Boyd Hunter outlines the conceptual and empirical issues that affect the measurement of social capital, and discusses some possible roles for social capital in describing Indigenous poverty. He advocates a model of social capital that focuses on the structure of social networks to limit the scope for misunderstanding arising from cross-cultural differences in the views...

Boyd Hunter and Jerry Schwab analyse recent trends in the engagement of Indigenous people with the Australian education system between 1986 and 2001. Against the backdrop of a Commonwealth government policy emphasis on 'practical reconciliation' since 1996, the analysis shows that while there have been some absolute improvements in Indigenous educational outcomes over the period...

The recent release of the final results for the 2001 Census presents an opportunity to assess the net change in employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians for the period covering the first two Howard administrations. Boyd Hunter, Yohannes Kinfu and John Taylor use demographic techniques to make valid comparisons over time, and hence facilitate estimates of...

Jon Altman and Boyd Hunter examine changes in the socioeconomic status of Indigenous Australians during 1991-2001, a period that closely matches 'the reconciliation decade' using census data. Comparisons are made both of change in absolute wellbeing for the total Indigenous population, and of relative wellbeing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in five broad categories -...

The 'error of closure' is the population growth that cannot be accounted for either by natural increase or by quantifiable non-demographic factors. The term is somewhat misleading: since it incorporates all unquantifiable components of the increase in a population count, it is unlikely ever to be 'closed'. This study highlights the significance of variability of...