Following the increasing impact of globalising economic forces world wide Australia, like many other liberal democracies, moved to adopt neoliberal economic policies with an emphasis on increasing deregulation of economic markets. The economic changes instituted since the 1980s have fundamentally restructured the economy and created a more flexible labour market. Jobs growth has been concentrated...

This paper measures government acceptance of parliamentary committee recommendations: one of the ways in which a committee can demonstrate its effectiveness. Of the reports in this sample recommending new action by the government, 60.0 per cent demonstrated a minimum level of effectiveness in that at least one of their recommendations was accepted. The most important...

This paper tests for gender discrimination by sending fake CVs to apply for entry-level jobs. Female candidates are more likely to receive a callback, with the difference being largest in occupations that are more female-dominated.

Does faster economic growth increase pressure for democratic change, or reduce it? Using data for 154 countries for the period 1963-2007, the authors examine the short-run relationship between economic growth and moves toward and away from greater democracy. To address the potential endogeneity of economic growth, they use variation in precipitation, temperatures, and commodity prices...

This paper estimates the impact of increased rainfall on traffic accident fatalities. This focus is motivated by two factors. First, in OECD countries, road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 15-24. Second, the social welfare cost of traffic deaths is largely ignored in GDP calculations. If rainfall significantly affects traffic...