Homeownership and Unemployment: The Roles of Leverage and Public Housing

Oswald hypothesizes that regions and countries with high homeownership rates will experience higher natural rates of unemployment and that rising homeownership in OECD countries since the 1960s provides a key explanation for the rise in the natural rate of unemployment over the same time period. Recent tests of the Oswald thesis have found the opposite. This study differs from earlier ones both by considering different states of ownership (degrees of leverage) and types of tenancy (private, public, and rent-free) and by examining data from Australia, rather than the U.S. We demonstrate that the recent anti-Oswald results are the result of (1) highly leveraged owners having a greater incentive to remain employed and to become reemployed more rapidly that outright owners and (2) those paying below-market rents having a lower incentive to avoid unemployment or become reemployed than those paying market rents. The only positive Oswald result is that females who are outright owners have significantly slower exits from unemployment. Overall, homeownership does not increase unemployment. Finally, in line with expectations but in contrast to some earlier studies, our results indicate a significant impact of the predicted replacement ratio (unemployment benefits to wage if reemployed) on unemployment behavior. Persons with a higher predicted ratio are significantly more likely to become unemployed, and unemployed females with a higher predicted replacement ratio have longer unemployment spells than those with lower predicted ratios.

The cost of youth homelessness in Australia study: snapshot report 1

Overview: This is the first national Australian longitudinal study investigating the economic, personal and social costs of youth homelessness over time across a broad range of locations. Too many young Australians are without any form of safe and secure accommodation. It is estimated that approximately 44,000 Australians under the age of 25 are homeless, but the actual number is likely to be higher. Homeless young people comprise some 42 per cent of the Australian homeless population. Participants have been tracked by researchers over a three year period to see what kind of issues young homeless people face: changes in their circumstances, health and quality of life; how many used services; the types of services they accessed; and whether or not they transitioned from homelessness to permanent accommodation

Measuring the difference we make: the state-of-play of outcomes measurement in the community sector in Western Australia

The term ‘outcomes measurement’ refers to the measurement of the difference that an initiative, program or organisation makes to the lives of people they engage with. Outcomes measurement provides evidence on whether initiatives, programs and organisations are making a difference to the lives of people they serve. It is an important basis of learning within organisations of what works and what doesn’t work. Outcomes measurement also provides the foundation stone for evaluation, strategic planning and good governance, and is critical to good decision-making in respect of the appropriate allocation of resources by funders.  This report extends our previous Bankwest Foundation research and investigates the experiences of on-the-ground community organisations, government and philanthropic funders of community service organisations, and community sector peak bodies with outcomes measurement in Western Australia. This is particularly important in Western Australia as recent regulatory reform has placed outcomes measurement firmly on the agenda for all Western Australia departments, agencies and the organisations they work with.  This study finds outcomes measurement at a tipping point in Western Australia. Our mapping of outcomes measurement in Western Australia and consultations with community sector stakeholders in Western Australia suggest not simply a growing interest in outcomes measurement and a broad appetite for progress and change, but that community sector organisations, big and small, as well as funders, are implementing or seeking to implement a systematic, well-grounded outcomes measurement framework in their organisations and through their funding programs. Community organisations and the funders of programs are also moving towards more strategic use of the outputs of outcomes measurement and connecting measurement with strategy and performance improvement.&nbsp

The Role of Teachers in Identifying and Supporting Homeless Secondary School Students: Important Lessons for Teacher Education

Young people entering homelessness often do so while still at school. This study explores Australian teachers’ and other student support staff perspectives of the experiences of students who are running away from home, the barriers to student help-seeking, and how local youth services can best support secondary schools to provide necessary services to keep students at school and at home or in some other form of safe and secure accommodation. The study revealed that although teachers and student support staff report awareness that student couch surfing exists; there are a range of barriers which prevent a student from seeking help. Teachers called for stronger relationships between schools and youth homelessness services to achieve a more effective and informed early intervention response. Teachers also asked for guidance on how to respond when students are homeless. The overall results have important implications for teacher education and practice as well as informing education welfare policies

Radiative diffusivity factors in cirrus and stratocumulus clouds: Application to two-stream models

A diffusion-like description of radiative transfer in clouds and the free atmosphere is often used. The two stream model is probably the best known example of such a description. The main idea behind the approach is that only the first few moments of radiance are needed to describe the radiative field correctly. Integration smooths details of the angular distribution of specific intensity and it is assumed that the closure parameters of the theory (diffusivity factors) are only weakly dependent on the distribution. The diffusivity factors are investigated using the results obtained from both Stratocumulus and Cirrus phases of FIRE experiment. A new theoretical framework is described in which two (upwards and downwards) diffusivity factors are used and a detailed multistream model is used to provide further insight about both the diffusivity factors and their dependence on scattering properties of clouds

High Net Wealth Giving in Australia: A Review of the Evidence

This report examines trends in high net wealth (HNW) and ultra high net wealth (UHNW) in Australia, the philanthropic giving of these individuals and their potential to have a greater positive social impact. It explores the distribution of wealth in Australia, the rate of tax-deductible donations in Australia, and giving among the wealthiest Australians. Further, this report makes comparisons with the wealth and giving behaviour of other countries. Overall, Australia is one of the world’s richest nations, and the wealthiest Australians are currently experiencing unprecedented growth in their fortunes. The wealth of the top 200 Australians, as reported in the Financial Review Rich List (AFR Top 200 Rich List), has grown 183% from $195.9 billion in 2015 to$555 billion in 2021. However, Australia’s giving record remains relatively low compared with other wealthy countries. Donations by Australians are estimated to make up 0.81% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to the United Kingdom (0.96%), Canada (1%), New Zealand (1.84%) and the United States (2.1%)1. At the same time, most Australian charities are operating under financial stress and social need has increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights the untapped potential that exists to better fund the not-for-profit sector. We demonstrate how the sector could be transformed through relatively modest increases in donations. A commitment by the 200 wealthiest Australians to donate 1% of their wealth to charity would generate an extra $5.55 billion for the sector, boosting revenue by 3.2% and donations by 44%. Finally, we consider other alternatives to increase philanthropic giving, including the application of an inheritance tax on HNW bequests

A Study of CINDY/DYNAMO MJO Suppressed Phase

The diurnal variability and the environmental conditions that support the moisture resurgence of MJO events observed during the Cooperative Indian Ocean Experiment on Intraseasonal Variability (CINDY)/DYNAMO campaign in October–December 2011 are investigated using in situ observations and the cloud-resolving fully air–ocean–wave Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS). Spectral density and wavelet analysis of the total precipitable water (TPW) constructed from the DYNAMO soundings and TRMM satellite precipitation reveal a deep layer of vapor resurgence during the observed Wheeler and Hendon real-time multivariate MJO index phases 5–8 (MJO suppressed phase), which include diurnal, quasi-2-, quasi-3–4-, quasi-6–8-, and quasi-16-day oscillations. A similar oscillatory pattern is found in the DYNAMO moorings sea surface temperature analysis, suggesting a tightly coupled atmosphere and ocean system during these periods. COAMPS hindcast focused on the 12–16 November 2011 event suggests that both the diurnal sea surface temperature (SST) pumping and horizontal and vertical moisture transport associated with the westward propagating mixed Rossby–Gravity (MRG) waves play an essential role in the moisture resurgence during this period. Idealized COAMPS simulations of MRG waves are used to estimate the MRG and diurnal SST contributions to the overall moisture increase. These idealized MRG sensitivity experiments showed the TPW increase varies from 9% to 13% with the largest changes occurring in the simulations that included a diurnal SST variation of 2.5°C as observed.Keywords: Madden-Julian oscillation, Coupled models, Oscillations, performance, Model evaluation, Diurnal effects, Atmosphere-ocean interactio