Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Research Publications

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    A comparison of family policy designs of Australia and Norway using microsimulation models
    KALB, G ; Thoresen, T (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2010)
    Many of the Australian family support schemes are income-tested transfers, targeted towards the lower end of the income distribution, whereas the Norwegian approach is to provide subsidized non-parental care services and universal family payments. We contrast these two types of policies and discuss policy changes within these policy types by presenting results from simulations, using microsimulation models developed for Australia and Norway. Labor supply effects and distributional effects are discussed for the hypothetical policy changes of replacing the means-tested family payments of Australia by the Norwegian universal child benefit schedule and vice versa, and of reducing the childcare fees in both countries. The analysis highlights that the case for policy changes is restricted by the economic environment and the role of family policy in the two countries. Whereas there is considerable potential for increased labor supply of Australian mothers, it may have detrimental distributional effects and is likely to be costly. In Norway, mothers already have high labor supply and any adverse distributional effects of further labor supply incentives occur in an economy with low initial income dispersion. However, expenditure on family support is already high and the question is whether this should be further extended. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
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    Disagreement in Australian partners’ reports of Material Hardship
    Breunig, R ; Cobb-Clark, D ; Gong, X ; Venn, D ( 2007)
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    THE PROBLEM OF OVERSKILLING IN AUSTRALIA AND BRITAIN
    Mavromaras, K ; Mcguinness, S ; O'Leary, N ; Sloane, P ; Fok, YK (WILEY, 2010-06)
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    ON THE POST‐UNIFICATION DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PAY IN GERMANY*
    HEITMUELLER, A ; MAVROMARAS, KG (Wiley, 2007-07)
    German post‐unification in the 1990s is a period marked by substantial economic and political change, a crucial part of which was a largely politically motivated attempt to build East German wages towards the much higher West German wages. We study the development of the public–private sector pay gap in Germany in the 1990s. We show that throughout the 1990s the overall pay gap between the public and private sectors remained stable in the West and increased considerably in the East. Wage decompositions show a small and stable negative public sector premium in the West, and a large and increasing positive public sector pay premium in the East. Decompositions also show a considerable deterioration in the skill base of the private sector in the East which the paper attributes in part to the improved attractiveness of the public sector. The paper argues that the development in the size and composition of the public–private sector pay gap in the East is an indication of the public sector crowding out the private sector and raises concerns about the future competitiveness of the East.
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    THE PATTERN AND EVOLUTION OF GEOGRAPHICAL WAGE DIFFERENTIALS IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS IN GREAT BRITAIN*
    BELL, D ; ELLIOTT, RF ; MA, ADA ; SCOTT, A ; ROBERTS, E (Wiley, 2007-07)
    Government policy on the nature of wage bargaining in the public sector can have important implications for the provision of public services. Using the New Earnings Survey, the Labour Force Survey and the British Household Panel Survey, we examine the size and evolution of public–private sector wage differentials across geographical areas within the UK and over time. Public sector bargaining structures have led to historically high wage premia, although these premia are declining over time. In high‐cost low‐amenity areas, such as the south‐east of England, the public sector underpays relative to the private sector, therefore creating problems in recruitment to and provision of public services. Public sector labour markets are around 40 per cent as responsive to area differences in amenities and costs as are private sector labour markets. Differences in the degree of spatial variation between sectors are likely to remain, leading to persistent problems for the delivery of public services in some parts of the UK. Reform of public sector pay structures is likely to be costly, and so other non‐pay policies need to be considered to increase the attractiveness of public sector jobs.
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    Measuring welfare changes in labour supply models
    Creedy, J ; Kalb, G (BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, 2005-12)