 | |
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - Australia
Source: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
Profile of the Melbourne Institute
The Melbourne Institute aims to be a major institute of applied economic and social research that is nationally and internationally renowned in academia, government, business and community groups, and which
In seeking to achieve this vision the Melbourne Institute's central mission is
In pursuing this mission the Melbourne Institute will also undertake internationally collaborative research and will seek to develop intellectual property that may be transferred to other parts of the world.
Our current focus is on:
Possible new research areas are explored from time to time.
While our core discipline is, and will remain, economics, we plan to engage with other disciplines including sociology, statistics, management, accounting, finance, demography and others.
Enterprise Return on a Training Investment in the Australian Context
A review of recent overseas studies in the US, UK and Europe clearly indicates that human resource management (HRM) practices, taken together, are far and away the most powerful predictor of improvements in companies' productivity and profitability (OTFE 1998). Company commitment to the skill and training of its employees is a dominating aspect of a company's HRM practices. The principal objective of the project was to provide pilot evidence in Australia on means by which convincing methods could be developed through which individual companies could assess for themselves whether it would pay them to shift from being low-training companies to high-training companies.
To achieve this goal, the project attempted to replicate survey results from significant overseas surveys using information collected on more than 90 firms in Australia, and undertaking a small number of in-depth case studies.
The project is funded by the NCVER Grant 1999 - $89 000, with Center for Labour Market Research, WA, Flinders University, Northern Territory University and AustralAsia Economics Pty Ltd.
Costs and Benefits of Training Apprentices
The overall purpose of this research is to use the experience of the implementation of New Apprenticeships to provide information which can be used to further refine and promote New Apprenticeships. That information will assist in the formulation of VET policy and in decision-making by VET providers, industry/occupation training bodies and individual firms. More specifically, the objectives are to provide an evaluation of the New Apprenticeship System vis a vis the previous apprenticeship/traineeship system and to identify the economic incentives driving firm demand and supply of New Apprenticeships, particularly those factors which have contributed to the increase in particular areas, such as the clerical, sales and service workers.
The project is funded by the NCVER Grant 2000 - $60 000, Centre for Labour Market Research, WA and National Institute of Labour Studies, Flinders University.
Operation of the Firm and Intangible Investment
Since the early 1990s the international literature has become increasingly concerned with studies on the causes of differing types of intangible investment on firm performance. This literature describes a wide range of possible components of intangible capital including: the skills and knowledge embodied in a firm's work force, software and computer systems, operational synergies between members of the workforce (workplace organisation), distribution networks and relationships with customers and suppliers, brand names, patents, R&D, design and firm-specific technology or know-how. Given the broad nature of intangible capital, a major hurdle for empirical studies is the measurement of the various components.The principal aims of the study which began in 2001 will be to document the trends in intangible capital and investment, investigate major determinants of firm-level intangible investment, and analyse the consequences of firm-level intangible investment using data from a business survey.
Innovation, Productivity and Profitability of Australian Enterprises
This is a collaborative project with a number of government and industry partners which aims to examine the factors that determine the innovativeness, productivity and profitability of Australian enterprises. The project is funded by a 'Strategic Partnership with Industry - Research and Training' (SPIRT) grant which combines ARC and industry partner support.A central feature of the project is the analysis of two major panel data sets: the IBIS data base on large Australian enterprises and the Business Longitudinal Survey. The research team includes Professor Peter Dawkins, Mr Simon Feeny, Dr Mark Harris, Mr Michael Harris, Ms Joanne Loundes, Dr Ted McDonald, Dr Mark Rogers, Dr Yi-Ping Tseng, Professor Mark Wooden, Professor Derek Bosworth and Assoc. Professor Joe Hirschberg.
The driving motive underlying the research agenda for this project is a desire to understand more about the performance of Australian business enterprises and, in particular, how firm-level innovation, productivity and profitability are determined. Firm-level analysis has, to some extent, been under-researched in Australia due to the lack of suitable data bases. Recent developments mean new data bases are available which allow firm-level analysis of a wide range of issues.
The Melbourne Institute has access to a range of important data bases for this project including:
Effects of Workplace Reform on Productivity
Industrial relations reform has been an important thrust of Australian governments since the mid 1980s. At the same time there has been a great deal of change in the way that Australian enterprises have conducted their industrial relations.Hitherto, there has not been a thorough empirical analysis of the effect of these changes, either on the attitudes of Australian employees, or on the performance of Australian workplaces and enterprises. This project which began in 2001 aims to fill that gap.
In so doing the project will also make another major advance in bringing together the literature from various disciplines on firm performance. It is widely accepted that firm performance is determined by a complex amalgam of different factors and influences. The research team include Professors Mark Wooden, Peter Dawkins, Danny Samson, Jonathan Kelley, Associate Professor Tim Fry, Dr Elizabeth Webster, Ms Joanne Loundes, Mr Pat Foley.
Analysis will be undertaken through the analysis of a range of linked data sets. These include:
The main instruments for obtaining employer feedback have been interviews with selected employers and a survey of employers who regularly recruit University of Melbourne graduates.
The Graduate Destination Survey surveys all University of Melbourne student s who have completed their qualification during 1999. Data is obtained on the individuals basic demographic profile, type of degree, main subjects studied, main activity in 30 Aril 2000, nature of employment and assessment of their course experiences while studying. A final report has been completed. Results are available by broad faculty area and degree level.
Returns to Melb University Graduates by Degree
This project which began in 2000 is investigating the effects of tertiary qualifications in different disciplines on the transition to the labour market Regular surveys have been conducted across the university sector for several years to ascertain the employment outcomes of recent graduates. However to-date, none of the analysis adjusts for graduates' year 12 academic scores or socio-economic backgrounds. This non-adjustment is expected to bias the results as the entry scores and possibly family backgrounds of new students vary significantly between faculties. By combining two existing data sources from the University of Melbourne we will be able to marry together pre-university characteristics with degree type and performance to estimate a more unbiased relative effect of degrees on employment outcomes.
We aim to investigate the effects of tertiary qualifications in different disciplines on the transition to the labour market Regular surveys have been conducted across the university sector for several years to ascertain the employment outcomes of recent graduates. However to-date, none of the analysis adjusts for graduates year 12 academic scores or socio-economic backgrounds. This non-adjustment is expected to bias the results as the entry scores and possibly family backgrounds of new students vary significantly between faculties. By combining two existing data sources from the University of Melbourne we will be able to marry together pre-university characteristics with degree type and performance to estimate a more unbiased relative effect of degrees on employment outcomes.
Work and Training Histories in the Trades
While governments have traditionally provided and financed much of the investment in off-the-job skill development, there is a limit to the extent this can provided the full complement of skills. Skill development is usually sequential and relies upon an integration of formal training with practical experience.This project which began in 2000 aims to document the training and work experience careers of men who have worked at sometime in their career in the skilled and unskilled manual occupations. It involves a survey of 1000 men.
Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA)
The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA) Survey is a household-based panel survey, which aims to tracks all members of an initial sample of households over an indefinite life. Further, the sample is automatically extended over time by "following rules" that add to the sample any new children of members of the selected households well as new household members resulting from changes in the composition of the original households. The first wave of the survey was conducted in the second half of 2001.
It is intended that the HILDA Survey will collect data in three main areas: economic and subjective well-being, labour market dynamics and family dynamics. In Wave 1 data was collected on a wide range of issues, including: household structure, family background, marital history, family formation, education, employment history, current employment, job search, income, health and well-being, child care and housing.
Wave 1 of the survey involved administration of four questionnaires. Two of these - the Household Form and the Household Questionnaire - were administered by personal interview to at least one adult member of the household. A Person Questionnaire (PQ) was then administered, again via personal interview, to all household members aged 15 years and over. Finally, a Self-Completion Questionnaire was provided to all persons completing the PQ and collected by the interviewer at a later date.For Wave 2 this basic format is to be retained. In subsequent waves, however, it is anticipated that the main mode of delivery survey will be computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
The initial sample selected for the first wave of the HILDA Survey comprised 12,252 households selected from 488 different neighbourhood regions across Australia, of which 11,693 were subsequently identified as in-scope. Interviews were successfully conducted with 13,969 members of 7682 households, giving a household response rate of 66 per cent.The HILDA Survey is funded by the Commonwealth Government through the Department of Family and Community Services. Responsibility for the design and management of the survey, however, rests with a group comprising the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (University of Melbourne), the Australian Council for Educational Research and the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Data collection, however, has been sub-contracted to ACNielsen, a private market research company.
[Top]