Monash University > Business and Economics > Research

ARC Discovery and Linkage Research Projects

Currently Funded ARC Projects

Completed ARC Projects

Department of Accounting and Finance

Developing a Resource Allocation Framework to support more effective police investigations of major crime
ARC Linkage Project 2009-2011 with industry partner: Victoria Police Crime Department
Prof PM Collier
The project addresses National Research Priority 4: Safeguarding Australia. This priority has a goal to protect Australia from terrorism and crime. Improving resource allocation decisions will enable police resources to be more effective in detecting and preventing crime. The project addresses the goal of all police agencies to reduce crime by enhancing the capability to manage resources more efficiently and effectively. This requires a more innovative culture that uses the available management information intelligently to make better (in terms of outcomes) resource allocation decisions.

Modelling the optimal hedge fund portfolio using a multiscaling method
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
Prof FH In; Prof R Gencay (Simon Fraser)
Asset allocation theory sits at the heart of modern finance, yet remains something of a conundrum. By developing the a longer-horizon framework to asset allocation involving hedge funds, this project provides a significant insight onto sources of risk-horizon effects on asset allocation and allow us to understand how the exposure of hedge funds to the market risk varies across investment horizons. This allows academics to address a wide range of problems in optimal asset allocation and performance measurement. In addition, the outcomes can be applied to risk management by practitioners for their international and Australian domestic investors.

Asset pricing, signal type and overconfident investors
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
Dr B Balachandran, Prof R Faff, Prof M Theobald (Birmingham)
Recent bubbles in financial markets and other anxieties with regard to whether financial assets are correctly valued have led to a reduction in the confidence in financial markets. This study, by focussing upon potential biases in the price formation process, will provide strong insights into this important topic. In covering three major equity markets, the project will provide important guidance for the design of regulatory policies on corporate disclosure by both Governments and Stock Exchanges. Given the increased need for funded superannuation/pension schemes, an increase in the confidence in capital market processes will benefit the development of successful funded schemes.

Financial risk tolerance: Gender, market stress and related issues
ARC Linkage Project 2005-2008 with industry partners: FinaMetrica Limited and Vanguard Investments Australia
Prof R Faff
Financial risk tolerance (FRT) refers to an investor's attitude towards risk - the uncertainty they are willing to accept when making financial decisions. This project will explore: (a) the role/impact that an aging/female dominated society will have and (b) the behaviour/nature of FRT around times of 'market stress' (eg market crashes). We will do this using the extensive database of FinaMetrica, initially on Australian data, extending to the US and UK. FRT is fundamental to advice financial planners provide clients - affecting long-term portfolio decisions/retirement planning. Improving understanding of FRT will greatly enhance the future welfare of all.

Impacts of international financial reporting standards adoption on cost of equity capital, financial statement value-relevance, and firms' financing and investment strategies.
ARC Linkage Project 2006-2009 with industry partner CPA Australia
A/Prof K Chalmers, Prof J Godfrey, Prof G Clinch
The project's insights will assist policy makers to assess, progress and promote approaches to global economic and governance policy reforms. AIFRS adoption disturbs the financial markets equilibria previously struck under Australian accounting standards. Understanding this impact helps underpin micro and macro economic strategies and policy developments relying upon the role of financial reporting. It also assists capital markets to adapt to the new reporting environment, thus increasing capital allocation effectiveness and efficiency. Australia's position as an early IFRS adopting nation enables the project to facilitate Australia's international leadership in global economic policy development.

Religion, finance and ethics: Islamic and conventional perspectives on shared principles, practices, and financial institutions and instruments
ARC Linkage Project 2007-2009 with industry partners: Muslim Community Co-Operative (Australia) Ltd; Amanie Business Solutions Sdn. Bhd; MacPherson + Kelley lawyers; and Australian Financial Investment Group Ltd
A/Prof CJ Mews; Prof M Ariff; Prof M Skully; Dr AR Ghouse; Dr D Bakar; Prof A Saed
By linking together specialists in finance, banking and religious history, with the Muslim Community Cooperative (Australia), this project explores communication and mutual benefit between international Islamic finance and conventional Western finance. It will propose new financial structures and instruments to expand the scope of Islamic finance, to maximise lending and investment opportunities in Australia, and to promote interaction between the Islamic and conventional financial sectors. The project will enable Australian researchers to work with international authorities in Islamic finance, promoting dialogue between Islamic and other groups, and increase investment and development within the Australian financial market.

New approaches to modelling operational risk in the light of the Basel II Accord
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2010
Prof I Moosa; Prof P Silvapulle
The outcome of this project will be useful for Australian banks, because they will be required by the Basel II Accord to calculate capital to be held against operational risk. The benefits will accrue to Australian banks as the results should help them understand the effects of operational risk and how to manage it more effectively. The benefits will also accrue to the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority, by providing some guidelines on the implementation of the Accord. The outcome of this project, which quantifies the risks due to crime and terrorism, will be useful for the Australian community at large.

Department of Business Law and Taxation

Evaluating Federal class actions through empirical and comparative perspectives
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
A/Prof V Morabito; Dr BJ Sweeney
Sixteen years after the introduction of a Federal class action regime (Part IVA), it is time for an accurate
assessment (through an empirical and comparative study) of whether the concerns expressed by numerous
commentators - that Part IVA has failed to enhance access to justice and judicial economy and has frequently been abused by the legal representatives of Part IVA parties and litigation funders - are justified. This study will finally provide Australian lawmakers with a detailed reform agenda to ensure that Part IVA will provide the benefits that it was intended to secure whilst operating in a fair and just manner. It will thus benefit similarly situated claimants, respondents, the Federal Court and the broader community.

Pushing against globalisation: Understanding how state and non-state actors in socialist transforming East Asia shape global laws and regulations
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
Prof JS Gillespie; Prof RP Peerenboom (La Trobe)
Improving trade and investment with China and Vietnam is among Australia's foreign affairs and trade priorities. The predictive model will assist Australian policy makers and business investors/exporters to understand how China and Vietnam are likely to deal with transnational treaty obligations such as the World Trade Organisation and bilateral trade agreements. The project will shed light on domestic resistance to legal globalisation-an inquiry that has been overlooked by existing research. It will also inform important theoretical debates about the role non-state actors play in shaping the regulatory environment in the world's most dynamic economies and improve postgraduate research and teaching programs.

Understanding regulatory networks: Assessing the relevance of the 'rule of law' to business regulation in Vietnam
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
Professor J Gillespie; Dr P Taylor
Consistent with Research Priority 4, the project will assist Australian policy makers and business investors/exporters to understand why market laws frequently produce fragmentation and instability in developing East Asia. It will also inform important theoretical debates about the relative influence of law, social norms, ethno-religious orientations and sentiment in forming regulatory networks that augment and rival state power. The project will strengthen linkages between Australian and Asian universities and research institutions and improve post-graduate research and teaching programs.

Department of Economics

Internal capital markets, divisional rent-seeking and optimal incentives: Theory and evidence
ARC Linkage International, Internationally Coordinated Initiatives (ICI) Social Science Collaboration (SSC) scheme 2009-2010
Prof C Choe; Mr I Park (University of Bristol)
There exists a considerable gap between real-world economic organizations and the economic theory of the firm. This project provides formal theories of resource allocation within multidivisional corporations and the nature of optimal incentives, thereby contributing to fill this gap. The project is expected to produce highest-quality research publishable in top-tier journals. This will, among others, enhance Australia's standing as a knowledge nation. Additional benefit comes from the possibility of longer term collaborative research between Monash University and the University of Bristol, and possible research collaboration between Australian and British economists that goes beyond the two institutions.

Growth, trade, and economic development in Asia
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
Prof JB Madsen ; A/Prof PE Robertson (NSW)
Future growth in Asia has strong implications for growth, relative wages, skill levels, human capital accumulation and trade in Australia. This project seeks to gain insight into whether the high economic growth rates experienced in Asia will continue into the future and whether low income Asian countries will take off in the future. This information will be used to simulate future demand for skills, relative wages, trade and the incentives to invest in Australia and give insight into the effects of various policies in Australia on educational decision, skill composition, relative wages, trade and growth.

Consumption volatility and financial openness in the developing world
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2010
Dr J Ang
The analysis performed in this project will shed some light on how financial openness affects consumption volatility in developing countries. The results of this project have direct relevance for the formulation of financial sector policies in developing countries as well as Australia, given its close association with the developing world. Designing appropriate financial sector policies helps promote financial stability, and this exerts a beneficial effect on economic growth. This is broadly in line with the Australian policy makers' objective of promoting growth and enhancing stability.

De-industrialising and reinventing the inner city: A tale of two cities, Melbourne and Geelong, c1970-2000
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
Dr SP O'Hanlon; Prof AE Dingle
As a major study of the recent past, this project illuminates many aspects of Australia's contemporary urban experience. It investigates a number of current urban issues, previously the preserve of geographers, planners and economists and opens them to historical inquiry and insight. Utilising a number of previously untapped sources, the project expands our knowledge of the history of our cities, and of the history of urban youth cultures. The project enhances the international reputation of Australian scholars for producing innovative studies of the urban past. By training a PhD student in urban history, the project transmits this reputation to a new generation of scholars.

Human capital, innovations and economic growth
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2010
Prof JB Madsen
This project examines the effects of human capital on economic growth and international knowledge spillovers and the social returns to schooling. Furthermore, the project investigates the role played by human capital and innovations in explaining why Australia has not been able to maintain its leading position in the world over the past 135 years. To that end human capital is estimated for the OECD countries. The project addresses Research Priority 3 by examining the role played by education in promoting an innovative culture and enhancing the capacity to absorb world frontier technology.

Living standards, HIV/AIDS and its impact on the next generation
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2010
Prof P Maitra; A/Prof BA Inder; Prof R Ray
The spread of HIV /AIDS is a major international challenge, particularly for developing countries. Its direct impact is mostly among working-age adults, leading to significant loss of labour income and capacity to care for children. Australia has made a sizeable aid commitment in this area and to addressing poverty and nutritional deprivation more generally. Through improved understanding of the interrelationships between wealth, HIV / AIDS and its impact on children, the project will provide valuable insight to guide Australia's aid efforts, as well as contributing to global efforts to understand the epidemic and its potential effects on the next generation.

Modelling food expenditure, analysing nutrient security, measuring hunger and calculating purchasing power parity: Methodological advances with policy applications
ARC Discovery Project 2007-2009
Prof R Ray
The analysis of consumption changes in selected Asian countries will throw light on Australia's trade potential, especially with one of the fastest growing countries. More informed debate on the role of trade and aid in reducing hunger and poverty. Following the 2000 Millenium summit and the step up of Australian developmental aid, the subject has returned to the centre stage in policy discussions. The systematic use of unit value information available elsewhere, but currently lacking in ABS data, will help the latter in improving its HES. Contribute to "understanding our region and the world"(Key Priority Goal in Research Priority 4 of ARC). Provide data sets for use in Australian RHD dissertations.

Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics

Non-parametric estimation of forecast distributions in non-Gaussian state space models
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
A/Prof GM Martin; Dr CS Forbes; Prof MJ Silvapulle; Prof B McCabe (Uni Liverpool)
The production of accurate forecasts is arguably one of the most challenging tasks in economics, business and finance, where data often assume strictly positive, integer or binary values, or are characterized by many extreme values far from the average. This project will produce new, state-of-the-art statistical methods for generating accurate estimates of the probabilities attached to different possible future values of such variables. Although far-ranging in scope, the techniques advocated will have particular impact in the financial sphere, where the concept of future risk is inextricably linked to the probability of occurrence of extreme values and, hence, to the future probability distribution of the financial variable.

Identification and inference in nonparametric models
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
Dr G Forchini
This project will develop reliable methods for identification, estimation and inference of nonparametric models for the evaluation of economic policies on outcome variables of interest. This econometric methodology will allow a better understanding of the quantitative effects of an economic policy which will result in better informed policy decisions. The results will have applications to labour market policies, health care policies and education policies among others. The project will also provide national benefits in terms of building up the local stock of researchers trained in the area of identification and estimation of nonparametric models; it will further improve the international reputation that Australia has in econometric theory.

Vector ARMA models and macroeconomic modelling: Some new methodology and algorithms
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2012
Dr G Athanasopoulos; Prof DS Poskitt; Prof F Vahid (ANU); Dr TC Kam(ANU)
Economic variables are strongly related to each other, as well as being strongly related to their recent history. As a result, good dynamic multivariate models are crucial for effective policy making and forecasting in areas of vital national importance such as monetary and fiscal policy, environmental policy and tourism. Our project advances the frontiers of knowledge in multivariate time series modelling. The outcome of this project will be immediately useful for macroeconomic policy makers such as the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Treasury, and for industry bodies such as Tourism Australia.

Evaluating research policy in Australian broadacre agriculture - Accounting for interactions between the beef, sheep meat, wool, and grains industries
ARC Linkage Project 2005-2008 with industry partner: NSW Agriculture
Dr X Zhao; Prof KR McLaren; Dr GR Griffith; Dr JD Mullen
This project studies the returns from R&D investments in Australia's broadacre agricultural industries and equity in the funding of these investments. The contribution is to explicitly recognise the interaction across cattle, sheep and cropping enterprises, while past analyses have been single industry approach. Econometric models of multi-output profit function for Australian broadacre agriculture and demand systems involving these products are estimated. A multi-industry equilibrium displacement model is developed to simulate the incidence of both costs and returns of agricultural R&D, with cross-industry interaction recognised. The project is likely to contribute to the way agricultural research is administered and funded in Australia.

New procedures for multiple testing of econometric models
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
Prof M King, Dr X Zhang
In discipline areas ranging from biological and medicine sciences to economics and commerce, very important decisions are made on the basis of statistical or econometric models. There is usually a high degree of uncertainty about the exact form the model should take and the data available to help decide on the best form of the model is often limited. The new procedures developed in this project will help statisticians and econometricians make better decisions about the best form of their models. Our approach gives a new method of validating an estimated model before it is put to use to make critical decisions.

New statistical procedures for analysing dependence in non Gaussian time series data
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
Dr G Martin, Dr D Harris (Uni Melb)
In the economic, finance and business spheres, statistical data is often discrete, binary, strictly positive, or characterized by an uneven distribution of values above and below the average. Prominent examples are the high frequency financial data that have become accessible with the computerization of financial markets, including the number of trades in successive time intervals, the direction of price changes, the time between trades and the return on a financial asset over short periods. This project develops a range of new statistical tools that will enable both researchers and practitioners to analyze the dynamic behaviour in such data and thereby validate and implement a range of financial models.

New approaches for testing in nonlinear models
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
A/Prof P Silvapulle, Prof M Silvapulle, Prof H Anderson (ANU)
The outcome of this project is a new econometric methodology that will be particularly useful for developing our understanding of Australian (and global) financial markets. Specific benefits are that (i) our value at risk models will enhance national and international awareness of issues relating to financial risk management; (ii) our exchange rate pass through model will aid the development of Australian trade and pricing policies and (iii) our duration models for trade in Australian stocks will lead to a better understanding of the microstructure of the Australian stock market.

Bayesian inference for welfare comparisons of income inequality and poverty
ARC Discovery Project 2007-2009
Dr D Chotikapanich; Prof WE Griffiths
The major expected outcome of this research is an array of techniques for making welfare comparisons involving income inequality and poverty within a framework of Bayesian inference. Various applications of the techniques are expected to yield useful information on inequality comparisons over time and space and on changes in the level of poverty. Given that reduction in levels of inequality and poverty is a matter of major concern, the development of suitable measurement techniques has immense potential for national benefit. In addition, the project will serve as a vehicle for training two PhD students, and hence will contribute to the small pool of highly trained econometricians with expertise in measuring income inequality.

Estimation and inference in weakly identified models
ARC Discovery Project 2007-2009
Prof DS Poskitt; Dr CL Skeels; Dr G Forchini
Economic and social systems are made up of interacting components leading to complex structures that are difficult to predict and manage. Consequently policy analysis and decision-making must be informed by statistical analysis of data. In many situations the informational content of observations is minimal; examples of such situations are found in the areas of education, health, finance and various aspects of macroeconomic analysis. This project aims to develop methods of estimation and inference that make more efficient use of the information available in data. This will lead to more precise statistical analyses, resulting in a clearer understanding of economic and social systems, and better informed policy analysis and decision-making.

Forecasting with single source of randomness state space models
ARC Discovery 2008-2010
A/Prof RD Snyder; Dr CN Low; Prof JK Ord; Dr JW Taylor
The framework developed in this project, for identifying and extrapolating trends, seasonal patterns and economic cycles in time series, has a large and diverse range of useful applications in Australia. Some examples include its potential use in the development of appropriate monetary policy, its use to better inform finance markets of risk levels associated with shares, its use to forecast demand in supply chains to provide a better service to customers, and its use in call centres to better tailor staff schedules to meet customer calls.

Impacts of population ageing and prevalence of chronic illnesses on labour market outcomes and health service utilisation
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2010
A/Prof X Zhao; A/Prof BA Inder; Prof AM Jones; Prof C Hsiao
The Australian population is ageing due to the combined effects of increasing life expectancy and decreasing birth rate. The prevalence of major chronic illnesses including diabetes, heart disease and mental health conditions has also increased consistently. With a suite of state-of-the-art econometric and simulation models, we propose the first comprehensive analysis at the individual level of the complex relationships between health status, chronic illnesses, labour market decisions, private health insurance status, and health service utilisations of older Australians. The research will enhance the technical rigour and capacity for analysing a range of health and ageing related policies and issues.

Department of Management

Fostering pro-environmental behaviour of zoo visitors through strategic communication
ARC Linkage Project 2009-2011 with industry partners: Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Zoos Victoria, Zoos SA and Perth Zoo
Prof BV Weiler; Mr LD Smith
A key part of achieving an Environmentally Sustainable Australia is to change human behaviour. Given annual visitation to Australia's zoos of 14.5 million, including about 4.2 million to the partner organisations, there is great potential for zoos to use their experiential platform to foster pro-environmental behaviour. How best to persuade people to change their behaviour, however, is still poorly understood. This research will improve the capacity of zoos to achieve pro-environmental behaviours among their visitors and thus have significant environmental and social benefits. Linking motivational factors with visitors' susceptibility to persuasion will assist any organisation that seeks to foster pro-environmental behaviour.

Determinants, processes and outcomes of executive coaching
ARC Linkage Project 2009-2011 with industry partner: Executive Central Group Pty Ltd
Prof JC Sarros ; Dr AE Rafferty (Qld)
Research suggests that executive leaders in organisations have a critical impact on the long-term viability of
organisations. This research program aims to contribute both to the theory and practice of executive coaching, which is an important leadership development tool. Our research will provide evidence on how to design coaching so as to maximize the likelihood of effective outcomes, and will also identify workplace and individual characteristics that influence the likelihood that this leadership development activity will be successful. This research program will provide a stronger theoretical and empirical foundation for executive coaching.

Parliamentary careers: Design, delivery and evaluation of improved professional development
ARC Linkage Project 2009-2011 with industry partners: AusAID and Inter-Parliamentary Union
A/Prof KA Coghill; Dr R Donohue; Dr PJ Holland; A/Prof CH Lewis ; The Hon KR Rozzoli (Syd); Ms Y Smith (AusAID); Mr AM Richardson (Inter-Parliamentary Union); Prof GH Hassall (Uni South Pacific)
National/community benefits arise from improved design, delivery and evaluation of professional development programs for parliamentarians, thereby enhancing their central constitutional roles in making laws, approving budgets and holding government policy and administration to account. This innovative cross-disciplinary project generates theoretical and practical understanding concerning the duration, content and learning modes of parliamentarians' professional development programs. Australian assistance programs to parliaments in the Pacific will have improved design, delivery and evaluation and be more effective in improving parliamentary performance, national governance and enhanced political stability in Australia's region.

International students in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector: Study purposes, learning practices and institutional responses
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2012
Dr LT Tran
This research melds with the fundamental objectives of the Australian National Strategy for VET 2004-2010 which aims to increase vocational education and training exports and ensure Australian VET standards are more harmonized with international standards. The project will assist the development of policies and strategies that can address the complex needs of the international student population and the capacity of the VET sector to internationalise the curriculum. The project will also identify qualities and factors that are important for optimizing the competition of the VET sector in the global education industry which has become Australia's leading services export sector.

Proximal and organizational leadership and climate as predictors of key performance in non profit organizations
ARC Linkage Project 2006-2009 with industry partner: Wesley Mission
A/Prof A McMurray, Prof J Sarros, Dr A Pirola-Merlo, Mr T Froggatt
This project will provide a transferable model of the leadership and organisational characteristics required for success among nonprofit church organisations. The model will provide opportunities for strengthening the support structures of nonprofits who play a critical role in helping needy families and individuals live healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives. The study addresses the National Research Priority of Promoting and Maintaining Good Health and Priority Goal 'Strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric.' In addition, the model will provide benchmarking opportunities with other nonprofits both in Australia and internationally and will contribute to the Government's welfare reform and participation agendas.

Maximising the effectiveness of public health policies: The case of smoke free policies
ARC Linkage Project 2006-2009 with industry partner: The Cancer Council of Victoria
A/Prof S Petrovic-Lazarevic, A/Prof C Yeh, Dr K Coghill, Mrs S Bedingfield, Dr R Borland
Promoting good health and well being for all Australians is a key National Research Priority. Tobacco smoking is the largest single preventable cause of death in Australia, and while much has been achieved in tobacco control in Australia, there has been little systematic effort to understand or improve the relationship between research and policy implementation. This project will provide a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of both how to maximise the effectiveness of smoke free policies, and, through that increased understanding, how to best manage the implementation of public policies that seek to facilitate changes in the behaviour of individual citizens.

Enterprise labour flexibility, worker security and wellbeing: China and India compared
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2010
Prof CT Nyland; Prof CE Hartel; Prof G Standing; A/Prof JC Zhu
Arguably China and India are currently the two nations most likely to reshape employment practices and the nature of work globally in the coming years. Sections of the Australian community who will benefit from the research include politicians, employees and employers as all three require a detailed knowledge of the labour policies and practices of these two major trading partners as they continue to confront the unending problem of labour market management and workplace reform. The research will also be of value to investors considering investing in either country and who need to make decisions regarding where to invest and how investments might be optimised.

Department of Marketing

A model and segmentation of household obesogenicity in Australia
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
Dr MJ Reid; Prof FT Mavondo; Prof A Worsley (Deakin)
Critical to reducing obesity is reduced consumption of energy dense foods and increasing physical activity. This project provides greater insight into relationships between environment, household obesogenicity and consumer behaviour, and an improved basis for policy development regarding obesity prevention. National benefits are; Less obesity and other nutritionally related diseases and therefore reduced treatment costs in the health sector; Reduced demand for unhealthy foods and greater demand for higher quality products boosting product innovation and supporting Australia's competitiveness in the global markets; Greater health benefits among the low SES parts of the population contributing to creation of equity in Australian health.

A model of fan involvement, participation and loyalty: a mixed method study on fan behaviour and management in basketball
ARC Linkage Project 2005-2008 with industry partner: Basketball Aust & National Basketball League of Australia
A/Prof FJ Farrelly; Prof PG Quester; Dr MB Beverland
This study will build a model of sport fan loyalty in the context of the National Basketball League using ethnographic and survey methods. This will develop a more complete understanding of motives and drivers of fan involvement, participation and loyalty. We will use this to examine the impact of marketing activity on fan loyalty, and to generate recommendations for sports organisations and government agencies seeking to engender greater interest and interaction in sport, particularly amongst young Australians. A further aim is to develop a more comprehensive understanding of consumer loyalty than the limited view that presently exists in the marketing literature. The study will be carried out via two APAI under the supervision of the CIs.

Sharing values and the co-creation of brands: Towards a new consumer driven branding paradigm
ARC Discovery Project 2006-2008
Prof PG Quester (Adelaide); A/Prof FJ Farrelly; Dr MB Beverland; Prof SM Kates
The project proposes a paradigm shift from traditional image building towards a full understanding and integration of consumer values into a deliberate process of co-created brand meanings. Brands thus managed can become iconic and symbolic of consumers' existing subcultures or may even define micro-cultures of consumption of their own (as in the case of Harley Davidson). Should managers understand the process by which such co-created brands develop, more Australian brand success stories (eg. Rip Curl, Penfold's Grange) would evolve and be better placed to tap the increasingly diversified sub-cultural landscape that characterises the Australian marketplace and many of our major trading partners.

Centre for Health Economics

Modelling inequalities in health Australia in the area of obesity
ARC Discovery Project 2007-2009
A/Prof BP Hollingsworth; A/Prof MN Harris; Prof P Maitra; Dr K Hauck; Dr J Wildman; Dr P Contoyannis
This research will contribute to a body of knowledge that informs government policy and falls under a National Research Priority Promoting and Maintaining Good Health. Obesity is a serious health problem among adult Australians and the situation is likely to worsen if left unchecked. The first task in addressing this issue is to identify who is at risk. In this project we will use multiple and robust techniques to examine this issue. Our research will therefore help in targeting public resources to those that can really benefit, as we hypothesise markets in health do not clear efficiently for a multitude of reasons.

Developing methods for benefit measurement in health-related economic analyses and their use in selecting public health promotional programs
ARC Discovery Project 2007-2009
Prof JR Richardson; Dr R Borland; Prof RA Cummins; Prof HE Herrman; Asst Prof R Hurworth; Prof BA Swinburn; A/Prof ET Vos
The program involves the creation, validation and use of a suite of instruments for evaluating outcomes of health promotional programs, including adult and childhood obesity, depression and smoking areas that are universally recognised as being of importance for the Australian community. The program will provide multiple scoring algorithms for each of the instruments in order to test the sensitivity of results to assumptions made about social values, and will produce Australian estimates of the person trade off weights used in the Australian and Victorian Burden of Disease studies (which presently use Dutch PTO weights).

Modelling the quality of hospital care in Australia
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2011
Dr K Hauck
It is estimated that substandard quality of hospital care causes around 4,500 deaths and 12,500 cases of permanent disability per year. Results from the study will support the implementation of quality control programs to help prevent unnecessary harm to patients, improve the quality of hospital care, and more generally, promote the objectives of the Australian health care system. The envisaged outcomes advance national research priorities by improving health care provided to children and the elderly. The Fellowship will help alleviate the shortage of health economists in Australia by improving my own skills and supporting me to train junior staff.

Health production functions: Effects of socioeconomic and lifestyle factors on health status
ARC Discovery Project 2008-2010
A/Prof BP Hollingsworth; A/Prof X Zhao; Prof JR Richardson; A/Prof MN Harris
Improving the health and wellbeing of individuals is a priority for the Australian government. Empirical knowledge on the determinants of health is crucial for effective allocation of public health funds. We propose a thorough economic investigation into the interrelationships between self-assessed health, chronic conditions, obesity, private insurance status, and socioeconomic and lifestyle factors, using advanced microeconometric techniques and comprehensive national and Victorian health surveys. We will link the micro-level findings to economic and policy implications for the Australian health sector and society. The research will be valuable in the design and evaluation of health promotion programs.

Centre of Policy Studies

Water derivatives: Conceptualisation, price modelling and economic impacts
ARC Discovery Project 2009-2011
Prof PB Dixon; Dr S Schreider (RMIT); Dr GM Wittwer; Prof A Wentzell (Tulane)
Introducing water options is likely to provide farmers with more choices on trading their water allocation and enhance water price certainty. Recent seasons have accentuated the potential benefit of water options: regions with highly secure water in the past have suffered repeated shortfalls in allocations. Water options would alter the behaviour of water managers who would need to ensure sufficient carryover to future seasons to allow for drought. Options markets may improve the allocation of water between competing users. Such markets, by reducing uncertainty, may reduce excessive adjustment costs arising from drought by improving water access security.

Combining hydrological information with a multi-regional, computable general equilibrium model
ARC Linkage Project 2006-2008 with industry partners: Department of Primary Industries and Department of Sustainability and Environment
Prof PB Dixon; Dr S Schreider; Dr GM Wittwer; Mr M Eigenraam
The model to be created will combine a unique amount of economic detail at the statistical division level with hydrological detail. Users will obtain better estimates than previously available on the regional and industrial impacts of different water scenarios. This will produce economic and social returns to the community through improved water policies in the following areas: urban-rural water allocation; climate change impact assessment; water reform and water trading; and the economic impacts of meeting environmental objectives. The model will thus provide a path-breaking tool for examining issues arising from COAG reforms and broader policy goals.