Australian Economic Review最新文献

The traditional break–fix model of healthcare, characterised by reactive interventions after the onset of diseases, is undergoing a significant transformation globally, including in Australia. This is occurring at the same time that revolutionary technologies such as artificial intelligence and precision prevention of disease are emerging. This article explores the imperative to transition from our current break–fix model of health care towards a predict–prevent model, emphasising proactive healthcare strategies underpinned by technology.

Medicare is now 40 years old, but the blueprint was developed in the 1960s by John Deeble and Richard Scotton working at the Melbourne Institute. Starting with a desire to understand the Australian health system of the early1960s, Deeble and Scotton collected much information and data on the provision of health services and their financing. This led them to be highly critical of the health system and, in response to a challenge from the Labor leader, Gough Whitlam, the development of a new system which we now know as Medicare.

The debate over universal dental insurance in Australia has persisted since the mid-1970s, as dental care was excluded from Medibank (the predecessor of Medicare) for political and economic reasons. Importantly, dental care expenses are often more predictable than other types of medical care, making insurance design more challenging. We provide an overview of proposals for public dental insurance in Australia, arguing that income-contingent loans to fund higher dental costs may provide a mechanism for expanding insurance while limiting government expenditure. Finally, we argue that a randomised controlled experiment could offer insights into the effectiveness and sustainability of various insurance models for dental care.

Four topics related to the operation of regulatory systems are considered. These concern the matters of dealing with globally sub-optimal decisions made by regulators, the problem of specifying boundaries between groups of regulated entities in the application of regulation, dealing with a situation in which there are multiple regulators, and the alignment of regulation across jurisdictional borders. It is argued that current responses to these dilemmas tend to add to levels of inefficiency in the economy, with consequences for growth. Options for resolving them are considered, including new approaches to the design of regulation.

Australia's longstanding culture of homeownership, symbolising stability and achievement, also impacts positive ageing outcomes across multiple domains. Recently, demographic and economic factors, such as housing affordability issues, insufficient income and barriers to the housing market, pose challenges to homeownership, with implications for retirement planning as the use of home equity to support ageing evolves. Secure housing and financial security are critical for successful ageing, necessitating flexible solutions and innovative financing models like fractional ownership. We raise awareness of the changing dynamics of retirement planning and accentuate the increasing significance of innovative housing solutions in supporting health during retirement.

Drawing on data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey and from qualitative data from in-depth interviews with older Australians in mixed sex couple households, this article highlights the risks and vulnerabilities that older Australians face in saving for retirement and, importantly, in drawing down assets in retirement. The article also provides data on financial literacy and risk-taking among older Australians.

This article explores enhancement opportunities for Australian Government co-contributions to superannuation accounts. The article's empirical foundation includes the distributions for variables related to saving, investment and risk perceptions in the 2022 wave of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. As income or wealth increase, there are increases in the probabilities of individuals making additional superannuation contributions, having a saving horizon of at least five years, and being prepared to take more than average investment risks. Four policy changes are suggested in the article, with the potential for superannuation funds to independently implement some of these changes.

Using Bayesian Structural Time Series analysis, this study examines the causal impact of loan-to-value (LTV) restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in October 2013. By incorporating state-space components, such as local linear trend, seasonality and regression, counterfactual values of house price indices are predicted. Surprisingly, the study reveals that the implementation of LTV restrictions had no significant effect on national house price indices, contradicting prior Central Bank studies that reported a nearly 3 percentage-point decrease in housing cost inflation. This contradictory evidence challenges existing perceptions of the effectiveness of LTV restrictions in curbing house price inflation.

Recognising the increasing accessibility and importance of patent data, the article underscores the need for standardised and transparent data analysis methods. We illustrate the construction and relevance of commonly used patent indicators derived from Google Patents Public Datasets. The indicators range from citation counts to more advanced metrics like patent text similarity. The BigQuery code is available in an open Kaggle notebook, explaining operational intricacies and potential data issues. By providing clear, adaptable queries and emphasising transparent methods, this article hopes to contribute to the standardisation and accessibility of patent analysis, offering a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners alike.

This article examines a new era of models predicting fertility decline reversal as female-to-male wages rise. Standard microeconomic frameworks and diagrams simplify theoretical concepts for students and policymakers. The analysis reveals how demand for children may increase when households substitute childcare for women's time. An income effect dominates when responsiveness of the input mix and preference for children are high. Challenging conventional assumptions unveils the importance of gender inequality at home, economies of scale in raising children, and market-determined childcare prices. The findings suggest that household taxation and preferences influence how childcare subsidies and paid maternity leave shape fertility upturn.