Publications
Does private schooling pay? Evidence and equity implications for Australia
How effectively different schools prepare young people for future social and economic engagement has important implications for education practice, funding allocations and social equity, as well as for parental decision making. This paper uses data from waves 2001-2014 of the... Read article
Back to the future: Western Australia’s economic future after the boom
In 2014 the first report in the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre’s Focus on Western Australia series highlighted the abnormally high growth rate enjoyed by the state in the early years of the new millennium. This extended period of economic growth was driven primarily... Read article
Assessing the Significance of Internal Migration in Drought Affected Areas
The Murray-Darling Basin is the heart of Australia’s agricultural industry, representing 14 per cent of all agricultural output and housing almost 40 per cent of Australia’s farmers. The area is also one of the biggest consumers of Australia’s scarce water... Read article
From Paddock to Plate: WA’s potential in agriculture and agribusiness
There has been a collective nervousness following the decline in the resources sector in Western Australia and its associated grim headlines. Agriculture has historically been an important industry for the state. With an expanding middle class in China and a rising population in... Read article
Youth Social Exclusion in Australian Communities
Social exclusion is a multi-dimensional measure of disadvantage that spans a number of aspects of an individual’s life that impact upon their current and future wellbeing. For young people at an important life stage transitioning from childhood to adulthood, contributing... Read article
The Efficiency of Australian Schools: A Nationwide Analysis Using Gains in Test Scores of Students as Outputs
This study examines the efficiency of schools in Australia and its determinants using the gain in NAPLAN test scores of students in 6,774 schools in 2009–2011. The results show that, based on empirical input–output combinations, the growth of NAPLAN test... Read article
Are there institutional differences in the earnings of Australian higher education graduates?
This paper examines the effect of university quality, as proxied by institutional groupings, on the earnings outcomes of Australian university qualified persons. It uses data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to examine the impact... Read article
Women in the Boardroom and Fraud: Evidence from Australia
We examine the relationship between women’s representation on corporate boards and fraud. Drawing on a discussion of existing studies, we hypothesise that increasing women’s representation on boards can help mitigate fraud. We provide validation to our conjecture through an empirical... Read article
Housing Tax Reform: Is there a way forward?
Australian home owners and investors benefit from various tax concessions. Home owner tax concessions are poorly targeted with older, higher income households the main beneficiaries. There could also be efficiency consequences if the tax favoured owner-occupied housing sector attracts investment... Read article
Community Wellbeing From the Ground Up
At some point in our lives, we have asked ourselves one or all of these questions. What matters most in life? What makes life worth living? What makes you happy? What makes you feel good? What makes you flourish? Wellbeing can mean many... Read article
Subsidised affordable rental housing: lessons from Australia and overseas
A supply of affordable rental housing is essential to allow households to transition out of scarce public and social housing and into the private rental sector. Affordable rental options are essential for those households already in the private rental sector... Read article
Economic Diversification in Australia
Chapter 7 Economic Diversification in Australia. Australia has been a stand-out economic performer for more than two decades, having enjoyed uninterrupted economic growth since 1991. During this time it has sailed through the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s,... Read article