Australian Economy Research Articles

The economic burden of long COVID in Australia: more noise than signal?

To estimate the potential economic burden of long COVID in Australia. A stock-and-flow model of weekly estimated numbers of people with long COVID (January 2021 to June 2023); application of proxy cost estimates from people living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome; time series analysis of labour market and social security datasets. The working age Australian population. The likely number of Australians severely impacted by long COVID; the economic cost of long COVID; and the impacts of long COVID, determined by analysis of labour market data. At its peak in late 2022, between 181 000 and 682 000 Australians may have experienced some long COVID symptoms, of whom 40 000-145 000 may have been severely affected. Severe cases potentially decreased to affecting 10 000-38 000 people by June 2023. The likely economic burden of long COVID in Australia during 2022 was between $1.7 billion and $6.3 billion (some 0.07% to 0.26% of gross domestic product). Labour market data suggest that between 25 000 (February 2023) and 103 000 (June 2023) more working age Australians reported being unable to work due to long term sickness than would have been predicted based on pre-COVID-19 trends. This does not appear to have translated into increased claims for Disability Support Pensions, but numbers of working age Carer Allowance recipients have grown markedly since 2022. Long COVID likely imposed a small but significant aggregate toll on the Australian economy, while exposing tens of thousands of Australians to substantial personal economic hardship and contributing to labour market supply constraints. Yet while some signal from long COVID is discernible in the labour force data, Australia lacks adequate direct surveillance data to securely guide policy making.

CSR investments and innovation – aligning and creating shared value

This research aims to advance the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and innovation by exploring how CSR investments can drive product and service innovations, creating value for both the firm and its broader stakeholders. Specifically, it examines the relationship between CSR initiatives and their influence on CSR investments, as well as the resulting impact on innovation in products or services that contribute to shared value creation. The proposed framework is tested across three firm sizes—small, medium, and large—using a sample of 410 businesses within the Australian economy. The analysis was conducted using AMOS version 28, which established appropriate measurement indicators and revealed significant direct and indirect effects for the full sample. Additionally, the multi-group analysis explored nuanced relationships based on firm size.By investigating a relatively unexplored Australian context, the paper makes significant contributions by addressing the limited research on internal (employee) CSR, external (environmental) CSR, and ethical (governance) responsibility, examining their impacts on CSR investments. Furthermore, it explores how CSR investments influence innovation to create shared value and highlights the moderating effects of different firm sizes on the relationships between the antecedents, CSR investments, and innovation. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, as well as outlining directions for future research and acknowledging limitations.

Challenges in the Consumer‐Side of the Energy Transition

AbstractThe decarbonisation of the Australian economy relies on the transition of the electricity grid from fossil fuel to renewable sources. In this paper, we briefly summarise the logic behind the design of the National Electricity Market, the market servicing 88% of the Australian population. We then explore the challenges facing the National Electricity Market during its transition and emphasise key proposals aimed at reforming the consumer, or demand‐side, of the market. We highlight four challenges ‐ whether consumers will be active, whether retail markets can deliver contracts that facilitate efficient transition, whether the wholesale market will operate effectively and whether regulatory barriers can be quickly addressed.

Closing the employment gap: Estimations of Indigenous employment in Indigenous- and non-Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia

Abstract Indigenous-owned businesses in Australia are strong employers of Indigenous people, maintaining rates of Indigenous employment that are not seen across the breadth of the Australian economy. Despite an increasing focus from governments and private organisations to improve rates of Indigenous employment, there is limited evidence to suggest that substantial improvements are being made. Despite acknowledgement from government of the crucial role played by Indigenous employers in creating Indigenous employment, there has been little focus on what may be learned from the Indigenous business sector in informing public and private Indigenous workplace and recruitment policies. Given the significantly strong levels of Indigenous employment in Indigenous-owned businesses, it is important to interrogate the extent to which this employment differs from that in non-Indigenous businesses and the potential explanations for such divergence. Using data from Supply Nation (2,291 Indigenous-owned businesses) and a survey of 680 non-Indigenous businesses, this paper finds that Indigenous businesses employ Indigenous people at a rate 12 times higher than non-Indigenous businesses. Regression analyses and Oaxaca–Blinder decompositions reveal that these divergent employment outcomes cannot be explained by the broad characteristics of the two sectors (such as industry, location, or profit status). These findings help confirm that the unique workplace practices of Indigenous businesses may explain their strong Indigenous employment and, therefore, provide the template for all Australian businesses to be better employers of Indigenous people.

Network structure analysis based on embodied energy of the Australian economy

Energy and economic growth are closely linked and have negative impacts on the environment. Both environmental protection and economic development are significant global focal points of concern. Australian economic growth has slowed but energy consumption has increased. The relationship between economic growth and energy consumption has changed significantly. However, existing methods for accounting energy transfers between industries overlook the role of embodied energy, making them insufficient to fully capture the actual energy usage in both domestic and international trade. This study investigates the structural changes in embodied energy in the Australian economy. The paper integrates sectors as the section nodes for a network and constructs a two-layer network model to analyze energy flows both between and within nodes. The results show that the Australian embodied energy network exhibited significant variations in efficiency and interconnectedness over time, with a trend toward shorter, more interconnected paths from 2015 to 2019, enhancing overall network efficiency. The Australian embodied energy network currently faces significant funding constraints. The findings show that the Australian economic sectors have increased energy consumption in production without contributing to economic growth due to the concentration of resources within the network.

International students’ experiences in Brisbane during COVID times through a social justice lens

ABSTRACT The article examines the situation of international students living in Brisbane during COVID lockdowns, through a social justice lens. Despite the significant economic contribution of tertiary international students towards the Australian economy, they were excluded from government pandemic support. Help provided by other organisations was limited. International students felt undervalued and excluded, facing challenges due to their lack of income from part-time jobs, mental health issues, constraints in relation to home arrangements, online study, and lack of sense of belonging. Our findings further show that although place was a determinant in the wellbeing of students, social attachment (either spatially or a-spatially) was the most valued support to students. While there has been research on the needs of international students in Australia during lockdowns, no studies yet link these three variables: COVID lockdowns, their effects on international students left in Australia, and considerations of city scale, in a mutually influencing relationship. We followed a qualitative research design, using interviews and focus group discussions with international students and support providers in Brisbane during COVID times. We argue that both distributive and institutional dimensions of justice are important to understand the disadvantaged situation experienced by international students: the institutional COVID restrictions greatly affected students ‘trapped’ in the country, while there was a very limited distribution of resources that did not match the needs of students. We conclude with some recommendations as a result of our research. Practitioner pointers During a global pandemic, government needs to ensure that all people stranded in the country, including international students, are entitled to the same financial assistance. International students should have been consulted about, and appropriately informed through effective ways of communication about the services provided to them during the pandemic. All levels of government and educational institutions dealing with international students, need to fully consult with students and listen to their concerns.

Challenges and strategies for navigating Australian healthcare access: experience from Chinese international students

BackgroundAustralia hosts over 680,000 international students, contributing $47.8 billion to the Australian economy in 2023, and Chinese students rank first among all nationalities. However, despite their considerable numbers, research focusing on their access to healthcare services is scant. This study aimed to explore barriers and supports regarding the utilisation of healthcare services among Chinese international students studying in Australia.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted in Chinese between October and December 2023 with 25 Chinese international students (age range, 19–30; female/male, n = 18/7; undergraduate/postgraduate/doctoral, n = 1/18/6) enrolled in three Australian universities to understand the healthcare challenges they encountered and the coping strategies they recommended. These interviews were recorded, and thematic analysis was applied to the interview data. An adapted social-ecological model was used to identify barriers and pragmatic strategies to deal with the challenges at different levels.ResultsChinese international students in Australia faced healthcare barriers at different levels. Individual barriers included language and cultural disparities, lack of knowledge about the healthcare system, and reluctance to seek help. Institutional barriers involved high costs, difficulties regarding appointments, and procedures related to the referral system. Policy barriers included insurance coverage and reimbursement issues. The students interviewed for this study proposed individual-level strategies, such as trying various methods to reduce language barriers, seeking information online, and using online resources and consultations. A central appointment platform and multilingual medical service were recommended from students to medical institutions, while medical service guidance and psychological support were suggested to education institutions. Higher-level strategies were also reported, which were mainly pertaining to insurance terms and coverage for overseas students and improving the accessibility of medical information.ConclusionsOur study identifies barriers to healthcare access for Chinese international students in Australia, including culture-specific challenges. To mitigate these issues, we recommend self-directed health promotion, targeted support by education institutions, enhanced cross-cultural communication and expanded telemedicine by hospitals, and attention to insurance coverage. Future research should explore optimising these approaches to improve support systems and policy frameworks.

Federalising Socialism Without Doctrine

The Australian Constitution is only partly ‘liberal’ (securing political and economic liberties); another part is ‘socialist without doctrine’ (empowering governments to own and operate vast public capital, while providing social insurance in a market economy). That mixture is common in modern advanced economies but was anomalous in the Anglophone constitutional tradition in 1901. Legislative power over ‘old age and invalid pensions’, ‘railway construction’ and ‘conciliation and arbitration for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes’ was an accepted part of the incipient Federal scheme but repugnant to Anglophone constitutional orthodoxy of the 19th century. The integration of ‘colonial socialism’ into the Constitution created one of the longest-standing puzzles in Australian jurisprudence, the Surplus Revenue Case of 1908, and laid the foundations for federal dominance of the Australian economy. Understanding the enduring impact of colonial socialism in Australian constitutionalism sheds light on how Australia’s distinctive political economy grew within a ‘Washminster’ system of government. It also provides principled guidance for future policy challenges that may require expansion of state involvement in the economy.

Immigrants and innovators: financial inclusion and the ‘de-banking’ of the digital asset industry

ABSTRACT ‘De-banking’ refers to banks limiting or withdrawing banking services from perceived ‘high-risk’ clients. ‘High risk’ is not merely commercial risk relating to a client’s ability to pay. It also includes ‘non-commercial’ risks such as client dealings in illicit funds or activities. Debanking decisions might also be made on operational-cost grounds where continued servicing of a particular customer base becomes uneconomical. In Australia, the de-banking issue has impacted migrant communities. More recently, de-banking has impeded the ability of digital assets service providers. Under the guise of rigorous compliance legal standards, Australian banks have limited or even cut-off banking services to many Australian digital asset firms. As the financial gatekeepers to the Australian economy, Australian banks (already very protected from competitors) are undermining an industry that could potentially compete for market share. Examining strategies adopted in other jurisdictions, Australian policy makers should supplement the introduction of a licensing regime, as proposed by the Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2023 (Cth), with additional balanced measures in order to support innovation in the digital asset sector and maintain financial integrity.

Toward biodefence: a framework for the mitigation of malicious threats to livestock production enterprises in Australia

Biosecurity underpins the Australian agricultural sector, estimated to be worth $51 billion in exports and trade, $50 billion in tourism, $5.7 trillion in environmental assets, and more than 1.6 million jobs. Given the value to the Australian economy and the potential consequences of a deliberately introduced biological agent, measures to prevent malicious biosecurity threats are critical for national security. Using the framework of Situational Crime Prevention (SCP), the study examined recommended biosecurity practices for cattle production enterprises in Australia and explored the extent to which the Australian biosecurity framework is underpinned by preventative security. The study found the existing biosecurity framework has limited theoretical security underpinning and is constituted by practices primarily aimed at preventing naturally occurring and accidental threats, rather than an active preventative security approach at the farming level to mitigate threats of a malicious or deliberate nature. These findings identify a deficit in Australia’s national security approach to biosecurity in cattle production enterprises, establishing a need for biosecurity recommendations at an industry and primary production level to embed security theory and principles to account for malicious actors in alignment with international biodefence strategy. Subsequently, the study demonstrated how security theory can be applied to biosecurity and the agricultural sector more broadly and developed an SCP framework toward biodefence of agriculture, converging biosecurity and security as a bilateral approach to mitigating naturally occurring, accidental, and deliberate biosecurity threats.

The impact of exploration/appraisal activities on the recovery per well in North Perth Basin

The North Perth Basin (NPB) in Western Australia has experienced significant petroleum industry activity over the past 3 years (2021–2023), marked by the drilling of exploration and appraisal wells by various operators, along with notable merger and acquisition transactions. This flurry of drilling activity, coupled with the acquisition of new seismic data, have enhanced our understanding of the variability within the primary petroleum play levels – namely, the Permian ‘Kingia’ and High Cliff reservoirs. This understanding is crucial for assessing the future potential of domestic gas supply in Western Australia. This paper aims to elucidate how recent drilling efforts have narrowed the basin-wide portfolio of available gas prospects relative to the situation in early 2021, and how the landscape of undiscovered gas resources has evolved. This shift is attributed to both unsuccessful exploration attempts and revised estimates of well deliverability. Furthermore, an updated long-term production forecast for the NPB – considering existing gas pools and the newly assessed undiscovered resources – emphasises the urgent need to re-evaluate the narrative concerning gas availability for the domestic market. The Permian gas plays within the NPB have proven to be more intricate and unpredictable than previously believed. Nonetheless, their significance to the Western Australian economy is anticipated to be substantial for many years ahead.

Invisible innovation: Intellectual labour on regional university campuses in Australia

In Australia, regional university campuses occupy a geographically and institutionally peripheral position in a metrocentric higher education system. We argue that the concentration of research funding and capabilities at metropolitan campuses devalues the intellectual labour of academics working on regional university campuses. The authors use collaborative autoethnography to explore a common theme of ‘gap filling’, that is, mobilising scarce resources to create unique solutions for local issues, and draw on Southern Theory to theorise the implications for our work in the location-based power relations of the Australian knowledge production economy. In this context, we utilise Eversole's concept of ‘invisible innovation’ to theorise how the important place-based knowledge work associated with ‘gap filling’ on regional university campuses is rendered invisible by the metrocentric geopolitics of knowledge production within Australia. The research reveals that the place-based knowledge work of regional academics fills gaps in regional services and resources through innovations largely unrecognised within the higher education system.

Study on Australian Working Holiday Experience, Place Attachment, Revisit Behavior, and Spending Power

Abstract This study aimed to explore the effects of Australian working holiday experiences on place attachment, repeat visitation behavior, and consumption. Based on social exchange theory, place attachment theory, and destination image theory, five research hypotheses were proposed. A total of 462 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The empirical results indicated that Australian working holiday experiences have a significant positive impact on place dependence and place identity. In addition, place dependence and place identity have a significant positive impact on repeat visitation behavior, and repeat visitation behavior has a positive impact on consumption. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for the Australian government and tourism industry to enhance the place attachment and identity of working holidaymakers, thus increasing their intention to revisit and consumption. Therefore, the Taiwan youth working holiday program in Australia has a substantial contribution to the development of Australian tourism economy. JEL classification numbers: Z30; Z32. Keywords: Australian working holiday experiences, Place attachment, Revisiting behavior, Spending power.

The impact of US housing demand and supply shocks on the Australian economy: Analysis implementing a SVAR model

AbstractThis thesis develops an open economy structural vector autoregression model to determine how the Australian economy is affected by both a US housing demand shock and a US housing supply shock. Previous literature has either grouped Australia with other economies or has excluded Australia altogether. This leaves a significant literature gap in explaining how the Australian economy is solely impacted. The results of the model indicate both a US housing demand and a US housing supply shock significantly impact the Australian economy, with the most significant being the impact of a US house price shock upon Australian GDP which is large and persistent over time. The results contribute to the understanding of how Australian policymakers should incorporate the US housing market into policy decisions and central bank modelling.

Identifying Market Capitalization as a Leverage for Low Carbon Economy in Australia

This study explores the relationship between market capitalization of the top listed energy companies in Australia with their CO2 emission. The data is secondary in nature taken from World development indicators for annual records of Australia ranging from 2010 till 2022. The paper attempts to check similarities in the behaviour of the two variables through the prism of cointegration and VAR technique. Initial tests for stationarity are done through correlograms and unit root tests before applying Co-integration or VAR Approach. VAR was possible to apply due to stationarity achieved for both the variables in the same order of integration [1]. Final results suggest an untapped leverage in the form of market capital available to redirect the flow of financing towards green initiatives.

Material Wealth or Wealth of Time and Culture? Lessons from Australian Aboriginal Economy for Catholic Social Teaching

This paper will explicate ways in which Aboriginal Australian economy can inform, augment, and vindicate Catholic social teaching and related scholarship on work, the use of technology, and leisure. Collaterally, Aboriginal Australian economy gives an example of what could happen if key parts of Catholic social teaching were to be implemented concretely. That is, we can argue that Aboriginal economy gives an indication of what a society would be like if it adopted these parts of Catholic social teaching.

Conzinc Riotinto of Australia — Foreign Ownership and Control

Conzinc Riotinto of Australia Limited (CRA) was the largest mining group in Australia after BHP. It had a major influence upon the post‐Second World War mining sector and Australian economy. It was responsible for some of the country's largest resource developments, establishing an integrated aluminium industry, playing the principal role in the development of Australia's iron ore export industry, and developing a major copper deposit on the Island of Bougainville. CRA was established in 1962 as the Australian arm of the British mining group, Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation Limited (RTZ), formed through the merger of The Rio Tinto Company Limited with The Consolidated Zinc Limited. Consolidated Zinc was also London‐listed, although with a deep Australian heritage based on its involvement in lead and zinc mining at Broken Hill. CRA's status as a foreign‐owned and controlled company had a major influence upon its corporate priorities for the two decades following its formation. The company's foreign majority ownership restricted its business opportunities, particularly during the 1970s. However, as early as the mid‐1960s, anti‐CRA sentiment was evident from politicians, public servants, Australian mining competitors and, to some extent, the public. CRA's standing as “un‐Australian” was viewed by company management as an impediment to attracting and retaining quality employees. These factors led CRA to engage with successive Commonwealth Governments to attempt to secure arrangements more accommodating to its business interests. This involved considerations as diverse as the takeover of the London parent company — to facilitate greater Australian shareholding in the Australian entity — through to the restructuring of CRA's interests in a new majority‐owned Australian company. Ultimately, CRA was instrumental in changing foreign investment legislation, providing a pathway for it as a foreign‐owned company to move to an Australianised or majority Australian‐owned status. With this, CRA had an ability to participate in resource investments on terms similar to those for Australian companies. CRA gained naturalising status in 1979 and, in 1986, that of a naturalised or Australianised company. Differences in perspectives relating to strategic direction and financial management between the parent company in London and CRA in Melbourne, brought to the fore issues of control. The situation became so serious that it resulted in the departure of the chairman and chief executive on the eve of CRA achieving Australian majority‐owned status. The events had a later influence on the formation of a dual‐listed company structure in 1996. Through this structure, RTZ regained majority share ownership of the assets previously held in the Australian company. CRA lost its naturalised status and its identity as Australia's then second largest Australian mining company.

Economics and the dreamtime revisited: Creating a truly Australian economic history?

AbstractThe Economics and the Dreamtime was a landmark in Australian Economic History where Noel Butlin elevated awareness of the central importance of Indigenous economic history. It was a sprawling inter‐disciplinary work that used economic tools to understand Indigenous society before first contact and in the early colonial period. This article revisits that book to provide a critical evaluation of the major contributions of Butlin's research on Indigenous Australians. His primary contribution was to make Indigenous people more visible in the Australian economy in the early colonial period. He created a unique backcasting methodology that allowed Indigenous population to be estimated in the first six decades of the colony based on depopulation from disease, resource loss and frontier violence. I argue that the two main shortcomings of Butlin's research is that his method used colonial estimates of the population and that the population estimates are not sufficiently geographically differentiated. The main criticism of Butlin's research in the literature is that it is too speculative. However, his methodological innovation allows considerable transparency in the assumptions used and can create a range of plausible estimates that give us a sense of the unreliability of the existing population estimates. Alternative methodologies based on estimating population densities in 1788 from anthropological evidence are historically point estimates, which do not provide a sense of how uncertain the estimates might be. The way forward for this debate is to combine Butlin's demographic backcast methodology with population density estimates that take into account the selective mortality from disease and frontier violence. Finally, in order to create a truly Australian Economic History, it is necessary to also augment the methodology to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the analysis and to utilise a local geography that acknowledges the diversity of Indigenous Australia.

Australia's circular economy metrics and indicators

AbstractThis article presents a comprehensive economy‐wide material flow analysis of the Australian economy in 2019, examining the domestic extraction, trade, end‐of‐life flows, and recycling for all materials. The results highlight Australia's role as a natural resource supplier, with metals and fossil fuels being primary contributors. Through material flow analysis, we found that in 2019 Australia extracted 2587 Mt of natural resources, exported a substantial fraction (1459 Mt), and used 917 Mt to fulfill domestic needs. The recycling flows and circularity metrics are also explored, with an end‐of‐life recycling rate of 51.1% and an overall circularity rate of 5.1%. An additional assessment of Australia's consumption‐based material footprint highlights mobility and housing as the dominant material‐using sectors. These results contribute to understanding Australia's material consumption patterns, indicating significant reliance on foreign semifinished and finished products, and provide insights into the potential for enhancing economic circularity.

A Short Period Sraffa-Keynes Model for the Evaluation of Monetary Policy

ABSTRACT This paper develops a short period, one sector, Sraffa-Keynes model that can be used for the evaluation of various recommendations outlined in the Post Keynesian monetary policy literature. The model is characterised by the principle of effective demand, Sraffa or target-return pricing (which integrates the determination of key distributive variables and allows for short run cyclical variation in prices), conflict inflation, endogenous money and a basic approach to monetary policy in the Smithin–Wray tradition of fixing the policy rate to achieve low or specified rates of unemployment. The model is calibrated to the Australian economy and subjected to two standard macroeconomic shocks, a demand shock and a cost shock. After each shock, the economy returns to long period equilibrium characterised by the achievement of the target rate of return, desired capacity utilisation and Sraffian prices of production. Active monetary policy that targets employment, reduces the depth and duration of recessions in this model compared to a ‘park-it’ approach but at the cost of increased volatility in income distribution. Flexible prices (where firms respond to the additional costs of running the capital stock at other than full capacity) are shown to have similar effects to monetary policy.