Wage Determination In Australia*

This paper examines whether a stable expectations-augmented Phillips curve exists for Australia. High real wages in the face of continuing high unemployment over the past decade have led to suggestions that the level of unemployment has little effect on wage determination, with the bargaining process taking place between employers and those employees in ‘secure employment’. Results from aggregate data suggest that the level of unemployment is relevant to wage determination. In addition, the impact of overtime on the growth in money wages is consistent with the view that those in secure employment are influenced by labour market conditions.     

Gender Pay Equity and Comparable Worth in Australia: A Reassessment

The Australian labour market is characterised by a persistent earnings differential between men and women. This article examines the contribution made by gender-based occupational segmentation to that gap using data from the 1993 Survey of Training and Education. It is estimated that occupational segmentation is responsible for between 3.9 and 4.9 percentage points of the earnings differential when measured across all employees. The comparable range after excluding managerial employees, however, is only 2.1 to 3.6 percentage points. Finally, the importance of segmentation for the gender earnings gap is found to be directly correlated with age, suggesting the intriguing possibility that the occupation-based inequity in pay will work itself out over time. That said, other explanations for this age effect also exist.     

Youth Unemployment In Australia: A Survey

This survey was prepared by Mr P. Stricker and Dr P. Sheehan of the Institute staff. It draws in part on materlal published by these authors in R. F. Henderson (ed), Youth Unemployment, Proceedings of the Second Academy of the Social Sciences Symposium, Canberra, 1977.     

Regional Consumption Patterns in Australia: A System-Wide Analysis*

This paper uses consumption data for eight commodity groups to present a system-wide analysis of consumption patterns in the six States of Australia. We test the hypotheses of demand homogeneity, Slutsky symmetry and preference independence using Monte Carlo simulation techniques and find general acceptance of these hypotheses for the six States. The paper also presents demand elasticities for the eight commodity groups in each State. We find, overall, food, clothing and housing commodity groups are necessities while durables, medical care, transport and miscellaneous groups are luxuries. We also find evidence in support of similarity of consumption patterns across the six Australian States.     

Open Market Operations in Australia: A US Perspective*

This paper investigates open market operations in Australia and incorporates some key features of these operations into a simple rational expectations macroeconomic model Where relevant, comparisons with US operating procedures are made. The major finding is that the Reserve Bank of Australia like the Federal Reserve uses the overnight interest rate as its policy instrument However, specific features of the Australian money market imply that direct control of the interest rate will be a more efficient policy in Australia than in the United States.     

A Note on Aggregate Investment in Australia*

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relevance of Tobin's ‘q theory’ of investment in explaining aggregate investment in Australia, over the period from December 1966 to December 1986. Using standard capital stock data, the q theory performs poorly. However, the cost of adjustment model implies that the conventional capital stock data need to be revised to allow for these adjustment costs. Once this is done, it is found that the q theory explains a statistically significant (although small) proportion of the movements in aggregate investment The residual behaviour of investment is well explained by an accelerator model     

Labor Surplus in Korea: A Reassessment

The paper estimates the Korean turning point, as defined in the labor-surplus model of Lewis (1954) and Fei and Ranis (1964), using a wide variety of data. The best estimate is somewhere in the period 1964-1968. In addition, unlike previous estimation work several data series are shown to support the entire model in addition to dating the turning point. Caution is urge in the use of econometric estimations of production-function parameters as a way to time the turning point. [O5]     

Retail Demand for Meat in Australia: A Utility Theory Approach*

This paper examines Australian retail demand for meat for the post-war period 1949-50 to 1978-79. Several systems of demand equations are estimated, each system (comprising equations for beef, mutton, lamb, pork and chicken) being derived from an underlying static utility function. Model selection procedures are used to determine the preferred specifications). The validity of the utility theory approach is investigated by: testing for the presence of autocorrelation; examining the monotonicity and convexity properties of the utility functions; and comparing the estimated price and expenditure elasticities with those of other Australian studies. Serial correlation does arise as a problem, but other results provide support for the theory.     

The Economics of Television Regulation: A Survey with Application to Australia*

The analysis of the regulation of television poses a number of challenges to economists Because the structure and organization of television broadcasting are rarely the same between any two countries, there are difficulties in applying the economic analysis of television regulation in one country to that of another. Further, the major social and cultural role of television causes government broadcasting policy to include many non-economic objectives This paper outlines the main issues concerning the economic regulation of television and relates the prominent literature in the area to the Australian broadcasting environment     

The Intertemporal Substitution Hypothesis: A Quantitative Reassessment

This paper reexamines the empirical validity of the intertemporal substitution hypothesis by reinterpreting existing empirical labor supply studies. A dynamic labor supply model is proposed and is used as a unifying framework for various studies. Evidence discernible from those reinterpretations supports the view that a typical worker increases working hours in response to a wage increase perceived to be transitory, but decreases working hours in response to a permanent wage increase. Specifically, the evidence strongly suggests that the short run labor supply elasticity exceeds 1. [824]     

Unionization in Australia: Evidence from the AWIRS*

This article uses workplace level data from the recent Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey to test a simple demand and supply model explaining the level of union membership within Australia The findings suggest that previous research using individual-level data has understated the importance of the supply-side in influencing union membership. In particular, unionization levels were found to be highly sensitive to firm size, to the number of unions represented in the workplace and to management attitudes     

Employee Training in Australia: Evidence from AWIRS*

We use linked data for 13 991 employees and 1494 workplaces to analyse the incidence of employer‐provided training in Australia. We find potential experience, current job tenure, low education levels, skilled vocational training and part‐time or fixed‐term employment status are all associated with a lower probability of recent training. In contrast to studies for other countries, we find no evidence of discrimination on the basis of demographic characteristics in the provision of this job‐related training. Finally, and in support of recent non‐competitive training models, higher levels of wage compression are found to be positively related to a greater incidence of employee training.