Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Research Publications
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ItemThe negative inflation-growth effect: theory and evidence(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2001)
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ItemSimulating the Behavioural Effects of Welfare Reforms Among Sole Parents in Australia( 2001-06)This paper derives and estimates an econometric model of labour supply among sole parents in Australia, using modelling techniques which treat the labour supply decision as a utility maximising choice between a given number of discrete states. In estimation, we control for random preference heterogeneity as well as fixed and search costs. Using our econometric model, we look at the effects of actual and hypothetical welfare policy reforms on the employment choices of sole parents in Australia. The microsimulation results presented in this paper use the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator (MITTS), developed at Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.
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ItemThe importance of pecuniary and non-pecuniary rewards in job choice(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2001)
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ItemIndividuals' Wage Changes in Australia 1997-2000.( 2001-05)This paper examines Australian household data from over 4000 individuals to assess how downwardly flexible nominal wages have been during the period 1997 to 2000. The data indicate that there is considerable downward rigidity. Only 7.4 per cent of workers who are still working the same hours in the same job experienced a cut in pay over the previous year. People in low- income households, unskilled and part-time workers and workers reliant upon the Safety Net (i.e. their wages are determined solely by award) are more likely to have received a pay cut than others.
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ItemThe financial performance of Australian government trading enterprises pre- and post-reform(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2001)
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ItemEnterprise Bargaining and Productivity:Evidence from the Business Longitudinal Survey( 2001-07)The 1990s has seen bargaining, and more specifically, enterprising bargaining supplant arbitration as the dominant industrial relations paradigm. In large part, this change reflects widespread belief that enterprise bargaining would stimulate greater levels of productivity. Evidence in support of this link between enterprise bargaining and productivity, however, is both scant and unconvincing. In this paper the relationship between enterprise bargaining and productivity is revisited using data from the Business Longitudinal Study. This data source is unique in that it provides firm-level data for Australia where the individual firms are tracked over a four-year period. Further, the survey period commenced in 1994-95, which is ideal for studying the impacts of the emerging growth in enterprise agreement coverage. Finally, the BLS data provide an objective measure of value added output. Estimation of a simple production function using a random effects model revealed evidence of a strong contemporaneous relationship between registered enterprise agreements and productivity. Indeed, firms where all employees are on such agreements are estimated to have productivity levels that are 8.8 per cent higher than comparable firms but where no employees are covered by an enterprise agreement and are forced instead to rely on conditions specified in an industry award. However, despite this finding, it still proved impossible to establish a direct causal relationship between the introduction of enterprise agreements and subsequent productivity growth.
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ItemHow segmented are skilled and unskilled labour markets: the case of beveridge curves.( 2001-11)This paper tests whether there is empirical evidence that two distinct Beveridge curves for the skilled and unskilled aggregate markets. The results support the dualism hypothesis and specifically find that the skilled labour segment is more efficient at matching workers with jobs and/or has lower turnover rates. Lower turnover rates may be indicative of a better prior match. It also found that other shift variables, such as the replacement rate, the incidence of long-term unemployment, the immigration rate and the market circumstances in the other segment, had differential effects on each curve
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ItemAn estimate of the equity effects of labour market programs( 2001-01)Labour market programs aim to enhance both total employment and equality of job opportunities. While the employment effects have been studied extensively in Australia and overseas, the effects on equality has scarcely received any attention. The existing literature implies that any assistance to a disadvantaged group will promote equality. However, because many programs operate by substituting one group of people for another, the effects on equity cannot be determined until some estimates are made of the type of person who has been displaced. This study attempts to present comparative information on the types of people who benefit and lose from the provision of labour market programs. It is found that expenditure on labour market programs, as they were constructed under Working Nation, favours people with more disadvantaged work histories and lower household incomes compared with an alternative of higher levels of health and education expenditure.
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ItemThe effect of diversification on firm performance(Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2001)
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ItemUnion wage effects in the presence of enterprise bargaining(ECONOMIC SOC OF AUSTRALIA BROWN PRIOR ANDERSON PTY LTD, 2001-03)Previous research on union wage effects has underestimated the potential for unions to raise member wages since the data used do not enable differences across bargaining units to be properly accounted for. This study addresses this deficiency by utilizing matched employer–employee data that permit workplace‐specific union wage effects to be identified. Results from the estimation of wage equations indicate that, while there is only a very small intra‐workplace union wage effect, differences across workplaces are considerable. This differential, however, only exists at workplaces where there is substantial coverage by collective agreements.