We empirically examine the impact of high-speed internet access on cognitive functioning using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey and crystallised and fluid intelligence measures. Leveraging differences in the National Broadband Network rollout across Australia, we find that high-speed internet access causes a decline in crystallised intelligence and that the effects are mediated by social capital and moderated by age and gender. Although no overall effect on fluid intelligence was observed, a decline was noted in young adults. These findings underline the nuanced influence of high-speed internet access on different aspects of cognitive function.
This paper uses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data linked to administrative data to track the educational and labour market outcomes of young people. Students with lower skills have lower rates of participation in further education. While low-skilled men out-earn their higher-skilled counterparts when they are very young, their earnings are overtaken by those with higher skills when they are in their early 20s, and they earn around 15 per cent less by the age of 25. The differences among women are substantially larger – women with low skills earn approximately 35 per cent less than their higher-skilled counterparts by age 25.
The NSW Government's 2020 proposal to replace stamp duty on all properties with an annual tax based on unimproved land values is estimated to increase home ownership by 6.6%, through changes in purchaser holding periods, a shift of tax burden from investors to owner-occupiers and a relaxed deposit constraint. The model of home ownership highlights the importance of purchasers' holding periods, with implications for the effects of tax reforms, institutional ownership of rental properties and population growth. The paper provides an easily calibrated model of home purchases that could be used to quantify home ownership effects of various tax reforms.
Using a quarterly survey of 23,000 Australian retail equity investors, we study the relationship between beliefs about risk and returns and stock market intentions regarding holding, buying and selling. We provide evidence that investor intentions regarding buying or selling are primarily characterised by risk and return expectations, but sensitivity to their beliefs about risk and returns is greater for the intention to sell than to buy. In contrast, demographic factors such as gender, income and age play a key role in the decision to hold rather than trade. The results have significant ramifications for stock market participation and trading intensity in Australia.