Robert Breunig

Do Intra-Household Effects Generate the Food Stamp Cash-Out Puzzle?

Previous empirical studies have noted the higher marginal propensity to consume food out of food stamps in the United States, compared to that out of cash income. Analyzing data from U.S. Food Stamp Program participants, we find evidence that this discrepancy may be driven primarily by the behavior of multiple-adult households. Single-adult households show no evidence of any discrepancy. Thus, our results suggest that food stamp and cash income (welfare or market) may have very different impact on the intra-household allocation process, and that this is reflected empirically in the cash-out puzzle.

Assisting the Long-Term Unemployed: Results from a Randomised Trial

Welfare reform in Australia centres on the concept of both economic and social participation. The policy concern is that people who fail to participate in economic and social life may become entrenched in disadvantage. In 2000 - 2001, a randomized trial was conducted by the Department of Family and Community Services in order to assess whether an intensive interview with successive follow-ups would result in increased economic and social participation for unemployed individuals who had been on income support for more than five years. We find evidence that participation in the trial led to a reduction in average weekly hours of work, but increased the amount of hours spent in study or training programs and the proportion of individuals engaged in such programs. We also find evidence of increased social integration associated with participation in the trial.

An almost unbiased estimator of the coefficient of variation

A bias correction method for inequality measures is proposed. The coefficient of variation squared (CV ) is 2 used as an example and its sampling properties, bias, and mean squared error are provided. CV is shown to be downward biased for positively skewed distributions. A bias corrected estimator is provided.

Child Care Availability, Quality and Affordability: Are Local Problems Related to Labour Supply?

We examine whether responses to survey questions about child care availability, quality and cost, aggregated at the local geographical level, have any explanatory power in models of partnered female and lone parent labour supply. We find evidence that partnered women and lone parents who live in areas with more reports of lack of availability, low quality or costly child care work fewer hours and are less likely to work than women in areas with fewer reported difficulties with child care.

The Accuracy of Predicted Wages of the Non-Employed and Implications for Policy Simulations from Structural Labour Supply Models*

We examine the accuracy of predicted wages for the non-employed. We argue that unemployment, marginal attachment, and not in the labour force are three distinct states. Using panel data from Australia, we test the accuracy of predicted wages for these three groups of non-employed using sample selection models. Focusing on those individuals who subsequently enter employment, we find that predictions which incorporate the estimated sample selection correction perform poorly, particularly for the marginally attached and the not in the labour force. These results have important implications for policy simulations from structural labour supply models.

An Exploration of Australian Petrol Demand: Unobservable Habits, Irreversibility and Some Updated Estimates*

We explore a methodological improvement to the standard dynamic demand model for petrol - a general model which allows for slowly evolving, unobservable habits. If this habit formation model is correct, then standard estimation techniques produce inconsistent estimates. We find price elasticities of -0.13 (short-run) and -0.20 (long-run). Importantly, standard techniques are misleading about the precision of elasticity estimates and the confidence interval around the long-run price elasticity is quite wide. We test for price irreversibility and find, in contrast to the USA, almost no evidence that petrol responds differently to price increases and decreases. Copyright

Wage dispersion and team performance: A theoretical model and evidence from baseball

We develop a general theoretical model of the effect of wage dispersion on team performance which nests two possibilities: wage inequality may have either negative or positive effects on team performance. A parameter which captures the marginal cost of effort, which we estimate using game-level data from Major League Baseball, determines whether wage dispersion and team performance are negatively or positively related. We find low marginal cost of effort; consequently, wage disparity is negatively related to team performance. Game and season-level regressions also indicate a negative relationship between inequality and performance. We discuss a variety of interpretations of our results.

The Immigrant Wage Gap and Assimilation in Australia: Does Unobserved Heterogeneity Matter?†

Immigrants to Australia are selected on observable characteristics. They may also differ from natives on unobservable characteristics such as ambition or motivation. If we account for unobservable differences, we find a wage gap for immigrant men from English-speaking backgrounds, in contrast with previous research which has found no wage gap. Controlling for unobserved heterogeneity also seems important for finding cohort effects. Immigrants that arrived before 1985 faced a larger wage gap compared to native-born Australians than subsequent cohorts. Confirming other research, we find wage gaps for immigrant men and women from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESBs). Wage assimilation occurs slowly for all groups, but is slowest for those from NESBs.

Partnered Women's Labour Supply and Child-Care Costs in Australia: Measurement Error and the Child-Care Price*

We show that measurement error in the constructed price of child care can explain why previous Australian studies have found partnered women’s labour supply to be unresponsive to child care prices. Through improved data and improved construction of the child care price variable, we find child care price elasticities that are statistically significant, negative and in line with elasticities found in other developed countries.

Does the Effect of Incentive Payments on Survey Response Rates Differ by Income Support History

This paper asks which sub-groups of the population are affected by the payment of a small cash incentive to respond to a telephone survey. We find that an incentive improves response rates primarily amongst those individuals with the longest history of income support receipt. Importantly, these individuals are least likely to respond to the survey in the absence of an incentive. The incentive thus improves both average response rates and acts to equalize response rates across different socio-economic groups, potentially reducing non-response bias. Interestingly, the main channel through which the incentive appears to increase response rates is in improving the probability of making contact with individuals in the group with heavy exposure to the income support system.