Publications
BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – April 2023
— Employment falls and unemployment rate rises, but no clear signs of a slowdown as vacancies and hours worked increase in April 2023. — — Nominal wages rise but real wages continue to fall as wage growth fails to keep... Read article

Housing Affordability in Western Australia 2023: Building for the future
The latest report in the BCEC Focus on WA report series, Housing Affordability in Western Australia 2023: Building for the future, compares housing affordability in WA to other jurisdictions for both homeowners and renters to get a sense of where WA sits. This... Read article

Presentation – Housing Affordability in Western Australia 2023: Building for the future
View the presentation by Professor Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, and Professor Steven Rowley, Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute – Curtin Research Centre, from the launch of the report Housing Affordability in Western Australia 2023: Building... Read article

Does democracy protect the environment? The role of the Arctic Council
This paper examines the influence of democratic institutions on environmental policy stringency and the degree to which it is affected by membership in the Arctic Council. We hypothesize that, relative to countries with no Arctic presence, countries present in the... Read article

A tale of two life stages: The imprinting effect of macroeconomic contractions on later life entrepreneurship
— Drawing on lifespan psychology, our study addresses when and how macroeconomic contractions influence entrepreneurship. — — We develop competing arguments highlighting two distinct life stages: childhood and early adulthood. — — Contractions experienced during early adulthood increase one’s likelihood of becoming an entrepreneur by... Read article

Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Annual Report 2022
In the uncertain and volatile times that we have experienced during the last few years it has never been more important to have available strong, independent, and trusted research that addresses the critical issues affecting society. With COVID-19, the housing... Read article

BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – February 2023
Labour market rebounds with 64,600 new jobs in February, at odds with anticipated weakening. Strong outcome primarily driven by rising employment in Victoria. February’s labour market data makes the Reserve Bank’s next interest rate decision a line call. The soft... Read article

Forecasting the stock-cryptocurrency relationship: Evidence from a dynamic GAS model
The impact of cryptocurrency on other assets has become a subject of intense research, given the rise of digital currency over the last decade. However, unlike traditional assets, cryptocurrency has been subject to extreme movements in price and volatility. As... Read article

Parenthood and the distribution of intra-household inequalities in wellbeing
While there is a large body of literature on the effects of parenthood on wellbeing, an intra-household perspective has, thus far, been limited. This is an important research gap given that the experience of raising children is typically associated with... Read article

Go Your Own WA: Recovery and regeneration for the tourism industry in Western Australia
The seventh report in the BCEC Focus on Industry report series, Go Your Own Way: Recovery and regeneration for the tourism industry in Western Australia, examines the dynamics of the tourism industry before and after the COVID-19 crisis and outlines the road to... Read article

BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – January 2023
Evidence of downturn builds, but unlikely to save mortgage holders from further pain Can we get inflation under control without driving the economy into recession? That’s the big challenge for Australian policy-makers for 2023. After eight consecutive interest rate rises... Read article

BCEC Monthly Labour Market Update – December 2022
Despite little change, December figures may mark a turning point Nationally, there was minimal movement in the main labour force aggregates in December. Total employment fell marginally, by 14,600 jobs or one tenth of a per cent, the participation rate... Read article
