The authors of this paper use new training data from waves 3-6 of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey to investigate the training and wages of full-time men. They explore the extent to which the data are consistent with the predictions of human capital theory or with recent alternative theories based on...

In the Northern Territory, Australia, ballot papers for territory elections depict candidates’ photographs. The authors exploit this unusual electoral feature by looking at the effect that candidates’ beauty and skin color has on voting patterns. The results for beauty are mixed, but they find strong evidence that skin color matters. In electorates with a small...

Under Indonesia's anti-poverty program, IDT, the government provided selected poor villages with grants of the same value, regardless of population size. Exploiting the variation in per household grant value that is caused by this program design, the author estimates the returns to public grants, which are designated for investment loans. Results show that the returns...

Which electorates receive targeted funding, and does targeted funding swing votes? To answer these questions, the author analyzes four discretionary programs funded by the Australian federal government during the 2001-2004 election cycle. Controlling for relevant demographic characteristics of the electorate, those electorates held by the governing coalition received a larger share of discretionary funding, and...

Improving cognitive skills of young children has been suggested as a possible strategy for equalising opportunities across racial groups. Using data on 4-5 year olds in the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Children, the authors focus on two cognitive tests: the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the ‘Who Am I?’ test (WAI). They estimate the...