Lucas (1988) hypothesised that human capital externalities explain persistent productivity growth and become manifest via interactions between workplace colleagues. Consistent with the first part of this hypothesis, Fox and Milbourne (2006) concluded that an increase in the average level of...

Labour market theory provides several reasons why mothers are likely to earn lower hourly wages than non-mothers. However, the size of any motherhood penalty is an empirical matter and the evidence for Australia is limited. This paper examines the effect of motherhood on Australian women’s...

Booth and Wood (2008), using longitudinal data from 2001 through 2004, found a large part-time wage premium for both men and women in Australia. Longitudinal studies of the full-time/part-time wage differential in other countries find small penalties or premiums, or no significant wage...

This paper considers changes in poverty rates under the Howard government. We also make three methodological contributions. We consider the statistical significance of estimated changes in poverty. We propose a decomposition technique which reconciles trends in absolute and relative poverty. We...

This paper briefly describes the major reforms to Australian trade policy over the last 30 years and then explores whether these reforms have increased manufactured exports across 141 manufacturing branches over the period 1989/90 to 2000/01. We find that the declining level of protection over...

This paper documents differences in the levels and growth rates of manufactured exports across the Australian states and territories over the period 1989/90 - 2000/01 and then re-interprets these differences using shift-share analysis. Our results suggest that the relative changes in state...

Most climate scientists around the world are concerned about global warming. These concerns have resulted in calls for reductions in CO2 emissions over time. If these calls are to be heeded, an appropriate emissions accounting method must first be agreed upon by CO2 emitting countries, none of...

This paper deals dynamically with macroeconomic aspects of widespread substance abuse with a reference to illicit drugs as an example. Substance-abuse impedes the productivity of the labour force and subsequently economic growth. The labour force is divided into non-using and therefore fully...

Hanushek and Kimko (2000) concluded that, for a sample of nearly 80 countries, the quality of the labour force is significantly positively related to economic growth rates for the period 1960-1990 and is more important that mean years of schooling. In this paper, we further test the robustness...