Social Policy Research at the Melbourne Institute, 2000-2005.

The principal objective of this project was to produce a reader-friendly review of research on key social policy issues undertaken at the Melbourne Institute over the period 2000-2005.

The report (pdf 664Kb) contains three separate chapters:

Work incentives and labour supply (by Guyonne Kalb)

This chapter provides an overview of research into the effects of hypothetical and actual tax and social security policy changes on individual and aggregate labour supply, income distribution, and the associated cost or savings for the government. The tax and social policy changes discussed in this section are all of a financial nature, such as changes in benefit levels or in tax rates. In addition, we examine the effect of the cost of childcare on labour supply and the effect of individual and household characteristics on labour supply. Most analyses to be discussed in this section have used the Melbourne Institute Tax and Transfer Simulator, so this tool is briefly described at the start of the chapter.

Income support reliance and recipients (by Roger Wilkins)

This chapter reviews recent Melbourne Institute research focused on the nature and determinants of income support receipt. This research comprises two broad groups of studies. The first group consists of studies that have as their focus all income support recipients. These studies have investigated issues such as the extent and nature of reliance on income support, dynamic patterns of receipt (including churning and movements between payment types) and determinants of different patterns of payment receipt. The second group of studies are more narrowly focused on specific groups of recipients, examining issues such as the factors associated with exiting income support receipt and the determinants of spell duration.

The changing nature of work and employment (by Mark Wooden)

This chapter focuses on studies that have essentially been concerned with the experiences of the employed. Reflecting the Institutes research, its focus is mostly on issues concerning working time, touching upon underemployment, how actual hours worked match preferences, and the balance between work and family lives. The limited research undertaken on the nature of employment arrangements (e.g., casual versus non-casual) is also covered, albeit briefly.