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Research within the College of Business & Economics is concerned with the advancement of knowledge in its disciplines, in both theoretical and applied areas, and covers a wide range of topics. College members regularly contribute to leading academic and professional journals, and publish books, monographs and working papers. Members of College also provide specialist advice to business, the Federal Government and its instrumentalities, and play an active role in professional bodies.
This area contains a selection of research projects currently being undertaken by staff at the College of Business & Economics.
Air pollution: do modern statistical model selection techniques make the silent killer speak too loud?
Prof MA Martin; Dr S Roberts
ARC Discovery Project (DP0878988)
2008-2010
Air pollution is estimated to cause 2400 deaths annually in Australia with an associated cost to the community of $17.2 billion. The outcomes of this project will enable an improved understanding of the association between air pollution and mortality in Australia, thereby allowing government, public health authorities, and regulatory agencies to implement better air pollution standards and provide more informed advice to the public on the necessity of avoiding exposure to air pollutants. These two outcomes are particularly important given Australia's ageing population and the fact that the elderly are among those most susceptible to harm from air pollution exposure.
Economic Growth and Real Exchange Rates
Prof R Tyers; Prof S Dowrick; Prof HM Anderson; Dr JE Golley
ARC Discovery Project (DP0879094)
2008-2010
Exchange rate movements are important elements of Australia's economic environment. Protectionist interests in the US and Europe, constrained by WTO trade rules, accuse East Asian economies of deliberate undervaluation. While exchange rate movements are not readily predictable in the short run, long run changes in underlying real exchange rates are amenable to economic analysis using structural models. The clearer understanding of these forces, toward which this project is directed, will better guide investment in the region, including in Australia, and more importantly, it will better inform future policy debates surrounding currency movements.
Expenditure needs and drawdown of retirement savings during later life: how important are demographic factors and financial resources?
Prof TJ O’Neill, Prof PF McDonald, Dr MA Martin, Dr J Penm, Dr JB Temple, Dr S Roberts, Mr TS Higgins
ARC Linkage Project (LP0776784)
Collaborating/Partner Organisation: Rice Warner Actuaries and AMP
2007 - 2010
Projections of expenditure patterns in retirement which allow for population heterogeneity will provide individuals with a better appreciation of their income needs and their savings requirements for a comfortable retirement. It will also enable financial institutions to develop products which better target retirees’ needs over the course of retirement, and in addition it will enable improved assessment of aspects of Government income support policy. Specifically, understanding the complex interactions between private and public pensions, and concession card receipt upon expenditure behaviour, will enable more accurate costings of the public support of elderly families as Australia’s population ages.
The role of corporate governance mechanisms in maximising the performance of listed Australian corporations.
Dr KD Walsh, Dr EL Welch; Prof T Smith
ARC Linkage Grant (LP0775195)
2007 - 2009
Collaborating/Partner Organisation: Barclays Global Investors
The recent spate of corporate collapses and scandals highlights the need for an ongoing commitment to the development, implementation and maintenance of strong systems of governance within Australian corporations. This commitment necessitates an understanding of which suite of governance mechanisms are most effective in positively impacting upon corporate performance rather than just the performance impact of a particular mechanism in isolation. To date, research facilitating such an understanding is all but non-existent. However, our study will yield this much-needed evidence and, therefore, provide the foundations for ongoing corporate governance reform on the part of regulators and practitioners alike.
An international evaluation of work-family balance: validation of the work-family balance measure and theoretical model.
Dr PA Brough, Dr T Kalliath, Prof MP O’Driscoll, Prof S Aryee, Prof O Siu
ARC Discovery Project (DP0770109)
2007 - 2009
Work-family imbalance costs Australia $8 billion per annum, via staff absenteeism, turnover, and health costs. By employing two Australian and three international experts, this project will investigate the long-term process of work-family balance, identify effective employment policies, and produce a new balance measure for use by industry and government. This will lead to improved health, personal satisfaction and employment choices for working Australian, and hence higher productivity for industry. The research addresses the second national research priority: promoting and maintaining good health. The consequential contributions to knowledge will directly benefit Australia’s regard within the global academic community.
Superannuation funds: ensuring the financial health of Australians in retirement.
Prof P Gray, Dr KL Benson, Dr BR Oliver, Dr MR Hutchinson, Dr K Alpert
ARC Discovery Project (DP0773662)
2007 - 2009
Superannuation is relevant to all Australians, providing a foundation for their lifestyle in retirement. The protection and enhancement of superannuation savings have been high priorities of both government and regulatory agencies. Recent legislative changes include mandated choice of superannuation fund and increased disclosure requirements. Regulators have also flagged the need for increased corporate governance among superannuation funds. This project assesses the impact of these developments through an assessment of competition, performance and accountability within the superannuation industry. Monitoring the industry in this way will strongly contribute to the financial and economic health of Australians in retirement.
Complexity, risk management and dynamic portfolio selection in investment management using advances in evolutionary parallel-computing artificial intelligence.
Prof TJ Brailsford, Prof RD Terrell, Prof TJ O’Neill, Prof T Smith Prof A Chen, Dr J Penm
ARC Discovery Project (DP0770081)
2007 - 2009
With over $1 trillion of investors’ monies in the hands of fund managers, the health of the Australian economy is critically dependent on the investment decisions of these managers. However, the majority of the funds are invested in risky assets with histories of volatile price movements about which we do not possess a deep understanding. This project draws upon a set of inter-disciplinary concepts and models centered in neural networks that allow for learning over time to advance our understanding of complexity, leading to superior quantitative tools and models to allow for improved decision-making in respect of risk management and asset allocation.
The key strategies in firms’ realization of value from ICT: a transformational model of ICT value generation.
Prof SD Gregor, Dr WD Fernandez, Dr MA Martin, Dr J Ng, Dr S Stern
ARC Discovery Project (DP0664255)
2006 - 2008
Studies indicate that information and communication technologies (ICT) have contributed significantly to Australia’s productivity gains over the last decade. It is not well understood, however, why some firms and some industries have been able to benefit significantly more from ICT use than others. This study will show the strategies and practices that are used by the firms that gain maximum benefit from ICT - the ‘ICT winners’. The lessons learned will allow other firms to gain further benefits from ICT, potentially leading overall to further economic gains by industries and the nation.
Empirical and theoretical coherence of macro econometric models.
Dr RA Fry, Prof WJ McKibbin, Dr MH Dungey
ARC Discovery Project (DP0664024)
2006 - 2008
Variants of the G-Cubed models are used by researchers, governments and international institutions for policy analysis. The need for policy makers to have models with substantial structural details and a strong theoretical base is paramount for transparency and accountability. The development of simple SVAR models which capture these theoretical underpinnings will provide Australian policy makers with an effective tool for economic analysis. It will also provide powerful tools that enable forecasting and detailed policy analysis within the same broad conceptual framework. The emphasis is on international and financial market linkages which encompass key issues facing the Australian economy.
The consistency of price regulation of infrastructure businesses across Australian jurisdictions.
Prof F Menezes, Dr RV Breunig
ARC Discovery Project (DP0663768)
2006 - 2008
The spread of regulation across the majority of the economy necessitates that regulatory policy should be consistent across jurisdictions and industries. This project would offer policy and regulatory institutions quantitative analysis of the consistency of regulatory decisions across Australia. This research will develop a new database that will maintain and supply details on regulatory decisions across jurisdictions and industries. This project will enable the new Australian Centre of Regulatory Economics (ACORE) to supply independent database and quantitative analysis from an open, fully documented, scholarly environment to Australia’s policy and regulatory agencies and its regulated firms.
Keeping capital markets efficient: a national strategy on the future of auditing
Prof KA Houghton, Dr J Ng, Dr M Kend, Mr CC Ikin
ARC Linkage Grant (LP0667980)
2006-2007
Collaborating/Partner Organisations: The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA), Certified Practicing Accountants Australia (CPAA),
Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers
The lack of confidence in the reliability of financial statement information is costly to the Australian capital market. The auditing profession is also struggling to attract and retain skilled professionals, which can erode audit quality. Using a rigorous research design to understand business community expectations and concerns, this project will provide a national forum that informs and directs responsible national strategy to ensure that high quality audit services are procured by corporate Australia. Improved audit quality will have the effect of improving the efficiency and attractiveness of the Australian capital market and address the skill shortage in auditing.
New approaches for testing in nonlinear models.
A/Prof P Silvapulle, Prof MJ Silvpulle, Prof HM Anderson
ARC Discovery Project (DP0665710)
2006 - 2007
The outcome of this project is a new econometric methodology that will be particularly useful for developing our understanding of Australian (and global) financial markets. Specific benefits are: (i) that our value-at-risk models will enhance national and international awareness of issues relating to financial risk management; (ii) our exchange rate pass through model will aid the development of Australian trade and pricing policies; and (iii) our duration models for trade in Australian stocks will lead to a better understanding of the microstructure of the Australian stock market.
Investment approaches and applications in financial markets: evolutionary kernel based subset time-series using semi-parametric approaches.
Prof PG Hall, Prof RD Terrell, Prof TJ O’Neill, Dr J Penm
ARC Linkage Grant (LP0562008)
Collaborating/Partner organisations: Australian Prudential Regulation Authority
2005 - 2008
The project will develop new investment assessments based on subset time-series modelling. Innovative evolutionary kernel smoothing algorithms using semi-parametric approaches will be introduced. Thee project will make three important applications of this modelling in financial markets: a)benchmarking and evaluation of inflation-indexed bonds; b) evaluation of the performance of global diversified investment funds; and c) prediction to provide early warning of the emergence of destabilizing deflation of inflation. These three applications will lead to improved risk management practices and investment performance. Recursive algorithms will provide new statistical methods to study investment asset price movements and market volatility.
CEO remuneration, organizational performance and corporate governance in Australian listed companies, 1998-2007: a composite and case-study analysis.
Dr JL Shields, Prof A Frino, Dr M O’Donnell, Dr JM O’Brien
ARC Discovery Project (DP0560079)
2005 - 2007
The project will make a major contribution to the theory and practice of executive-level human resource management in Australia and, hence, to the performance of Australian firms and the national economy. It will enhance practitioner understanding of the factors underlying the responsiveness of CEO remuneration to firm performance. It will strengthen awareness of the potential and limitations of CEO remuneration as a determinant of corporate performance. It will enrich understanding of context-specific ‘best practice’ methods of CEO remuneration design, administration and monitoring and will thus facilitate a more effective diffusion of such methods in Australian firms. |
