WORK IN PROGRESS

University choice: Parental background and girls’ potential in STEM

Our paper examines how the home learning environment, proxied by parental science-related occupation at the end of students’ compulsory education, influences girls’ and boys’ higher education field of study choices taking into account maths and science ability, socio-economic background and school level characteristics. We find that boys are consistently more likely to enrol in a STEM field at university. Living in a household with a parent working in a science-related profession increases the chance of enrolling in a STEM degree only through paternal channels for girls.

An international comparison of subjective perceptions of inequality of opportunity

(with Paolo Brunori and Mark Western)

In this paper, we explore the relationship between perceived and objective inequality for Australia and Europe. To achieve this goal we estimate country-specific measures of inequality of opportunity (IOp) with respect to family wealth, parental education, race and gender, which we obtain through the Shapely-decomposition of IOp in each country, and relate them to individual perceptions of inequality of opportunity in each of these domains using multi-level modelling. Differently from the past and current literature, we concentrate on IOp as individual redistribution preferences do not seem to be informed by conventional measures of income inequality but might be informed by measures of inequality that embed access to opportunity (e.g. IOp). This is an unexplored aspect in the literature which can shed light on how perceptions of inequality are formed and how these influence redistribution preferences accounting for country as well as individual specific factors.

Beyond demographic change: Incorporating cohort effects in health care needs-based planning in Australia

(with Stephen Birch and William Whittaker)

Planning health care services in response to ageing populations is a major challenge for policy makers across jurisdictions. More specifically, fears of imbalances between supply of and demand for health workers has received great attention in Australia. Traditional health care and health workforce planning models have adopted assumptions that fail to incorporate general improvements in health conditions in the population. Instead, current health profiles are projected onto future estimates of age and gender specific populations. In this paper we apply a cohort analysis to the health of the Australian population using data from the 17 available waves of the Household, Income, Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) panel survey in order to test for healthy ageing within the Australian population. We then use the results to estimate the future requirements for health care and compare the findings with corresponding estimates based on the traditional demographic planning approach.

School disciplinary sanctions effects on scholastic and health outcomes

(with Rigissa Megalokonomou, Tony Beatton and Jenny Povey)

In this interdisciplinary research project, we aim at understanding how the classroom learning environment at school affects students’ scholastic outcomes and community health outcomes and at highlighting school principals’ views on disciplinary tools. To do so, we exploit a policy change that provided principals with more disciplinary power. The collection and availability of data on education, health, justice and discipline will enable our team to provide critical evidence on both the direct and unintended consequences of changes in legislation. Our findings will fill in a gap in the economic literature where no research exists on the effects of school discipline on community health and it will also contribute to the policy debate on the instruments to deliver the best learning environment to promote equal opportunities of success for Australian students.

Sleep and wellbeing in Australia

(with Nicole Black)

In this project we will assess the causal impact of sleep on a number of relevant life outcomes related to health and education of Australian children and adults. We will exploit differences in light exposure as exogenous triggers for variation in sleep using survey and linked administrative data.