Economics - Research Publications
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ItemAdaptation to Climate Change by Australian Farmers(MDPI, 2021-09)Climate change in the form of higher temperatures, changes of rainfall patterns, and for some, more natural disasters will reduce the returns from current farming choices on what to produce and the production methods. Variation of climate change across regions and uncertainty about the magnitudes of change call for a diverse mix of adaptations to climate change across different regions and individual farms. This paper considers the institutional structure for effective climate change adaptation by Australian farms. It is argued that a rerun of the history of successful adaptation of farms to new technology, changes in output and input prices, natural climate variation, and other circumstances can be repeated for climate change adaptation. Individual farms can benefit from incentives and rewards to revise their decisions, which will combine with better individual outcomes. Complementary support by the government includes the provision of climate change and weather forecast information, support for research into new technology, help to evaluate the pros and cons of alternative choices, and provision of a social safety net for those unable to adapt.
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ItemOpportunities and Challenges for CGE Models in Analysing Taxation(WILEY, 2018-03)Taxation analysis seeks to describe the effects of current taxes, make forecasts and assess proposed reform options. In each case, the effects on market outcomes, distribution of the tax burden and distortions to decisions and economic efficiency are estimated. When second‐round effects are important, including for most taxes on business and where exemptions from comprehensive tax bases are significant, general equilibrium models are required. A computer general equilibrium model (CGE) with detailed and disaggregated industry, product and factor markets has great potential to quantify the general equilibrium effects of taxation. Challenges and areas for development of available CGE models for taxation analysis include the following: disaggregation of households to assess distribution effects and allow for different elasticities; modelling the effects of the hybrid tax treatment of different household saving and investment options; disaggregation of some business decisions to capture the effects of departures from comprehensive tax bases and of decision‐makers facing different tax systems; and modelling and conveying the implications of imperfect knowledge of key assumptions and parameters.
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ItemA Comparison of Policy Instruments to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions(WILEY, 2016-09)Tax, emission trading schemes, regulations and subsidy policy instruments to reduce Australian greenhouse gas emissions are assessed. Australian recent and proposed examples are used as illustrations. Comparative pollution reduction cost, tax interaction distortion costs, redistribution effects and operating cost properties are evaluated. A tax instrument with a comprehensive base, combined with recycling the revenue windfall to households, is argued to be a suitable guideline for future policy; some regulations to counter information and other market failures can be important complements.
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ItemAntipodean agricultural and resource economics at 60: booming sector economics(WILEY, 2016-10)Contributions of Australian economists to understand the effects of a boom export industry are reviewed. Effects are considered on: the real exchange rate; output, prices and factor incomes of the boom industry, other trade‐exposed industries and nontraded industries; and national income and its distribution. Theoretical models and empirical models are reviewed. Different effects are considered for supply‐side‐ versus demand‐side‐driven booms, and then for the price increase, investment increase and production increase phases of the boom. Evaluations of industry and macroeconomic policy options are canvassed.
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ItemEnvironmental Water Efficiency: Maximizing Benefits and Minimizing Costs of Environmental Water Use and Management(WILEY, 2018)Environmental water management is a relatively new discipline, with concepts, management practice and institutional mechanisms that are still emerging. The efficient and effective use of environmental water to maximize environmental benefits, or environmental water use efficiency, is one such emerging concept. Currently, much of the focus is on allocative efficiency, where the objective is to achieve a better balance between consumptive and environmental water uses in a cost‐effective way. However, this may not provide the most efficient and effective way to manage environmental water in the long term, where managers are seeking productive (or operational) efficiency. Here, the objective is to maximize environmental outcomes relative to the cost of managing the available resource. This paper explores the concept of water use efficiency in the context of environmental water.
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ItemEffects of supermarket monopsony pricing on agriculture(WILEY, 2018-10)Potential effects of alleged monopsony pricing of farm food products by supermarkets on farm product prices, quantities, incomes and land values are assessed relative to competitive behaviour. A long‐run comparative static equilibrium model is used. For export‐competing and import‐competing products, the farm food input supply curve facing the supermarkets is close to perfectly elastic and this limits monopsony behaviour. At the margin, the opportunity to reallocate agricultural land between traded and nontraded farm products means a highly elastic supply function for nontraded food inputs facing supermarkets and very limited monopsony effects.
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ItemPolicy Options to Reduce Electricity Greenhouse Gas Emissions(WILEY, 2018-12)Abstract The design and effects of different schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and consumption of electricity are modelled. The tax scheme achieves the lowest cost per unit emission reduction because it encourages both businesses and consumers to reduce emissions, and the recycled windfall revenue can meet equity objectives. Comparing the Emissions Intensity Scheme (EIS), Clean Energy Target (CET) and Renewable Energy Target (RET) schemes with common government revenue neutral and emissions reduction design outcomes, the EIS provides better incentives to generators to find the lower cost per unit emissions reduction.
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ItemFederalism and Tax Reform(WILEY, 2018-06)Abstract The form and potential contributions of cooperative federalism and the additional skills and tasks required of the public service to turn well‐known and developed tax reforms into actual reforms are evaluated. Cooperative federalism seems necessary for reforms involving state taxes and changes in the mix of taxes. Additional public sector skills and involvement in developing details of tax reform packages and their implementation, and then monitoring the outcomes, are important to raise community understanding of, and confidence in, taxation reform.
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ItemA portfolio policy package to reduce greenhouse gas emissions(MDPI AG, 2020-04-01)Arguments for a portfolio of price, regulation and subsidy policy interventions to reduce the production and consumption of greenhouse gas emissions are presented. The operation and effects of each intervention are described and compared. A combination of different sets of market failures across the many potential decision changes available to producers and consumers to reduce emissions and different properties of the mitigation instruments support a portfolio approach to reduce emissions at a low cost.
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ItemReform State Taxes to Increase Productivity(Wiley, 2020-12-22)A larger and more productive economy would facilitate the reduction of COVID‐19 government deficits and their future repayment. Reform of state taxes is among the low‐hanging fruit to include in a broad supply‐side agenda to increase national productivity. Approximate aggregate revenue neutral reform packages to reduce tax distortions and improve productivity are discussed for state taxes on property, payroll and motor vehicles.