Is the fertility response to the Australian baby bonus heterogeneous across maternal age? Evidence from Victoria.

The Australian baby bonus, offering parents $3,000 on the birth of a child, was announced on May 11 2004. The focus of this paper is to analyse the response to the policy across maternal age levels in order to separate policy effects from prevailing demographic trends such as recuperation of previously postponed births. Using multivariate time series analysis, we find that all age groups except teenagers show a positive fertility response to the policy. The results suggest that the policy may have elicited fertility behaviour change, evidenced by a higher cumulative growth in fertility of maternal age groups 20-24 and 24-30 which is sustained past 2008 even as a growth in birth ratios of older age groups was stabilising. A short term birth timing effect was also estimated to further explore the extent to which incentives matter for decisions around family formation

Is the fertility response to the Australian baby bonus heterogeneous across maternal age? Evidence from Victoria.

The Australian baby bonus, offering parents $3,000 on the birth of a child, was announced on May 11 2004. The focus of this paper is to analyse the response to the policy across maternal age levels in order to separate policy effects from prevailing demographic trends such as recuperation of previously postponed births. Using multivariate time series analysis, we find that all age groups except teenagers show a positive fertility response to the policy. The results suggest that the policy may have elicited fertility behaviour change, evidenced by a higher cumulative growth in fertility of maternal age groups 20-24 and 24-30 which is sustained past 2008 even as a growth in birth ratios of older age groups was stabilising. A short term birth timing effect was also estimated to further explore the extent to which incentives matter for decisions around family formation

The Residential Mortgage (De)regulation–Innovation nexus

The stance of Australia’s central authorities with respect to residential mortgage innovation appears different from many of our international counterparts. In this article we provide an interpretation of this policy stance, concluding that signals are arguably a more prominent feature of Australia’s policy environment than many of our overseas counterparts. In addition we also observe that whilst there is a strong link between innovation and (de)regulation, a healthy degree of competition appears to be necessary if a wider-set of consumers are to have access to these innovations

The Residential Mortgage (De)regulation–Innovation nexus

The stance of Australia’s central authorities with respect to residential mortgage innovation appears different from many of our international counterparts. In this article we provide an interpretation of this policy stance, concluding that signals are arguably a more prominent feature of Australia’s policy environment than many of our overseas counterparts. In addition we also observe that whilst there is a strong link between innovation and (de)regulation, a healthy degree of competition appears to be necessary if a wider-set of consumers are to have access to these innovations

Does innovation in residential mortgage products explain rising house prices? No.

Like many consumer products, household mortgages have experienced significant innovation in recent decades, with mortgages becoming cheaper, more accessible, and with more features. Many observers have expected that this would increase demand for houses, contributing to a rise in house prices. We investigate this relation, both in terms the extent and timing of innovation in residential mortgage products, and then we critically assess whether there is a link with Melbourne Metropolitan house prices (post 1980). Our conclusion is surprising: we find no apparent evidence of a relationship between residential mortgage innovation and house prices

Intervening to improve health indicators among Australian farm families

The Sustainable Farm Families project (http://www.sustainablefarmfamilies.org.au/) was a 3-year demonstration and education project designed to influence farmer behavior with respect to family health and well-being among cropping and grazing farmers in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, Australia. The project was conducted by the Western District Health Service, Hamilton, Australia, in partnership with farmers; Farm Management 500 (peer discussion group); the Victorian Farmers Federation; Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology; and Land Connect. During the 3 years of the project, 128 farmers&mdash;men (70) and women (58)&mdash;were enrolled. The project utilized a combination of small group workshops, individualized health action plans, and health education opportunities to encourage farm safety and health behavior changes and to elicit sustained improvements in the following health indicators: body mass index (BMI), total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, and blood pressure. Mean changes in these health indicators were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and McNemar\u27s test compared the proportion of individuals with elevated indicators. Among participants with elevated values at baseline, the following average reductions were observed: BMI 0.44 kg/m2 (p = .0034), total cholesterol 48.7 mg/dl (p &lt; .0001), blood glucose 10.1 mg/dl (p = .0016), systolic blood pressure 12.5 mm Hg (p &lt; .0001), and diastolic blood pressure 5.0 mm Hg (p = .0007). The proportion of participants with elevated total cholesterol at baseline decreased after 24 months (p &lt; .001). Such findings suggest that proactive intervention by farmer associations, rural health services, and government agencies may be an effective vehicle for promoting voluntary farm safety and health behavior change while empowering farm families to achieve measurable reductions in important health risk factors. <br /

Extending copyright duration in Australia

In February 2004 Australia and the United States concluded negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). While much of the AUSFTA negotiations involved `market access&#039; issues, domestic laws that discriminated against the other party¿s goods and services, or were otherwise considered unfavourable to the party&#039;s producers, were also on the negotiating agenda. According to Article 17.4.4 of the AUSFTA, Australia has agreed to extend its term of copyright protection. The term of copyright protection for works (for example, books, artwork and sheet music), films and sound recordings (phonograms) will be extended by an extra 20 years; so that the term of protection for works will move from the life of the author plus 50 years (the minimum term of copyright protection under the Berne Convention), to life plus 70 years. The term of protection for sound recordings and films will be extended from the current 50 years, to 70 years after the first authorised publication of the work or performance. The United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and the United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement provide for similar terms

Measuring the preference for dwelling characteristics of Melbourne: railway stations and house prices

The relationship between public transportation and home values has proven to be complex, with studies providing divergent findings. Using Victorian Valuer General Data for 2009, this paper applies a hedonic pricing approach to the Melbourne metropolitan housing market in order to estimate the impacts of proximity to a train station on residential property prices. The findings reveal that, proximity to train stations has an overall positive effect on property values. In general, all other things being equal, being located 1 km further out from a train station is associated with a 2% discount in sale price. The magnitude of this relationship is most clearly stable up to 5 kms from a train station. No dis-amenity effect on sale price for properties in close proximity to a train station was found

Quantity and quality estimates of changes in dwelling affordability in metropolitan Melbourne

The sale price of Australian dwellings has increased dramatically in recent times. Interestingly, the percentage of households owning their own home has remained relatively constant. This raises the important question of what dimensions of housing might households be trading-off in order to secure their own home? We estimate three aspects of the trade-off being made between house price and house quality/distance from the CBD. Using Melbourne metropolitan data we look at the changes over time in the relationship between income and house prices, affordability by income cohorts and distance cost by income cohort. Using data spanning 1994 to 2010 we find that affordability has declined across all income cohorts. Our findings indicate that households are facing a distance cost in some instances of over 10 kilometres to maintain a given level of affordability. Given our findings that the distance cost also varies by income cohort, this suggests a decline in the level of socio-economic diversity in some localities close to the CBD

Internet diffusion in Vietnam

This paper explores the techno-economic factors that determine the diffusion of the Internet in Vietnam. Different statistical models have been estimated using data on Internet subscribers for the years 1997-2002. The basic findings provide strong support for the hypothesis that the adoption of the Internet follows a slightly elongated S-curve growth pattern over time. The analysis has shown that technological infrastructures and Internet access cost are relevant explanatory factors for the growth of Internet subscribers. Nevertheless, the premature saturation phenomenon suggests that other complex socio-legal and political factors emerging from Vietnamese history can contribute more comprehensive explanations for the low level of Internet diffusion