This paper provides an introduction and overview of my research on the Economics of Language. The approach is that language skills among immigrants and native-born linguistic minorities are a form of human capital. There are costs and benefits associated with this characteristic embodied in the...

The paper analyses the problem of a "skills shortage" in Australia. It begins with an analysis of the operation of a labour market in terms of stocks and flows of labour services and human capital acquisition. It discusses the definition of a skills shortage, why it persists, and then looks at...

In 2009, the Australian, Brazilian and UK parliaments faced strong criticism - to say the least - over the issue of parliamentarians' expenses. The uncovering of widespread misuses of public resources by parliamentarians in each of these three countries was the subject of intense media and...

This paper examines the incidence and wage effects of over-skilling within the Australian labour market. It finds that approximately 30 percent of employees believed themselves to be moderately over-skilled and 11 percent believed themselves to be severely over-skilled. The incidence of skills...