Previous research into the correlates and determinants of non-response in longitudinal surveys has focused exclusively on why it is that respondents at one survey wave choose not to participate at future waves. This is very understandable if non-response is always an absorbing state, but in many...

Most large-scale ongoing face-to-face surveys which began using pen and paper interviewing (PAPI) face an eventual shift to computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). In preparation for such a shift in the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, a trial of the...

Computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) offers many attractive benefits over paper and pencil interviewing. There is, however, mixed evidence on the impact of CAPI on interview length, an important survey outcome in the context of length limits imposed by survey budgets and concerns over...

This paper provides a statistical overview of three new cognitive ability measures collected in wave 12 of the HILDA Survey: (i) Backwards Digit Span; (ii) the Symbol Digits Modalities Test; and (iii) a 25-item version of the National Adult Reading Test. The paper: analyses willingness to...

We investigate the impact of short-term weather and long-term climate on self-reported life satisfaction using panel data. We find robust evidence that day-to-day weather variation impacts life satisfaction by a similar magnitude to acquiring a mild disability. Utilizing two sources of variation...

Very little is known about how the differential treatment of sexual minorities could influence subjective reports of overall well-being. This paper seeks to fill this gap. Data from two large surveys that provide nationally representative samples for two different countries – Australia (the...

Many economists and educators favour public support for education on the premise that education imporves the overall well-being of citizens. However, little is known about the casual pathwasy through which education shapes people's subjective well-being (SWB). This paper explores the direct and...

Empirical studies, especially in the US and UK, have consistently reported that rates of involuntary job separation, or dismissal, are significantly lower among female employees than among males. Only rarely, however, have the reasons for this differential been the subject of detailed...

Using newly collected data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey, this study presents new estimates of the earnings effects of sexual orientation in Australia and offers the first empirical investigation of the labour market trajectories of...

We consider desires for flexibility in weekly hours by analyzing changes in work hours preferences using four years of data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. We control for work hours preferences in previous years and test for effects on desired labor...