State-contingent analysis of productivity, efficiency and innovation. Productivity growth is a fundamental precondition for sustainable improvements in living standards. The main drivers of productivity growth are technological innovation and improvements in the efficiency of resource use. Effective public policy in this area requires identification of these components. This project develops improved productivity measurement methods that are applicable in economic environments characterised b ....State-contingent analysis of productivity, efficiency and innovation. Productivity growth is a fundamental precondition for sustainable improvements in living standards. The main drivers of productivity growth are technological innovation and improvements in the efficiency of resource use. Effective public policy in this area requires identification of these components. This project develops improved productivity measurement methods that are applicable in economic environments characterised by production and/or demand uncertainty. The methods will be used to obtain improved estimates of rates of innovation and changes in the relative efficiency of selected Australian enterprises. The empirical results will inform National Competition Policy and the process of microeconomic reform.Read moreRead less
New Approaches to the Analysis of Count Time Series. The focus of this proposal is on the analysis of data that enumerate events over time. Occurrences of such count data abound in economics and business, examples being observations on insurance claims, loan defaults and individual product demand. This project develops a suite of innovative methods for modelling and predicting event counts. The methods explicitly accommodate both the discreteness of the data and possible complexities in its evo ....New Approaches to the Analysis of Count Time Series. The focus of this proposal is on the analysis of data that enumerate events over time. Occurrences of such count data abound in economics and business, examples being observations on insurance claims, loan defaults and individual product demand. This project develops a suite of innovative methods for modelling and predicting event counts. The methods explicitly accommodate both the discreteness of the data and possible complexities in its evolution over time. In so doing, they enable both accurate inferences regarding the dynamic structure of the data to be drawn and accurate forecasts of future event counts to be produced.Read moreRead less
Assessing the impacts of proposed carbon trading and tax schemes on the Australian electricity industry and the overall economy. Currently, policymakers require a much clearer understanding of the impacts of different carbon abatement policies. Mounting evidence on global warming is making this an increasingly urgent priority. The proposed project is specifically concerned with using state of the art economic modelling approaches to give the best advice possible to policymakers in crafting an e ....Assessing the impacts of proposed carbon trading and tax schemes on the Australian electricity industry and the overall economy. Currently, policymakers require a much clearer understanding of the impacts of different carbon abatement policies. Mounting evidence on global warming is making this an increasingly urgent priority. The proposed project is specifically concerned with using state of the art economic modelling approaches to give the best advice possible to policymakers in crafting an environmentally sustainable set of economic policy instruments that can maintain our enviable standard of living well into the future. The findings of the project will be available before the new Kyoto negotiation round commences.Read moreRead less
Mechanism design under bounded rationality: The optimal contracts in the complex world. The research will help to clarify the nature of optimal contracts in real life environments. An important feature of such environments is that they are complex so that actors cannot be assumed to behave fully rationally. We propose to address the question of optimal contract design under bounded rationality. Determining the incidence of costs of boundedly rational behaviour may provide foundations for some p ....Mechanism design under bounded rationality: The optimal contracts in the complex world. The research will help to clarify the nature of optimal contracts in real life environments. An important feature of such environments is that they are complex so that actors cannot be assumed to behave fully rationally. We propose to address the question of optimal contract design under bounded rationality. Determining the incidence of costs of boundedly rational behaviour may provide foundations for some policy proposals in areas as diverse as industrial relations and income taxation in Australian settings.
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Information and market price manipulation in trade. As we can see from the financial crisis, speculative trading in financial markets can have real world effects. Inside traders can exploit their information for more profits. At this stage, we do not fully understand the role of diverse information in the financial system and we need better ways to model price manipulation and information in a dynamic setting. This proposal seeks to supply a reference framework for analyzing price manipulatio ....Information and market price manipulation in trade. As we can see from the financial crisis, speculative trading in financial markets can have real world effects. Inside traders can exploit their information for more profits. At this stage, we do not fully understand the role of diverse information in the financial system and we need better ways to model price manipulation and information in a dynamic setting. This proposal seeks to supply a reference framework for analyzing price manipulation. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the informed trader's dynamic strategy. By strengthening this research area, this project will give new momentum to Australian economic theory.Read moreRead less
Innovation, Competition and Economic Performance: Understanding the Dynamics of Industry Development. An improved understanding of the impact of innovation on competition and economic performance will inform the design of public policy in terms of industry assistance, research and development support, competition policy and regulatory activity. This will help ensure that the billions of dollars of private and public expenditure devoted to innovative activities and industry development has the gr ....Innovation, Competition and Economic Performance: Understanding the Dynamics of Industry Development. An improved understanding of the impact of innovation on competition and economic performance will inform the design of public policy in terms of industry assistance, research and development support, competition policy and regulatory activity. This will help ensure that the billions of dollars of private and public expenditure devoted to innovative activities and industry development has the greatest possible impact in terms of improved products, lower prices and the enhanced competitiveness of Australian businesses.Read moreRead less
The Determinants of Australia's Productivity Performance. Productivity growth is the key to increasing prosperity for all Australians. The scholar will survey the theoretical and empirical literature pertinent to explaining trends and cycles in the productivity of the Australian economy over the past thirty years. The scholar will then select specific areas for focused research which will lead to academic papers and the submission of a PhD thesis.
Measurement and Sources of Productivity Growth under Imperfect Competition. The relative growth performance of countries using net output will free comparisons from the contentious and differing adjustments made by many statistical agencies in an attempt to take account of quality change in capital goods. Thus, Australia will have a better understanding of its relative performance in terms of growth, and thus be better positioned to make informed policy decisions. In addition, whether producti ....Measurement and Sources of Productivity Growth under Imperfect Competition. The relative growth performance of countries using net output will free comparisons from the contentious and differing adjustments made by many statistical agencies in an attempt to take account of quality change in capital goods. Thus, Australia will have a better understanding of its relative performance in terms of growth, and thus be better positioned to make informed policy decisions. In addition, whether productivity growth is mainly driven by technical progress or returns to scale, and the size of monopolistic markups, has a large bearing on how we view the performance of an economy and its potential for future growth.Read moreRead less
Business Profitability and Long Term Industrial Change in Twentieth-Century Australia. This project will establish Australia as a pioneer in longitudinal research into business profitability in terms of assembling new data and its use to analyse the relationship of profitability with capital formation and structural change in the economy. It will extend our knowledge of long-term returns to equity investment, a category of savings and pension funding now common to most Australians, and contribut ....Business Profitability and Long Term Industrial Change in Twentieth-Century Australia. This project will establish Australia as a pioneer in longitudinal research into business profitability in terms of assembling new data and its use to analyse the relationship of profitability with capital formation and structural change in the economy. It will extend our knowledge of long-term returns to equity investment, a category of savings and pension funding now common to most Australians, and contribute to our understanding of Australia's comparative business performance in light of current debates regarding the alleged limited global competitiveness and corporate governance shortcomings of leading Australian corporations.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354852
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$10,000.00
Summary
Sustainable Regions for a Competitive Australia. How can metropolitan, rural and remote regions balance economic and job growth, with environmental and social sustainability? This Initiative establishes a Network of researchers to work collaboratively on questions of environmental best practice, community development, regional governance, labour markets, economic development and technology transfer. The Network's vision is to find ways to use existing and future research to help make Australia ....Sustainable Regions for a Competitive Australia. How can metropolitan, rural and remote regions balance economic and job growth, with environmental and social sustainability? This Initiative establishes a Network of researchers to work collaboratively on questions of environmental best practice, community development, regional governance, labour markets, economic development and technology transfer. The Network's vision is to find ways to use existing and future research to help make Australia's regions more competitive on world markets and more environmentally sustainable, and to help build stronger regional communities. The Network cuts across traditional discipline boundaries to find integrated solutions to the real problems confronting Australian regions.Read moreRead less