Discrimination in Policing: Evidences from Natural Experiments. Ensuring that institutions are discrimination-free is key for the harmony of a society and the strength of a nation’s social contract. This research aims to investigate whether Australian law enforcement discriminates against certain groups and to explore the mechanisms explaining how it decides with whom to strictly enforce the law and
with whom to be lenient. This research program focuses on speeding fines as they offer unique nat ....Discrimination in Policing: Evidences from Natural Experiments. Ensuring that institutions are discrimination-free is key for the harmony of a society and the strength of a nation’s social contract. This research aims to investigate whether Australian law enforcement discriminates against certain groups and to explore the mechanisms explaining how it decides with whom to strictly enforce the law and
with whom to be lenient. This research program focuses on speeding fines as they offer unique natural experiments allowing rigorous exploration of these issues. The expected outcome is a better understanding of discrimination in Australia and the factors explaining it, which should contribute to better policy design and lead to more equitable treatment for all Australians.Read moreRead less
Government, Institutions and Economic Activity: A Long Term Analysis. Using national and regional data for 30 to 50 countries over multiple centuries, this project will examine the effects of itemised government expenditure and revenue on productivity, investment, saving, labour force participation and research and development. The results are expected to shed light on the macroeconomic effects of different revenue and spending categories (education, transfers, and so on). In addition, the proje ....Government, Institutions and Economic Activity: A Long Term Analysis. Using national and regional data for 30 to 50 countries over multiple centuries, this project will examine the effects of itemised government expenditure and revenue on productivity, investment, saving, labour force participation and research and development. The results are expected to shed light on the macroeconomic effects of different revenue and spending categories (education, transfers, and so on). In addition, the project aims to determine which factors have been responsible for the increase of government size over the past two centuries. The results aim to further reveal which government revenue and expenditure items are most conducive to economic welfare and growth.Read moreRead less
The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to deve ....The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to develop a view of humans' cooperative behaviour that unites several strands of economics literature and offers new insights about how institutions that counter free-riding and rent-seeking arise and are maintained.Read moreRead less
Applying satellite luminosity data to analyse the redistributive aspects of corruption and rent-seeking. This project applies satellite luminosity data as a proxy for regional economic activity to analyse the redistributive effects of political rent-seeking, corruption and the shadow economy. This project will identify the beneficiaries of rent-seeking, the sources of these rents and political institutions that reduce rent-seeking activities.