Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableIncome and saving responses to tax incentives for private retirement savings(ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA, 2022-02)
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ItemAre Broad-Based Vouchers an Effective Way to Support Life-Long Learning? Evidence from an Australian Reform(SPRINGER, 2021-11)Increasing mature-age access to education and training in a way that is responsive to changing labour market needs is a key policy challenge. In this paper we examine the impacts of a unique reform in the Australian state of Victoria that aimed to meet this challenge by introducing a broad-based voucher for those 25 and older. In effect, the reform uncapped public course-level funding and linked it to individual student choice instead of centralised funding allocations. Using national administrative enrolment data and difference-in-differences estimation, exploiting the continuation of existing centralised funding models in other states, we find that the voucher increased mature-age vocational education and training participation and improved the alignment of course enrolments with measures of prevailing skill needs, including enrolments of disadvantaged groups. Our study provides first evidence on the use of broad-based vouchers in vocational education and training to expand access to mature-age learning in a demand-responsive way. These results provide support for policies that put student choice at the centre of efforts to lift mature-age access to training, which is especially important for countries, such as the United States, that have traditionally funded vocational education and training through centralised allocations.
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ItemThe ATO Longitudinal Information Files (ALife): A New Resource for Retirement Policy Research(Wiley, 2020-09-14)The Australian Taxation Office release of annual longitudinally linked individual tax and superannuation records, known as the ATO Longitudinal Information Files (ALife), opens up opportunities for new research. In this study, we provide an overview of ALife, focusing on its use for retirement income research. To this end, we provide the first longitudinal estimates of superannuation outcomes for 1-year birth cohorts. Results show marked increase in disparity of super balances in the lead-up to retirement as those in the top quartile ramp-up their contributions, possibly to take advantage of the favourable tax treatment of superannuation income in retirement years.
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ItemImpacts from Delaying Access to Retirement Benefits on Welfare Receipt and Expenditure: Evidence from a Natural Experiment(John Wiley & Sons, 2020-03)Governments are responding to fiscal pressures associated with aging populations by increasing the eligibility age for publicly-funded retirement benefits. However, recent studies show large resulting increases in the receipt of disability and unemployment benefits, which raises concern that welfare savings are offset by increased inflows into alternative payments. Using administrative data to examine the impacts of female eligibility age increases in Australia, we find little evidence of this. Instead, most of the increase is because the delay mechanically extends the receipt time of people already on alternative payments. The implication is that fiscal savings are not jeopardized by welfare substitution.
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ItemImpacts from Delaying Access to Retirement Benefits on Welfare Receipt and Expenditure: Evidence from a Natural Experiment(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2016)Governments are responding to fiscal pressures associated with aging populations by increasing the eligibility age for publicly-funded retirement benefits. However, recent studies show large resulting increases in the receipt of disability and unemployment benefits, which raises concern that welfare savings are offset by increased inflows into alternative payments. Using administrative data to examine the impacts of female eligibility age increases in Australia, we find little evidence of this. Instead, most of the increase is because the delay mechanically extends the receipt time of people already on alternative payments. The implication is that fiscal savings are not jeopardized by opportunistic behaviour.
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ItemCourse Choice and Achievement Effects of a System-Wide Vocational Education and Training Voucher Scheme for Young People(SAGE Publications, 2018)Vocational education and training provision for young people is a crucial but often maligned part of the wider education sector. A common criticism, and motivation for numerous reforms across countries where training is predominantly classroom-based, is that too much training is low quality and unrelated to skill needs. This article examines the effects of a major Australian reform—replacing a centrally planned model with a system-wide voucher scheme—aimed at addressing these weaknesses. The reform led to large increases in private college enrollments, improved match between course choice and employer demand, and improved student achievement, with no adverse impact on equity.
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ItemWhat Happens to Students with Low Reading Proficiency at 15? Evidence from Australia(WILEY, 2017-12)While illiterate adults are disadvantaged in the labour market, it is unclear whether low reading proficiency in school diminishes employment prospects in adulthood. We fill this gap using data on participants in the 2003 Program of International Student Assessment who were tracked to age 25 in the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth. We find no difference in full‐time employment rates or earning capacity of jobs attained at age 25 associated with low reading proficiency at 15. Those with low reading proficiency are found to avoid negative effects through high rates of participation and positive outcomes from vocational education and training.
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ItemMaking ‘good’ choices: the impact of entitlement models on upskilling later in life(National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2017)
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ItemThe Power of Self-Interest: Effects of Education and Training Entitlements in Later-Life(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2017)Education and training among the working-age population has become an increasingly important policy issue as working lives have lengthened and the pace of technological change has quickened. This paper describes the effects of a reform that replaced a supply-driven model, in which government selected the number and providers of publicly subsidised Vocational Education and Training (VET), with a demand-driven approach that broadened access to adult training and gave working-age individuals greater freedom of VET course choice. Difference-in-differences analysis reveals that the large-scale reform, which was introduced in the Australian state of Victoria from 2009, substantively increased participation in VET among the population aged 25-54, and corresponded with an improved match between VET courses taken and objective ex ante measures of labour market demand. Indeed, the scheme was so popular that it resulted in a budget over-run by 2012 of $400 million (AUD, on a total budget of $1.3 billion).
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ItemEarly Academic Outcomes of Funded Children with Disability(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2017-10-01)People with disability face considerable difficulty participating fully in work and the wider community, due in part to poor schooling outcomes. To enable students with disability to meet their potential, the governments provide extra funding to schools to help them meet their special learning needs. Such funding includes extra funding for meeting diverse student needs under formula-based block grant arrangements, funding for specific programs and funding that is targeted at the individual level. In this study, we take a first-step in examining outcomes from targeted funding, over and above outcomes from other funding sources, in mainstream public schools in Victoria under the Program for Student with Disability (PSD). We use information on disability and child development in the first year of school from the Australian Education and Development Census (AEDC), linked to Year 3 NAPLAN and information on PSD receipt from Year 1 to Year 3. We find that only around 17% of mainstream public-school students with disability who are in the bottom quarter of the state developmentally receive ongoing targeted funding under the PSD between 2012 and 2015. Using multivariate regression and rich administrative student data to control for differences between students with disability who do and do not receive targeted funding, we find that the receipt of PSD is strongly associated with being exempt from sitting NAPLAN, which obstructs any proper examination of the educational outcomes from funding. These results raise the prospect of extending existing funding according to developmental need, but caution that any such change should be accompanied with measures that ensure funding outcomes can be assessed.