A common critique of most measures of income inequality, which are based on a single year's income, is that they fail to take account of income mobility. If income fluctuations are large, and individuals can smooth consumption, then high inequality and high mobility may be no worse than low...

We analyze the effect of mothers’ and youths’ reports of family financial stress and conflict on youths’ transitions into adult roles. We find that mothers’ reports of financial stresses and borrowing constraints are associated with earlier transitions to inactivity and public...

In this paper we estimate the elasticity of the labour supply to a firm, using data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Estimation of this elasticity is of particular interest because of its relevance to the debate about the competitiveness of labour...

Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963-2007, we examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of...

In considering the economic impacts of climatic changes, economists frequently use annual national income as a proxy for social welfare. I show that such studies suffer from a significant bias, arising from the fact that such models typically ignore changes in mortality rates. Using panel data...

We test for gender discrimination by sending fake CVs to apply for entry-level jobs. Female candidates are more likely to receive a callback, with the difference being largest in occupations that are more female-dominated.

This paper summarizes the study design of the Rural–Urban Migration in China and Indonesia (RUMiCI) project. We first discuss the overall distribution of migrants in Indonesia and the selection of survey cities. Next, we describe the process of identifying the migration status of each...

Estimating the rate of return to a university degree has always been difficult due to the problem of omitted variable biases. Benefiting from a special feature of the University Admission system in China, which has clear cutoffs for university entry, combined with a unique data set with...

This paper presents evidence on a national-level electricity ladder which sees countries transition toward coal and natural gas, and finally nuclear power and modern renewables such as wind power, for their electricity needs as they develop. The extent to which countries climb the electricity...

Following the increasing impact of globalising economic forces world wide Australia, like many other liberal democracies, moved to adopt neoliberal economic policies with an emphasis on increasing deregulation of economic markets. The economic changes instituted since the 1980s have...