This Productivity Commission staff working paper (by Matthew Forbes, Andrew Barker and Stewart Turner) was released March 2010. <p>Human capital theory supports the view that people with higher levels of education and lower incidences of chronic illness should have higher labour productivity....</p></p>

This Productivity Commission staff working paper (by Paula Barnes) examines sectoral investment in intangible assets in Australia following on from a previous paper on an examination of intangibles assets in the market sector as a whole. It highlights some significant issues relating to the...

This Productivity Commission staff working paper (by Anthony Shomos) was released in October 2010. Literacy and numeracy skills are key components of human capital, which is an important driver of economic growth. This paper utilises data from a 2006 survey on the literacy and numeracy skills of...

The Commission has been requested to report every two to three years to COAG on the economic 'impacts and benefits' of COAG reforms. The Commission is also required to consider the extent to which Australia's reform potential is being achieved and opportunities for improvement. <p>In preparation...</p>

The Productivity Commission’s third phase of the Education and Training Workforce study examined the workforce of the schools sector, this research report – Schools Workforce – was released on 4 May 2012. A well-performing school system is fundamental to building Australia’s ‘human...

This Productivity Commission research report was released on 5 May 2011. This report, the first of a suite of three on the education and training workforce, focusses on the Vocational Education and Training workforce. Other reports will follow on the Early Childhood Development and Schools...

Investment in capital is important for economic growth. But capital is not just physical assets; firms also invest in 'soft' capital such as knowledge, firm-specific skills, and better ways of doing business. This investment results in accumulation of 'intangible assets'. Intangible assets have...