bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Environmental Macroeconomics: Extending the IS–LM Model to Include an ‘Environmental Equilibrium’ Curve
Authors: Lawn Philip A.
Published: March 2003

A decade has now passed since Daly made a plea for an environmental macroeconomics. Despite an expanding literature on “green” national accounting and the efforts of ecological economists to measure the sustainable net benefits of a growing macroeconomy, it is only recently that Daly's plea has been adequately answered. This has been achieved with the incorporation by Heyes of an “environmental equilibrium” or EE curve into the familiar IS–LM model. However, the IS–LM–EE model proposed by Heyes is incomplete. By extending Heyes’ model to include the role of technological progress and the need to institute policy instruments to ensure operation on the EE curve, this paper sends out a clear message that environmental concerns should be incorporated into macroeconomic models. They should not be solely confined to microeconomics.
The Burden of Unemployment on Family Units: An Overview
Authors: Miller Paul W.
Published: March 2003

This article proposes several measures of the burden of unemployment on family units. It is shown that one in 13 couple families had at least the husband or wife unemployed in 1994. Almost one‐quarter of the total unemployment among couple families in 1994 was in families where both husband and wife were unemployed. The analyses presented show that the burden of unemployment on family units differs according to the characteristics of the family. It is particularly intense in couple families with young dependents and among immigrants from non‐English‐speaking countries. Of particular concern is the finding that there are many families where there are multiple family members unemployed and no member employed. This will have major implications where knowledge of employment opportunities is obtained primarily through family contacts.
The Singapore Ministerial Conference: An Overview
Authors: Lloyd P.J.
Published: March 2003

The guest editor, Peter Lloyd, outlines the scope of the Singapore Ministerial meeting of the WTO and assesses its achievements and disappointments.
‘New Standards Issues’ and the WTO
Authors: Milner Chris
Published: March 2003

Four new issues were discussed at the Singapore Ministerial meeting — labour standards, trade and the environment, trade and investment, and competition policy. The arguments for and against each of these are examined.
APEC’s Trade Liberalisation and the WTO
Authors: Yamazawa Ippei
Published: March 2003

The APEC process for trade liberalisation differs from that of the WTO multilateral and regional processes. This article outlines and assesses the APEC process and considers how it might facilitate the WTO process.
Tariffs, Then and Now: Lecture in Honour of the Late Bert Kelly
Authors: Snape Richard
Published: March 2003

While much of the Australian trade liberalisation for which Bert Kelly fought has been achieved, there are still areas of highly selective protection, particularly in textiles, clothing, footwear and passenger motor vehicles. An analysis is made of arguments for continued assistance which are advanced in some quarters: that Australia should not reduce its barriers unless other countries also do so and that we are ‘leading the pack’; that frontier barriers should not be reduced unless microeconomic reform in Australia is acccelerated; that because other countries may exclude automobiles from their APEC commitments, so should Australia; that small tariffs don’t matter; and that local pain overshadows national gain. Bert Kelly would have found many of the arguments all too familiar.
Access Pricing under Rate‐of‐Return Regulation
Authors: King Stephen P.
Published: March 2003

Third‐party access to major infrastructure facilities is a key component of National Competition Policy. In many situations, both through state regimes and access undertakings under the new part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act, access will be governed by explicit or implicit rate‐of‐return procedures. Infrastructure assets will be valued and translated into an allowable return for the owners. However, setting allowed returns is only the first part of the regulatory process. This paper uses a simple model to evaluate the ‘second‐best’ access prices under rate‐of‐return regulation. We show that optimal access prices will depend on the degree of downstream competition. With imperfect price competition and fixed numbers of firms downstream, optimal access prices will ‘mimic’ downstream competition and reduce downstream profits. With free entry downstream, optimal access pricing should determine an optimal level of downstream participation. We also show that the access provider’s incentives to introduce optimal access prices will depend on the degree of vertical integration.
Estimating the Benefits of Hilmer and Related Reforms
Authors: Quiggin John
Published: March 2003

The Industry Commission’s 1995 study of the growth and revenue implications of Hilmer and related reforms has been influential in the debate over microeconomic reform. In addition to reform of Telstra, Australia Post, the Federal Airports Corporation, the Civil Aviation Authority, state electricity, gas and water authorities, and rail, road and port authorities, the Commission examined a broad‐ranging program including competitive tendering for the provision of public services, deregulation of the building industry and a move to self‐regulation of industries such as meat processing. The Commission estimated that the implementation of these reforms would result in a 5.5 per cent increase in GDP. In this paper, the Commission’s analysis is subjected to a detailed critique. It is argued that most of the estimated productivity gains are overoptimistic, representing upper bounds to possible achievement rather than likely outcomes. Furthermore, it is argued that the dominant flow‐on effects of microeconomic reform will be negative, arising from the fact that at least some of the workers directly displaced by reform will be permanently displaced from the employed labour force.
Disparities in Australian Regional Incomes: Are They Widening or Narrowing?
Authors: Cashin Paul , Strappazzon Loris
Published: March 2003

In this study we examine Australian census data on regional incomes for the period 1976–91. Following a discussion of theories and empirical evidence regarding regional income adjustment, the regional dispersion of per capita income is analysed for the six Australian states and at the sub‐state level (statistical divisions, SDs). The coefficient of variation is used as the measure of dispersion, and Gini coefficients are also calculated to analyse income equality within regions. For Australia, the cross‐state dispersion of per capita incomes increased over the period, whereas there was neither convergence nor divergence of incomes among Australia’s 57 SDs. In addition, the intrastate dispersion of per capita incomes across SDs remained largely unaltered over the period. Gini coefficients indicated that across income strata, the distribution of incomes both within states and within SDs has become more equal.
An Economic Analysis of Australian Damage Remedies for Misleading Prospectuses: Trade Practices Act versus Corporations Law
Authors: Pitchford Rohan
Published: March 2003

Laws that address damages caused by deceptive or misleading prospectuses impact on the incentive issuers face to create such prospectuses, and hence impact on the level of investment. In Australia, it has been proposed to shift from a strict liability regime under s. 52 of the Trade Practices Act to a due diligence regime under the Corporations Law. I argue that due diligence is inferior to strict liability for large firms, but in some cases may be preferred to strict liability for small firms. I conclude that due diligence—as a liability rule—increases the cost and complexity of legal action, rather than being a ‘corporate law simplification’ as intended by the Corporations Law Simplification Task Force. Compared to strict liability, it is more likely to result in greater demand for the services of lawyers and accountants than it is to improve the accuracy of reporting.
Measuring the Impact of Child Care Subsidies on the Incomes of Mothers Returning to Work
Authors: Schofield Deborah , Polette Josh
Published: March 2003

The cost of child care is one of the greatest financial barriers faced by mothers returning to work. In recognition of this cost, the federal government provides child care subsidies to assist families to meet the cost of child care.

This paper models the use of child care services and the provision of child care subsidies to determine how effective the Australian government child care support programs are in reducing the financial barriers that make returning to work difficult for many mothers. Both childcare assistance and the newer childcare cash rebate are modelled. The impact of these assistance measures is examined for couples and sole parents on different incomes with one or two children in child care.

It was found that child care subsidies are highly progressive and make a substantial contribution to vertical equity by offsetting child care costs related to employment. They also contribute to horizontal equity, by providing greater assistance in meeting child care costs for families with more than one child in care, in recognition of their greater need. Sole parents derived the greatest benefit from child care subsidies, particularly those on low incomes working full‐time and with two children in care.
Measuring Poverty: An Introduction
Authors: Creedy John
Published: March 2003

This article introduces several measures of poverty and discusses some of the conceptual problems involved in defining and measuring poverty
The West Report as National Education Policy Making
Authors: Marginson Simon
Published: March 2003

This paper provides a critique of the West Report by comparing the scope of the report and its economic reasoning with those of previous national reports on higher education.
Microeconomic Evaluations of Australian Labour Market Programs
Authors: Webster Elizabeth
Published: March 2003

This article reviews literature which measures the effects of labour market programs on individual’s labour market outcomes.
The Optimality of a Zero Inflation Rate with Menu Costs: Australia
Authors: Gillman Max
Published: March 2003

This paper juxtaposes the policy trend towards a zero inflation rate against the theoretical standard of optimal deflation at the real interest rate. It extends an example monetary economy to include a simple form of nominal adjustment costs and calibrates the model with recent evidence on Australian money demand. There is a critical value that the calibrated parameter for menu costs must exceed in order for a zero inflation rate to be optimal. An inflation rate of –2 per cent to 0 per cent is found to be optimal. The quantitative results, of whether inflation‐adjustment costs imply a zero inflation rate policy for Australia, are tempered by the abstraction of the model and its sensitivity to parameters. Qualitatively, the paper shows the effects of changes in the adjustment cost function and in the structural parameters.
Privatisation in Australia: Understanding the Incentives in Public and Private Firms
Authors: King Stephen , Pitchford Rohan
Published: March 2003

Privatisation has been an important tool of government policy in Australia and overseas in the last two decades. We explain recent contributions to research in privatisation, and apply a simple framework to ownership policy in a wide variety of Australian cases, including prisons, airports, Telstra, water and gas distribution, and ambulance services. The framework is not limited to these applications, and is aimed at providing a starting point for policy makers in their assessment of alternative ownership regimes. Our analysis is supportive of other authors, who have cast doubt on the wisdom of prison privatisation, and we extend this conclusion to ambulance services and the disposal of highly toxic waste. Application of our framework also suggests that Australian privatisations may have involved excessive separation of assets. The framework also provides a basis for arguing that a key monopoly component of Telstra—the ‘wires’ component—be kept in public ownership, and access auctioned to service providers. We consider the possible pitfalls of corporatisation policy, and argue that corporatised entities may operate to improve the appearance of success at the expense of the reality.
Monitoring the Performance of Government Trading Enterprises
Authors: Waters II W.G. , Street John
Published: March 2003

Total factor productivity (TFP) was used for some years as a single indicator for measuring performance of government trading enterprises in Australia. More recently there has been a shift in emphasis towards financial criteria, with little or no mention of TFP. But it is well known that financial measures can be inappropriate for enterprises with market power.

We show that it is important to monitor both TFP and financial performance. TFP performance alone can be misleading and be achieved at the expense of financial performance—this is illustrated for Australian National Railways during the 1980s. TFP and financial performance can be directly linked, and this provides a better framework for performance assessment over time. We explore the relationship between productivity, price performance, and various financial measures.
In Search of the Third Way
Authors: Nahan Mike
Published: March 2003

The author compares and contrasts the approaches to the ‘Third Way’ proposed by Fred Argy and Mark Latham.
The Potential Benefits of Hilmer and Related Reforms: Electricity Supply
Authors: Whiteman John
Published: March 2003

This article examines the impact of the elimination of x‐inefficiency in the Australian electricity supply industry using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Australian economy. Data envelopment analysis and a stochastic production frontier model are applied to measure x‐inefficiency in the electricity industry. The potential increase in total factor productivity resulting from microeconomic reform is introduced into the CGE model as a factor‐augmenting technological change. The model is used to measure the macroeconomic effects of microeconomic reform of the electricity industry. The Monash model is also used to replicate the results of earlier studies by the Industry Commission (1995) and Quiggin (1997) and thereby to provide a basis for comparing the three sets of results. The results of the current study imply that the impact of microeconomic reform on economic growth could well be significant if only a small proportion of the benefits were to be reflected in terms of an increase in aggregate employment.
Gender Pay Equity and Comparable Worth in Australia: A Reassessment
Authors: Wooden Mark
Published: March 2003

The Australian labour market is characterised by a persistent earnings differential between men and women. This article examines the contribution made by gender‐based occupational segmentation to that gap using data from the 1993 Survey of Training and Education. It is estimated that occupational segmentation is responsible for between 3.9 and 4.9 percentage points of the earnings differential when measured across all employees. The comparable range after excluding managerial employees, however, is only 2.1 to 3.6 percentage points. Finally, the importance of segmentation for the gender earnings gap is found to be directly correlated with age, suggesting the intriguing possibility that the occupation‐based inequity in pay will work itself out over time. That said, other explanations for this age effect also exist.
Labour Market Adjustment: Evidence on Interstate LabourMobility
Authors: Debelle Guy , Vickery James
Published: March 2003

In this paper, we investigate the behaviour of the Australian state labour markets, focusing on the role of geographic labour mobility. We find that interstate migration does play an important role in reducing differences in labour market conditions between states, although permanent (or very persistent) differences between state unemployment rates remain. We also find that out‐migration from a state resulting from a relative downturn in its labour market occurs slowly and steadily. Most of the migration takes place, on average, within four years, and the process of adjustment is complete after seven years.
Neighbourhood and Family Effects in Educational Progress
Authors: Jensen Ben , Seltzer Andrew
Published: March 2003

Increasing inequality in Australian cities has created the need for a deeper understanding of the interaction between spatial segmentation and economic outcomes. This paper offers a preliminary economic analysis of Australian neighbourhood externalities in the context of increasing segmentation. Theoretically, neighbourhoods can affect youths' economic out‐comes through their effects on school quality, information flows, job networks, and demonstration effects. We utilise a new survey of 171 year 12 students in ten Melbourne high schools to examine the impact of individual, family, and neighbourhood characteristics on the decision to attend post‐secondary education. It is shown that there exist neighbourhood externalities that affect human capital investment decisions. Finally, we offer some tentative implications for public policy.
The Pattern and Determinants of Intra‐Industry Trade in Australian Manufacturing
Authors: Sharma Kishor
Published: March 2003

This paper presents the pattern and determinants of intra‐industry trade (IIT) in Australian manufacturing since the late 1970s. The results point to a sharp rise in IIT from the mid 1980s which appears to be linked with an outward‐oriented policy. Industry‐level analysis indicates that industries which experienced a sharp fall in protection are the industries with the higher levels of IIT. These include textiles, garments, rubber products, and machinery and equipment. An increasing trend in IIT suggests that the short‐term adjustment costs associated with trade liberalisation are likely to be lower, and that liberalisation can proceed without huge short‐term adjustment costs. Using a logit model the determinants of IIT are investigated. Results indicate that IIT is positively related to product differentiation and scale economies, and negatively related to the levels of protection and foreign ownership in the pre‐liberalisation period. In the post‐liberalisation period, however, scale economies explain the inter‐industry variations in IIT. R&D intensity and close economic integration appear to have no impact on IIT regardless of the nature of the policy regime.
Trade Liberalisation of Intermediate Inputs
Authors: Amiti Mary
Published: March 2003

This paper considers the effects of tariff cuts in the intermediate inputs market. Traditional trade theories predict that upstream industries would contract and downstream industries would expand. In contrast, new trade theories show that trade liberalisation of the intermediate inputs market may expand both upstream and downstream industries.
Public Hospital Expenditure: How Is It Divided between Lower, Middle and Upper Income Groups?
Authors: Schofield Deborah
Published: March 2003

Public expenditure on hospitals through the Australian Medicare system plays an important role in the social wage. However, relatively little is known about the distribution of hospital benefits and, in particular, the differences in expenditure on different income groups. Accordingly, in this study, public expenditure on hospitals is examined using a combination of data sources rich in information on hospital use and expenditure, health status and socioeconomic characteristics. It was found that public expenditure on hospitals was very pro‐poor, with persons in the lowest income quintile receiving five times the expenditure of persons in the top quintile. However, expenditure on individuals admitted to hospital varied markedly within income groups. People in the lowest income quintile were found to attract the greatest expenditure because they were older, sicker, had a higher risk of hospitalisation, were least likely to be insured and most likely to be admitted to a public hospital.
Earned Income Tax Credits: Do They Have Any Role to Play in Australia?
Authors: Ingles David
Published: March 2003

Earned income tax credits (EITCs) have been used mainly in the United States. The Australian tax–transfer system is already very complicated and the aims of the EITC—notably reductions in effective tax rates for low income earners—might be achievable through reforms to existing components of the system. Such tax rates can be lowered either through reductions in social security tapers, or reductions in income tax payable. Action to reduce tapers affecting families is already proceeding through the social security component of the Government's tax reform package. To go further, by reducing tapers on the main allowances, like Newstart Allowance and Parenting Payment, would accelerate developments for such allowances to become forms of wage supplementation for the low paid. If it were not desired to go further down this path (and it does have problems), then relief of income tax burdens could be implemented through changes to the rate structure. While the EITC may make sense in the US context, a country with a well‐developed welfare system like that of Australia has other options. In particular any EITC in this country is likely to be a supplement, not an alternative, to existing cash support for low income families.
The Persistence of the Female Wage Disadvantage
Authors: Le Anh T. , Miller Paul W.
Published: March 2003

Studies of the Australian labour market during the 1980s reported that the gender wage differential narrowed. However, a different story emerged during the 1990s when the gender pay gap persisted. A large part of the pay gap is attributable to different ‘treatments’ of men and women in the labour market. This article examines whether the female wage‐disadvantaged state is a temporary or permanent phenomenon. The results show that while there is some mobility in the female wage distribution, there also exists a high degree of stickiness. It is argued that the wage‐disadvantaged state for females is generally not a temporary phenomenon.
A Wage–Tax Policy to Increase Employment
Authors: Dixon Peter B. , Rimmer Maureen T.
Published: March 2003

We use MONASH, a dynamic general equilibrium model, in an analysis of the macroeconomic effects of combining a freeze on Award wage rates in Australia with the granting of tax credits to low‐wage workers in low‐income families. Our results suggest that if this policy were successful in lowering the actual real before‐tax wage rates of workers in the Award system, then it would have favourable short‐run effects on aggregate employment. These effects would persist into the long run if the policy led to rightward shifts in labour supply curves. The downside risk of the policy is that it would be counteracted by over‐Award payments, leaving a budgetary problem with no compensating employment gain. At the same time, the Award system would be rendered irrelevant to the determination of wage rates, possibly increasing the costs of wage bargaining.
Accounting for Growth in the Australian Wine Industry, 1987 to 2003
Authors: Wittwer Glyn , Anderson Kym
Published: March 2003

A computable general equilibrium model of the Australian economy is used to account for the dramatic growth in Australia's wine industry between 1987 and 1999, and to project grape and wine volumes and prices to 2003. Export demand growth has made a major contribution to total output growth in premium wines, and accounts for most of the increase in the producer price of premium red wine. Domestic consumer preferences have shifted, mainly towards premium red wine, but there is also some evidence of growing demand for premium white wine since the mid 1990s. From the perspective of producers, productivity growth, while being less important than growth in domestic demand, appears to have more than offset the negative effects on suppliers of wine consumer tax increases. From the domestic consumers' perspective, however, tax hikes have raised retail prices much more than productivity gains have lowered them. The high and sustained levels of profitability resulting from export demand growth have led to a massive supply response in Australia. Even so, by 2003 Australian wine output will still be less than 5 per cent of global production.
Health, Health Care and Social Welfare
Authors: Hall Jane
Published: March 2003

This paper reviews the conceptualisation of social welfare in the health economics literature, and the contribution of health and health care to social welfare.
Supply and Demand for Medical Care: Or, Is the Health Care Market Perverse?
Authors: Richardson Jeff
Published: March 2003

The argument that health market behaviour is idiosyncratic is reviewed and evidence concerning ‘Supplier Induced Demand’ is presented. The theoretical basis and implications of this pivotal hypothesis are discussed.
A Hitchhiker's Guide to the World's Household Panel Data Sets
Authors: Haisken‐DeNew John P.
Published: March 2003

This article describes four household panel data sets: the American Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the German Socio‐Economic Panel, the British Household Panel Study, the Canadian Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics and the Cross‐National Equivalent File.
The Economic Benefits of Australian University Degrees: Bachelor and Research Higher Degrees
Authors: Larkins Frank P.
Published: March 2003

The investment in Australian bachelor and research degrees results in significant economic benefits for the individual and for society.
Gambling Taxation: A Comment
Authors: Paton David , Siegel Donald S. , Williams Leighton Vaughan
Published: March 2003

This comment demonstrates that the application of the GST to gambling represents a shift from a commodity tax to an ad valorem tax. Theory and evidence suggest the move is likely to be welfare enhancing.
Introduction to the Policy Forum
Authors: King Stephen P.
Published: March 2003

This Policy Forum highlights the links between the exchange rate and Australia’s macroeconomic policy.
Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy and the Exchange Rate
Authors: Stemp Peter J.
Published: March 2003

Domestic fiscal and monetary policy settings can influence the strength of the Australia dollar in a number of different ways.
Exchange Rates and Income‐Sensitive Capital Flows
Authors: Perkins Jim
Published: March 2003

Capital flows have recently been sensitive to income expectations, as well as to interest rates. This article considers some implications of this for policy.
Assessing the Adequacy of Measures of Australia’s Price Competitiveness and Structural Change
Authors: Harding Don
Published: March 2003

This article provides a practitioner’s guide to measures of Australia’s international price competitiveness. Existing measures are found to be both theoretically and empirically deficient. An alternative measure is suggested and constructed.
The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia
Authors: Cobb‐Clark Deborah
Published: March 2003

This article sets out the advantages and limitations of the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia data for undertaking immigration research.
Can Supply‐Side Policies Reduce Unemployment? Lessons from North America
Authors: Burtless Gary
Published: March 2003

North America offers lessons about policies that help sustain low unemployment. This article examines the effects of ‘supply‐side’ policies, which boost the skills of the workforce and improve microeconomic incentives facing workers and employers.

Two supply‐side policies were expanded after the mid‐1980s. First, the United States increased earnings supplements, payable to low‐income workers, to encourage adults to find and keep jobs. Second, social assistance programs limited the duration of transfer payments and linked support benefits to workers' participation in job search, occupational training, and community work experience programs. These measures increased job holding among economically disadvantaged adults. In the 1980s and 1990s the United States also maintained strong incentives for employers to create jobs for the hard‐to‐employ. Payroll tax and regulatory burdens on employers were kept low, and the modest legal minimum wage was allowed to fall in real terms. US experience suggests that selective supply‐side policies can boost the employment rates of the hard‐to‐employ and help maintain a low rate of structural unemployment.
Optimal Commodity Taxes in Australia
Authors: Blacklow Paul , Ray Ranjan
Published: March 2003

The recent changes to commodity taxes in Australia have led to renewed interest in a classic question in public finance: should the tax rates be uniform or differentiated? This article attempts to answer this question by calculating optimal commodity taxes in Australia for a nine‐item disaggregation. The estimates point to non‐uniform commodity taxes, even from the viewpoint of an inequality‐insensitive tax planner. The optimal commodity taxes bear little resemblance with the pre‐GST or post‐GST tax rates. No less significant is our observation that even the purely efficiency‐driven optimal commodity taxes imply lower real expenditure inequality than the actual taxes.
A Data Envelopment Analysis of the Efficiency of Victorian TAFE Institutes
Authors: Abbott Malcolm , Doucouliagos Chris
Published: March 2003

In recent years the provision of vocational education and training has been recognised as having a vital role to play in improving Australia's economic performance and in alleviating the hardship of the long term unemployed. The importance of education and training gives rise to the issue of operating educational institutions with a high level of efficiency. In this article, Data Envelopment Analysis is used to derive estimates of the technical and scale efficiency of Victorian Technical and Further Education Institutes in 1995. The results reveal substantial dispersion in technical and scale efficiencies. Regression analysis is used to identify variables which are associated with technical inefficiency.
The Determinants of Relative Wage Change in Australia
Authors: Webster Elizabeth , Tseng Yi‐Ping
Published: March 2003

This article uses data from 3500 Australian workers to investigate which factors have had a significant influence on microeconomic wage growth over the years 1997 to 2000. The relative importance of four types of factors—outside incomes, demand for labour, workers' relative bargaining strength and category of wage contract—are compared. Basic individual demographic characteristics and some indicators of workers' bargaining power provided most of the explanation for wage changes. Proxy variables for labour demand, while significant and correctly signed, were small in magnitude.
Attitudes towards Childcare in Australia
Authors: Evans M. D. R. , Kelley Jonathan
Published: March 2003

Australians have reservations about formal childcare which have some impact on their approval of maternal employment, although concerns about deleterious effects of employment on mothering have an even stronger impact.
Issues in Childcare Policy in Australia
Authors: McDonald Peter
Published: March 2003

This article assesses the feasibility and desirability of a universal scheme of early childhood education for Australian children aged 3 and 4 years old.
Surveying Mobile Populations: Lessons from Recent Longitudinal Surveys of Indigenous Australians
Authors: Hunter B. H. , Smith D. E.
Published: March 2003

Geographically mobile populations are notoriously difficult to survey, especially in a cross–cultural context. In broad terms, it is difficult to ensure that respondents are representative of the underlying population, can be relocated, and that data obtained are relevant to them. At a practical level, the problem can be as basic as not having any well–formed notion of what defines a household. Consequently, the resulting analysis of households is at best imprecise and, at worst, conceptually confused. This article documents the lessons for the design and conduct of longitudinal data collection from three recent surveys of an exceptionally mobile population, Indigenous Australians. There appears to be a trade–off between cultural relevance, data quality, response rates and survey costs. The use of Indigenous interviewers does not, in itself, guarantee that response rates will be acceptable.
The Distributional Impact of Selected Commonwealth Outlays and Taxes and Alternative Commonwealth Grant Allocation Mechanisms: Comment
Authors: Hancock Jim
Published: March 2003

This article explains why fiscal equalisation is needed to achieve horizontal equity in a federation, why horizontal equity is needed for efficient across–State location choices, and its connection to community preferences.
European Economic and Monetary Integration and the Euro
Authors: Veen Tom van
Published: March 2003

Recent developments in economic cooperation in Europe are discussed in this article. The launch of the euro on 1 January 2002 will increase the impact of this cooperation in the world economy.
Australian Cars in a Global Economy
Authors: Garnaut Ross
Published: March 2003

Lobbyists for car industry protection argue that Australia should delay reducing tariffs until trading partners have ‘reciprocated’, but in reality, trade liberalisation and import expansion have been increasing East Asian and global markets for competitive Australian suppliers of automotive products. This reality is one reason why the car industry is a success story of Australian reform, with quality improving, real value added rising and exports increasing strongly over the past decade, as protection has fallen rapidly.

The recent government decision to suspend the reduction in protection from 2000 to 2005, and over the five years taken as a whole greatly to reduce the rate of decline, is a symbol of a more general reform malaise in Australia.

The car manufacturers said that they would have ‘accepted’ larger reductions in protection in the context of more vigorous pursuit of efficiency‐raising reform in other areas, notably in taxation. It is time for the government to take the industry at its word: to commit itself to replacement of more distorting indirect taxes by a value added tax; and to use this congenial context to restore momentum in the reduction of protection.
Unemployment in Australia—Prospects and Policies: An Overview
Authors: Borland Jeff
Published: March 2003

This article presents descriptive information and an assessment of the medium‐term outlook for unemployment in Australia. A brief review of other articles in the Policy Forum is provided, and key issues for evaluating the policy proposals in those articles are discussed.
Comment on ‘Infrastructure Spending and Unemployment: Government Responsibility for Growth and Jobs’
Authors: McDonald Ian M.
Published: March 2003

The level of public investment in infrastructure should be decided by cost‐benefit analysis. To use the employment consequences as an additional criterion to the cost‐benefit test, as Kenyon argues, would probably be counterproductive for the aggregate level of employment.
The Path to full Employment
Authors: Mitchell William F. , Watts Martin J.
Published: March 2003

Persistent unemployment arises because free market ideology has overridden collective responsibilities. To restore full employment the government must provide permanent employment for all the unemployed in environmentally sustainable and useful jobs.
The Path to Full Employment? ‘They're Dreamin'!’
Authors: Wooden Mark
Published: March 2003

This short article critically reviews Mitchell and Watts's Buffer Stock Employer (BSE) model proposal. It concludes that the BSE scheme is unlikely to reduce the long‐run unemployment rate.
Unwrapping the Parcel: an Examination of Culture Through Italian Australian Home Ownership
Authors: Pulvirenti Mariastella
Published: March 2003

Critics of multiculturalism have revealed the limiting notion of culture within Australia's multicultural policy. Culture is not transported, but is constantly in process. Culture is (re)developed in the process of migration and settlement, and it is structured by broader economic and political forces. An examination of Italian Australian migrant experiences of family homes in Italy, and accommodation on arrival, shows what such a culture looks like and adds to explanations for Italian Australian rates of ownership.
Selling Paradise and Adventure: Representations of Landscape in the Tourist Advertising
Authors: Waitt Gordon
Published: March 2003

The representation of Australia is explored in the visual and verbal texts of the Australian Tourist Commission's 1992 international advertising campaigns. The advertisements employed representations of Australian landscape to signify tourists' desires for either paradise or adventure. By providing the potential visitor with a range of cultural tools enabling the construction of fantasy, meaning, and identity, these advertisements attempt to attract international tourists. My critical reading suggests that these representations of landscape help maintain a myth of Australian national identity originating from oppressive colonial and patriarchal relations. These representations are not only regressive but conflict with articulations of national identity emanating from other Australian institutions.
Landcare: Policy, Practice and Partnerships
Authors: Baker Richard
Published: March 2003

Landcare is a response to the land degradation crisis facing Australia and is both a community process and a government policy. ‘Landcare’ is a contested term with different meanings being placed on it by individuals and groups from different places with different levels of power and local knowledge. A key concept of Landcare is forming partnerships, which are also seen in very different terms by various Landcare stakeholders. Landcare places great value on local environmental knowledge and senses of place. The achievements of Landcare in facilitating cultural change are assessed and the factors identified that will determine whether Landcare can be ‘scaled up’ to address wider issues of ecological sustainability.
Geographical Patterns and Some Causes of Spatial Econoetic Variations in Perth, Western Australia
Authors: Gentilli J.
Published: March 2003

The 54 government senior high schools (SHS) in the Perth metropolitan area provide enough points for a spatial analysis in the search for indicators and correlations that may be used in relation to the results of the Australian scaling test (AST) and the tertiary entrance examination (TEE) in Western Australia. Spatial data are shown by maps, and statistical correlation pairings by graphs. The findings emphasize the great importance of socio‐economic factors, such as parents' own education and employment, income and housing standard, as influences on the children's educational choices and results. The disadvantaged position of Aborigines in this respect is also stressed. This type of analysis may help in the planning of new school locations and in the choice of subjects to be offered by each school according to the suburb's socio‐economic characteristics. From this analysis emerges a strong geographical pattern which separates a western prosperous belt from an underprivileged eastern belt. This separation has a long history and is due to a combination of landscape morphology, soil quality and drainage.
Tracking ‘Snowbirds’ in Australia: Winter Sun Seekers in Far North Queensland
Authors: Mings Robert C.
Published: March 2003

Seasonal migration is gaining acceptance as a retirement form among Canadians and Americans. These so‐called snowbirds spend their winters in the U.S. Sunbelt as residents of seasonal recreational communities. The three defining qualities of life in snowbird communities are very high levels of recreation activity, social interaction and geographic mobility. This paper explores ‘snowbirding’ in Australia and draws comparisons with North America. The focus is on retirees staying in caravan parks in far north Queensland during the winter of 1995 when 306 couples were interviewed. As expected, many similarities exist between North American and Australian ‘snowbirding’. However, Australian levels of social interaction are appreciably lower, while levels of geographical mobility are higher.
Oral Histories and Scientific Knowledge in Understanding Environmental Change: a case study in the Tumut Region, NSW
Authors: Lane Ruth
Published: March 2003

What can professional land managers gain by consulting with local communities? Scientific knowledge provides valuable insights into the causes of environmental change and the processes by which it occurs but often lacks a historical dimension. Recollections of local people can supplement both historical records and scientific understandings of cause and process to achieve a more comprehensive picture of change over time. However, the process of memory is tied to life experience and is highly selective. Any attempt to use oral accounts in constructing a picture of environmental change over time must also include an analysis of the process of memory itself. Drawing on oral histories with long term residents of the Tumut region of NSW, this paper explores the nature of local environmental knowledge and evaluates oral history as a source of information for understanding environmental history and the impact of changing patterns of land use.
Environmental Standards and Industrial Restructuring: the Case of the Australian Paper Industry
Authors: Waitt Gordon
Published: March 2003

Environmental standards imposed on the Australian paper industry have emerged in response to public concern over the logging of native forests and the ‘greening’ of consumer demand. Such standards play an integral part in the paper industry's restructuring. Neo‐classical theorists hypothesised environmental standards as encouraging the relocation of polluting industries to countries with lax regulations. An alternative hypothesis is that environmental standards encourage in‐situ restructuring that can positively affect a company's competitiveness. In considering this alternative hypothesis the implications for state and federal policy are briefly considered.
Roadside Memorials: Interpreting New Deathscapes in Newcastle, New South Wales
Authors: Hartig Kate V. , Dunn Kevin M.
Published: March 2003

Over recent years, roadside memorials to commemorate people killed in motor vehicle accidents have become increasingly noticeable in parts of the Australian landscape. In Newcastle, New South Wales, roadside memorials are placed for young people. The age/gender group most at risk of road death, and those most memorialised, are young men. This is linked to spatially specific constructions of masculinity which circulate within youth milieux of Newcastle. Like other memorials and monuments these ‘deathscapes’ have multiple meanings, differing between those who build, maintain and interpret them. They function as conservative memorials of youth machismo; of heroic aggression, disregard for safety and egocentrism. Roadside memorials need to be re‐read as symbolic of societal flaws; of a wasteful road toll, and a testament to dominant and problematic strains of masculinity.
Themes from Complex Landscapes: Chinese Cemeteries and Columbaria in Urban Hong Kong
Authors: Teather Elizabeth Kenworthy
Published: March 2003

Accommodating the dead in Hong Kong is more than a planning issue. A study of Hong Kong’s urban cemeteries and columbaria reveals that they are associated with a cosmography, or world view, suffused with fengshui. They are regarded by many Chinese people in Hong Kong as dangerous and powerful places that link earth, heaven and the underworld, i.e. the material and non‐material worlds. Their unique time‐geography involves year‐round desertion except at the appropriate time for graveside rituals related to ancestor veneration. The different forms of burial — either in coffins, or in urns for ashes or for bones — require different spaces. This paper summarises the historical development of the provision of such spaces in Hong Kong and provides a descriptive analysis of four of them. It emerges that Hong Kong’s cemeteries have a strongly, though not exclusively, secular significance. Furthermore, inscriptions on grave tablets indicate the position in the lineage, and the ancestral place, of those buried there.
Patterns of Temporary Mobility in Australia: Evidence from the 1991 Census
Authors: Bell Martin , Ward Gary
Published: March 2003

While Census data are generally employed to examine permanent migration, they also provide a unique window on temporary population movements, a phenomenon largely neglected in Australia. Building on the work of Zelinsky, this paper outlines a conceptual framework for analysis of temporary mobility and reviews the strengths and limitations of the Census as a source of information. Data from the 1991 Australian Census are then used to analyse the incidence of temporary movements, the characteristics of temporary movers, and their spatial distribution. It is shown that temporary mobility is selective of certain groups and that there are substantial concentrations of temporary movers in both coastal and inland locations. By combining analysis of their origins with the attributes of their destinations, a preliminary typology of temporary population movement is proposed. The concluding section considers the implications of this form of mobility and identifies some avenues for further research.
Beyond the Australasian Single Aviation Market
Authors: Kissling Christopher C.
Published: March 2003

This paper notes the emergence of the Single Aviation Market for Australia and New Zealand and considers issues relating to future external relationships facing both countries and their airlines as they move to harmonise their international aviation policies and border controls. In the Asia Pacific region, there is a range of views regarding the shape and pace of liberalisation of bilateral air service agreements. Will other countries follow the Australia‐New Zealand move? Will the Australia‐New Zealand agreement be widened to include others?
Channel and Hydrological Controls on Water Quality in a Steep, Bedrock‐Confined Stream
Authors: Petrozzi Michael
Published: March 2003

Steep, pool‐fall channels of the sandstone areas near Sydney, New South Wales, Australia consist of discrete pools of varying sizes separated by bedrock reaches. The pools are linked by low‐volume discharges during dry weather. Relatively large in‐channel water storage volumes and small dry weather flows result in extended in‐channel retention of water, sediments and contaminants and hence delayed delivery to receiving waters. Streams are flushed infrequently by high flow events. Field data and simulation results indicate that the long retention times experienced during dry weather flows are conducive to the attenuation of non‐conservative contaminants. Flushing of channels, which occurs approximately once a year, resets the system and transports stored contaminants and sediments to receiving fluvial and estuarine systems. The low frequency of these floods allows the receiving systems time to recover between deliveries of dilute contaminants during high flow events. These findings have important implications for the management of water quality in the Sydney region.