Peng Yu analyses the results of a study of the effect of the education on people’s fertility expectation in Australia, using the first wave of the HILDA Survey conducted in 2001.

Using a large Australian social survey, combined with precise data on neighbourhood characteristics, Andrew Leigh explores the factors that affect trust at local and national levels. Trust is positively associated with the respondent’s education, and negatively associated with the amount of time spent commuting. Trust is higher in affluent areas, and lower in ethnically and...

Using US data, they reach two conclusions: first, excise taxes have a significant effect on passive smoking; second, smoking bans have on average no effects on non smokers. While bans in public transportation or in schools decrease the exposure of non smokers, bans in recreational public places can in fact perversely increase their exposure by...

Using data from the new Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia Survey, Alison Booth and Jan van Ours find that women in part-time work are more satisfied with working hours than women in full-time work. Partnered women’s life satisfaction is increased if their partners work full-time. Male partners’ life satisfaction is unaffected by their...

The authors of ‘Happiness and the Human Development Index: The Paradox of Australia’ claim that Australia ranks highly in the Human Development Index (HDI), but relatively poorly in happiness. But when Andrew Leigh and Justin Wolfers compare that happiness data with the HDI, Australia appears happier, not sadder, than its HDI score would predict. Their...