Publications
Small Business Enterprise Models of Employment
Adults with disabilities are substantially disadvantaged, economically and socially. Ample national and international comparative data indicate low labour force participation rates (just over 50%) and double the unemployment rates for persons without disabilities. This report examines an emerging small business employment model that... Read article

BCEC Newsletter Edition #4 January 2018
As 2017 came to an end, we had many reasons to celebrate. Last year was the Centre’s most successful yet, as evidenced by a suite of award wins for our research activities and the impact they have had. My warmest congratulations to Rebecca Cassells,... Read article

Talking in the Present, Caring for the Future: Language and Environment
This paper identifies a new source that explains environmental behaviour: the presence of future tense marking in language. We predict that languages that grammatically mark the future affect speakers’ intertemporal preferences and thereby reduce their willingness to address environmental problems.... Read article

Oil and Women: A Re-examination
In a seminal article, Ross (2008) reports a negative correlation between oil production and women’s representation in the labour force and politics across countries. This article re-examines these relationships exploiting variations in oil endowments to address endogeneity concerns. We confirm... Read article

BCEC Quarterly Economic Commentary – December 2017
This is the first of Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s Western Australia Quarterly Economic Commentary analysing the most recent data on economic and social indicators for WA. Key findings from this edition include: Mixed signals in 2017 make ‘cautious optimism’ the New... Read article

BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – Special Edition October 2017
This special edition BCEC MLMU has been released to examine the impact of the major population re-benchmarking of the ABS Labour Force Survey. Every five years the ABS uses new information gathered from the Census to update its labour force... Read article

The Price is Right?
The Western Australian economy has experienced something of a roller-coaster ride over the last decade. Unprecedented economic growth over the course of the resources boom has been followed by a post-boom period during which activity has cooled. Despite a reduction in demand in... Read article

Returns to language skills in transition economies
In many transition countries, the collapse of communism ushered in language reforms to adapt to the newfound independence from the Soviet Union and openness to the rest of the world. Such reforms may have implications for individuals’ economic opportunities, since... Read article
BCEC Newsletter Edition #3 September 2017
This third edition of the tri-annual BCEC newsletter reports on a very active and successful period during the 2017 calendar year, with BCEC undertaking and delivering a number of research initiatives that have been influential in informing and shaping policy and debate on key... Read article

BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – October 2017
Welcome to the seventh edition of the BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update. Produced monthly, this economic commentary explores the latest labour force data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), providing expert insights and analysis around key labour market indicators. Key findings from October... Read article

A regional model of endogenous growth without scale assumptions
In this paper we model growth using a scale-neutral approach to innovation allowing differences between regions to emerge due to regional mechanisms. In this model, agglomeration is growth enhancing as the scale effect for innovation arises from greater access to... Read article

Minimising skills wastage
Skilled migration is a key element in Australia’s strategy to address major human capital issues and imperatives. However, underutilisation of professional migrant skills remains a critical problem. This report identifies the barriers skilled migrants face and investigates the link between workforce... Read article
