This paper shows that cognitive skills can account for growth differences within the OECD, whereas a range of economic institutions and quantitative measures of tertiary education cannot. Under the growth model estimates and plausible projection parameters, school improvements falling within currently observed performance levels yield very large gains. The present value of OECD aggregate gains...

The aim of the study was to explore the potential for frames theory to be used as a practical tool to re-engage the UK public in global poverty.

This paper looks at patterns of own-home wealth across the life cycle in Australia and in several North American and Western European countries and finds that Australia is out of step with comparable countries. In the mid-1990s, the Australian elderly had the lowest relative incomes (compared to national averages) across 19 OECD countries. Including housing...

Technology innovation is the key to reducing carbon emissions cheaply, according to this report based on the experience of six pollution pricing schemes in Australia and overseas. In each case, costs to reduce pollution, and actual prices, were much lower than governments and their experts expected. Governments consistently got it wrong when picking in advance...

The reading literacy of Australian 15-year-old students has fallen sharply over the past decade, results from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reveal. The Australian national report shows Australia’s results have also slipped in mathematics but held ground in science. PISA measures how well 15-year-olds from across the globe are prepared to use...