Australian Economic Review最新文献

We develop a new method for estimating production frontiers that allows the identification of sources of firm productivity variability. Our novel approach enhances the understanding of productivity growth and its sources, and the role of firm dynamics on growth. The empirical results using Australian firm-level data demonstrate that the approach can provide important insights, which can better inform policy formulation.

This article reviews the experience in Australia with working from home (WFH). It briefly examines what is meant by WFH, highlighting the distinction between extension and replacement WFH and the importance of identifying those who work full days from home. It then presents evidence on the changing incidence of WFH in Australia and the types of workers who are most likely to work from home following the pandemic. It shows that around one in four workers regularly worked at least one full day from home in 2023, with hybrid work arrangements being more prevalent than working all days from home. Furthermore, WFH was concentrated in high-skilled white-collar office jobs. Finally, the growing body of research on the impacts of WFH on both workers and employers is reviewed. While there are both benefits and drawbacks, the Australian evidence mostly points to beneficial outcomes of WFH for workers. Far less is known about the impacts on employers, with Australian research being especially scarce.

Drawing on HILDA Survey data, this article provides an overview of changes in the Australian labour market since 2001 with a view to identifying whether these changes have the potential to contribute to a rise in disaffection in the community. Over the period since 2001 as a whole, employment and wage growth have been relatively broadly experienced across the community. However, some deterioration in labour market outcomes is evident for young men, and there is tentative evidence of rising disaffection among low-wage employees. Moreover, while the post-pandemic period has seen strong employment growth, real after-tax wages declined appreciably between 2021 and 2023, although these wage declines have been broadly felt.

This study examines how energy poverty shapes voting intentions in Australia. We compare support for the major parties (Labor and the Liberal National Coalition) with support for the minor parties. We also examine how energy poverty influences two-party preferred voting intentions between the two major parties (Coalition and Labor). We find that energy-poor households have 8 percentage points lower probability of supporting either major party compared to alternatives and that energy poor households are 1.4 times more likely to intend to vote for right wing populist minor parties than other minor parties or independents. When comparing Labor and the Coalition directly, energy poverty reduces support for Labor by 3.7 percentage points, reflecting Labor's stronger climate policies that voters likely associate with higher energy costs, while the Coalition's fossil fuel-aligned stance appears to resonate more with energy stressed households. The findings contribute to economic voting theories by demonstrating how sector-specific financial stress can reshape political behaviour.

Support for minor parties and independents in Australia doubled from 15% in 2007 to 30% in 2022, ending decades of relative electoral stability. Using nearly 30 years of monthly consumer survey data, we examine whether this realignment is rooted in economic disaffection. Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), growth in real GDP and GDP per capita has slowed markedly, while consumer sentiment—reflecting individuals' retrospective and prospective evaluations of their personal finances and the broader economy—has fallen to record lows. This increase in economic pessimism is evident across major demographic groups, suggesting that disaffection is broad-based rather than confined to particular constituencies. Voters with negative economic expectations are significantly more likely to support minor parties or independents, and this association has strengthened since the mid-2010s. The Greens have gained disproportionate support from younger voters, while other minor parties and independents have attracted more support from older cohorts. These findings show that declining economic prosperity—both real and perceived—has played an important role in Australia's post-GFC shift away from the two major parties. This is consistent with the view that voters are responding rationally to unmet policy demands and long-standing dissatisfaction with government performance.

Australia taxes alcohol consumption more than most other affluent economies. A switch to low-alcohol beer has been encouraged in Australia by it being subject to a lower rate of excise tax than regular beer, but no such incentive applies to packaged mid-strength beer. Would more or less alcohol be consumed if the tax rates for mid-strength beer were lowered, for example to those for low-strength beer? This study estimates changes in demand that could result from such a policy change. It finds that alcohol consumption from each of beer, wine and spirits could fall, but by only a little more than 1% in total.

Using data from the 2022 round of the HILDA Survey, regression models are estimated where the outcomes are variables that influence or are correlated with personal well-being, and the main independent variable distinguishes persons who identify as transgender or gender-diverse (TGD) from persons whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth (cisgender). Twelve outcomes covering the labour market, income and finances, crime victimisation, and health and subjective well-being are examined. TGD persons are found to fare worse than cisgender persons in all cases. For example, the differences between TGD persons and cisgender men and cisgender women in personal income are estimated to lie in the range of 59%–61% and 26%–33%, respectively. Similarly, the likelihood of a transgender person being the victim of physical violence is estimated to be 4.3 and 2.4 times greater than that of cisgender men and cisgender women, respectively. The relatively small size of the TGD subsample, however, means that results are not always statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. This is especially so when comparing TGD persons with cisgender women. Overall, these results strongly suggest that TGD persons in Australia face systemic disadvantages.

The ATO ALife Family File (ALife-Family) combines rich family connections and administrative superannuation and tax data that opens new opportunities for understanding joint financial decisions between partners, intergenerational income mobility and some aspects of wealth mobility. In this study, we describe the construction of the ALife Family File, compare it to the HILDA Survey and demonstrate its value as a tool for intergenerational analysis. Our analysis shows that the characteristics of couples in ALife-Family are consistent with those in HILDA but that the former has the advantage of better coverage of superannuation and income data. Preliminary analysis highlights both opportunities and challenges of using ALife-Family when examining intergenerational issues.