Ranking Australian Economics Departments by Research Productivity

This study ranks Australian economics departments according to their average research productivity during 1998–2002. The highest ranked departments are those at ANU, JCU, Melbourne, Tasmania and UWA. We also rank departments according to the variability of research productivity among their members, the assumption being that, other things being equal, the less variable is productivity within a department, the better. Research productivity is found to be highly skewed within all departments. However, in general, research productivity is more (less) evenly distributed within those departments that have relatively high (low) average research productivity.     

Evaluating The Research Output Of Australian Universities' Economics Departments

This paper presents measures of the research output of Australian economics departments. Our study covers the 640 academic staff at rank Lecturer and above in the 27 Australian universities with economics departments containing eight or more staff in April 2002. We construct publication measures based on journal articles, which can be compared with weighted publication measures, and citation measures, which can be compared with the publication measures. Our aim is to identify the robustness of rankings to the choice of method, as well as to highlight differences in focus of departments' research output. A striking feature of our measures is that the majority of economists in Australian university departments have done no research that has been published in a fairly long list of refereed journals over the last dozen years. They may publish in other outlets, but in any event their work is rarely cited. Thus, average research output is low because many academic economists in Australia do not view research as part of their job or, at least, suffer no penalty from failing to produce substantive evidence of research activity.     

A Multidimensional Ranking of Australian Economics Departments

This study uses cluster analysis to classify Australian economics departments into groups that have similar quantities of research output, measured by two publication counts, and similar quality of research output, measured by a citation count. Three groups of departments are identified and factor analysis is used to rank the groups. Whether research output is measured in total or on a per staff basis, Melbourne is in the group that ranks first, the remaining members of the 'group of eight' are in one or other of the top two groups, and at least 15 other departments are in the third-ranked group.     

Comparative Research Productivity Measures for Economics Departments

The typical profit-maximization solution for the joint-production problem found in intermediate texts, managerial texts, and other texts concerned with optimal pricing is oversimplified and inconsistent with profit maximization, unless there is either no excess of any of the joint products or no costs associated with dumping. However, it is an inappropriate method of solution where excess does exist and the costs of dumping are explicitly recognized and, with respect to such cases, is at least nongeneral. The authors present a more realistic alternative method of solution, although more complex, as a substitute for the textbook method of solution typically offered.     

Australian Company Mergers 1960-1970*

This study recorded 340 international mergers and 1992 domestic mergers in Australia in the period mid 1959-December 1970. In the 1,460 mergers for which price information was available, the total merger value amounted to $2,283.3 million. The merger movement was most intensive in the later years of the period, with $1,034.8 million being paid for 429 firms during 1968-1970. This compares with some 1,157 mergers transacted at a total cost of $558.4 million recorded by Mr Bushnell [2] in the period 1947-to mid 1959.²³ While mergers took place in almost all industries, they were not uniformly distributed. More than two-thirds of foreign take-overs occurred in manufacturing, compared with less than one-half of domestic mergers in manufacturing. Foreign companies have purchased the largest or leading Australian firms in their respective industries. Moreover, United States take-overs were important in basic chemicals and flour mill and cereal products; on the other hand, United Kingdom take-overs were prominent in beverages and malt, other industrial machinery and fabricated metal products. Among the foreign acquiring companies, merger activity was more concentrated in United Kingdom-based companies than among United States-based companies. For the period as a whole, domestic take-overs outnumbered foreign take-overs by more than 5·5 to 1. In examining the limited evidence for foreign take-over activity in the period 1946-59,²⁴ it is apparent that foreign firms have accounted for a much higher share of merger activity during the nineteen-sixties. In addition, mergers overseas have brought together the Australian subsidiaries of the merging companies. Mr Bushnell [2] rated the tax structure including all its ramifications as probably the single most important cause for mergers.²⁵ While tax factors have continued to play an important role in merger activity, it appears that, during the sixties, a far more important reason for mergers in many industries has been the so-called proliferation effect of mergers. As some firms, especially the multinationals, took over leading local companies making for cost and competitive advantages, invariably the smaller remaining independent firms were compelled to resort to mergers for defensive reasons. The owners of many of these firms, fearing a war of attrition, took advantage of avoiding risks by capitalizing future profits in the form of tax-free capital gains, by selling out before a situation emerged where their bargaining power would have been seriously eroded. Most of these firms disappearing into mergers, did so with partners closely related to their existing operations. Approximately three-fourths of domestic and foreign take-overs were of the broad horizontal class.     

The Status of Econometrics in the Economics Major: A Survey

In this article, the authors describe the place of econometrics in undergraduate economics curricula in all American colleges and universities that offer economics majors as listed in the U.S. News & World Report “Best Colleges 2010” guide (U.S. News & World Report 2009). Data come from online catalogs, departmental Web sites, and online course syllabi. About one-third of the schools require econometrics of all students majoring in economics, about half require it of none, and a sixth require it of some, but not all, economics majors. Among universities with economics PhD programs and liberal arts colleges, almost all those ranked in the top 10 require it. Below the top 10, there is little correlation between ranking and econometrics requirements. Liberal arts econometrics classes are much more likely to require research projects than their counterparts in universities.     

Internet Economics and Policy: An Australian Perspective

Publicly available information indicates that the demand and supply of Internet and Internet–related services are continuing to expand at a rapid pace. Since 1997 the number of Internet service providers (facilities–based and resellers) has increased by nearly 40 per cent; the number of points–of–presence per Internet service provider has increased by five times; the number of hosts connected to the Internet has more than quadrupled; and Internet traffic has increased from six to 10 times. The emergence of electronic commerce (e–commerce), driven by this rapid adoption of Internet services and continual technological innovation, is likely to have profound economic and social impacts on Australian society. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the impact of the Internet and e–commerce, ranging from the changes in the market structure of the telecommunications industry, its role in changing the organisation of traditional markets, the emergence of new markets, and the structural shifts to employment, productivity and trade. The paper also analyses contemporary Australian regulatory responses.