remuneration and work valu ....Rural General Practitioners in Australia: Costs, Returns and Relative Work Value of Rural Compared with Urban Private General Practitioners. Aims:
* To conduct a rurally focused study of GPs in Australia, to address rural GPs' concerns about remuneration, and consumers' concerns about access to rural GPs.
* To examine costs, prices, returns and work value differentials between rural and urban GPs.
Significance:
* The first systematic economic evaluation of rural GP remuneration and work value in Australia.
* Reflection of the profession's geographical heterogeneity in policy recommendations.
Expected outcomes:
* Improved measurements of effects of geographcial location on costs, remuneration and relative work value of rural GPs.
* Improved understanding of effects of differential rates of GP bulk-billing.Read moreRead less
Water for Australia's future - reducing fears and increasing acceptance of alternative water sources through public information. Australia is in the midst of a water crisis. Available water sources are dwindling. Alternative water sources are key to Australia's sustainable water future. National and international experiences show that while alternative water treatment technologies are available, public acceptance is the most important factor to determining the successful implementation of altern ....Water for Australia's future - reducing fears and increasing acceptance of alternative water sources through public information. Australia is in the midst of a water crisis. Available water sources are dwindling. Alternative water sources are key to Australia's sustainable water future. National and international experiences show that while alternative water treatment technologies are available, public acceptance is the most important factor to determining the successful implementation of alternative water schemes. This project will study public acceptance of a range of alternative water schemes in Australia. It will identify barriers to adoption of these alternatives and highlight preferred options by the community. The information needs of Australians will be identified and optimal communication strategies developed.Read moreRead less
Reducing irresponsible gambling: Changing a justification to an avoidance strategy. The results will aid policy makers in their assessment of harm minimisation strategies such as voluntary self-exclusion. Discovering when 'flawed' thinking about previous gambling episodes can be used to justify potentially irresponsible gambling decisions will assist in the design of new prevention measures for irresponsible gamblers and those at risk. The strategies developed here will be useful for gamblers to ....Reducing irresponsible gambling: Changing a justification to an avoidance strategy. The results will aid policy makers in their assessment of harm minimisation strategies such as voluntary self-exclusion. Discovering when 'flawed' thinking about previous gambling episodes can be used to justify potentially irresponsible gambling decisions will assist in the design of new prevention measures for irresponsible gamblers and those at risk. The strategies developed here will be useful for gamblers to empower themselves and avoid behaviour they will regret later. Australia will benefit from insights into how and why irresponsible episodes occur and how to prevent them. Read moreRead less
Resolving patients' complaints about hospitals: Responsive regulation by health ombudsmen. Ombudsmen help ensure integrity and accountability in societal institutions. This study of patients' complaints about hospitals to health ombudsmen in two states, and the responses of hospitals, will produce evidence on strategies for making hospitals more responsive to the public and more accountable for the quality of their care. Australia was a world leader in establishing health ombudsmen and this stud ....Resolving patients' complaints about hospitals: Responsive regulation by health ombudsmen. Ombudsmen help ensure integrity and accountability in societal institutions. This study of patients' complaints about hospitals to health ombudsmen in two states, and the responses of hospitals, will produce evidence on strategies for making hospitals more responsive to the public and more accountable for the quality of their care. Australia was a world leader in establishing health ombudsmen and this study will explore their impact upon the hospital system. Evidence-based strategies are needed to improve the accountability of service providers and regulators. Social and economic benefits flow from empowering patients and from improving hospital performance.Read moreRead less
Improving Government Policy Making and Needs-Based Delivery of Services: Innovative Techniques to Enhance Administrative Data by Adding Socioeconomic Status. This project will create major national benefits by illuminating whether there are significant differences in access to or usage of such key government services as health and education by socio-economic status. Currently, most departments do not fully exploit their administrative data to answer such questions, because of the difficulty of ....Improving Government Policy Making and Needs-Based Delivery of Services: Innovative Techniques to Enhance Administrative Data by Adding Socioeconomic Status. This project will create major national benefits by illuminating whether there are significant differences in access to or usage of such key government services as health and education by socio-economic status. Currently, most departments do not fully exploit their administrative data to answer such questions, because of the difficulty of identifying the socio-economic status of users. This project will help Australia in its on-going but recently intensified efforts to make better use of its administrative data, resulting in a more efficient use of our data resources; better targeting of scare government resources; and improved identification of those in greatest need. Read moreRead less
The impact of small business policy systems on small firm innovation and competitiveness in critical industry sectors. This research will examine the proposition that small business policy systems affect the structure and strategy of SMEs and in turn the sectors within which SMEs innovate and specialise. It will involve an analysis of SME policy systems; sectors of SME specialisation based on patent data, annual reports and firm web sites; and a longitudinal study of the strategy and structure o ....The impact of small business policy systems on small firm innovation and competitiveness in critical industry sectors. This research will examine the proposition that small business policy systems affect the structure and strategy of SMEs and in turn the sectors within which SMEs innovate and specialise. It will involve an analysis of SME policy systems; sectors of SME specialisation based on patent data, annual reports and firm web sites; and a longitudinal study of the strategy and structure of 29 case study firms in 3 sectors in 3 countries based on in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings will provide a basis for improved policy advice concerning the mechanisms for encouraging small firm innovation and competitiveness in critical sectors.Read moreRead less
From economic benefit to social cost: Antecedents of irresponsible gambling. The social impact of gambling is a challenge for policy-makers. Australia's gambling expenditure in 2001 contributed $4.4 billion in tax revenue. This economic benefit however, is offset by significant social costs ($1.8 to $5.6 billion). We will identify when and how distorted memory for previous gambling outcomes and gaming machine accessibility can cause irresponsible gambling. The results can be used to make informe ....From economic benefit to social cost: Antecedents of irresponsible gambling. The social impact of gambling is a challenge for policy-makers. Australia's gambling expenditure in 2001 contributed $4.4 billion in tax revenue. This economic benefit however, is offset by significant social costs ($1.8 to $5.6 billion). We will identify when and how distorted memory for previous gambling outcomes and gaming machine accessibility can cause irresponsible gambling. The results can be used to make informed assessments of the social impact of increasing the accessibility of gambling opportunities on local communities. The results can also be used to understand how gambling that contributes to the economy of a community becomes a social cost.Read moreRead less