ECON7030 TASK OUTLINE
1. YOUR RESEACH PROJECT
Your project is an individual assignment where you will independently (guided by the teaching team) research on a topic prescribed by your instructors. The main task is replication.
- Choose a chapter from the report published by Productivity Commission (Rising inequality? A stocktake of the evidence) and update the analysis using more recent data/or use the same data to extend the analysis in some other way.
This research report, released on 28 August 2018, takes stock of evidence on inequality, economic mobility and disadvantage across Australian society. The analysis is based on the late 2017 release of new waves of two major nationally representative household surveys: the ABS Household Expenditure Survey (HES) and the Melbourne Institute Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The study also uses the ABS Survey of Income and Housing (SIH), which has been integrated with HES since 2003 04.
- For students who are interested in replicating a journal paper, a list published papers (representing various fields: development, health, labor and environmental economics) are provided below.
You will replicate (verification/or extension) the results of the report chapters /or papers using Stata. If you are more comfortable with any other software (e.g., R, Python, Matlab), please feel free to use it. However, the teaching team will provide maximum guidance with Stata only.
Main Task: Replicate any ONE of the below chapters from the report Rising inequality? A stocktake of the evidence. Please note that Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the context, conceptual framework, literature, research problem, and methodology and hence are compulsory reads for all students, irrespective of which chapter you choose to replicate.
- Chapter 3: Income and consumption inequality
o 3.1 Trends in income and income inequality
o 3.2 The distribution of income in detail
o 3.3 The demographics of the income distribution
o 3.4 Comparing the distributions of income and consumption
- Chapter 4: Wealth inequality
o 4.1 Trends in wealth and wealth inequality
o 4.2 Trends in the distribution of components of wealth
o 4.3 The demographics of wealth and income
- Chapter 5 Economic mobility
o 5.2 Intergenerational mobility in Australia
o 5.3 Life course mobility in Australia
- Chapter 6 Economic disadvantage
o 6.2 The prevalence of poverty
o 6.3 The demographics of poverty
o 6.4 How long does poverty last?
o 6.5 Material deprivation+ Social Exclusion
Those who are interested in journal papers, choose a paper from below list [Please download the papers from USYD library]. You may update the results using more recent data (extension) OR do pure replication (verification) using existing data.
1. Akpandjar, G & Kitchens, C, 2017, ‘From Darkness to Light: The Effect of Electrification in Ghana, 2000–2010’, Economic Development and Cultural Change, vol. 66, no. 1, pp. 31–54. (IPUMSI)
2. Botha, F., Bentley, R., Li, A., & Wiesel, I. (2024). Housing affordability stress and mental health: The role of financial wellbeing. Australian Economic Papers, 1–20. (HILDA)
3. Csereklyei, Z., Qu, S., & Ancev, T. (2021). Are electricity system outages and the generation mix related? Evidence from NSW, Australia. Energy Economics, 99. (AEMO)
4. Finnigan, R, 2014, ‘Racial and ethnic stratification in the relationship between homeownership and self-rated health’, Social Science & Medicine (1982), vol. 115, pp. 72–81. (IPUMS CPS)
5. Hessels, J., C. A. Rietveld, A. R. Thurikand P. van der Zwan (2020), “The higher returns to formal education for entrepreneurs versus employees in Australia”, Journal of Business Venturing Insights13: e00148. (HILDA)
6. Kler, P, Potia, AH, & Shankar, S, 2018, “Underemployment in Australia: a panel investigation,” Applied Economics Letters, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 24–28. (HILDA)
7. Vera‐Toscano, E & Brown, H, 2022, “Empirical Evidence on the Incidence and Persistence of Energy Poverty in Australia,” Australian Economic Review, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 515–529. (HILDA)
2. DATA
1. Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey
2. ABS Household Expenditure Survey (HES)
3. ABS Survey of Income and Housing (SIH)
4. One paper is based on Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)
5. One paper is based on data sourced from Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
3. INSTRUCTIONS [Note: Detailed paper/topic specification instructions will be posted in Canvas by early Week 3].
ü Before you select your paper/or report chapter, carefully read ALL options (see Section 4 – tips on skim reading). TAKE YOUR TIME - DO NOT SELECT YOUR TOPIC WITHOUT COMPLETING THE READING.
ü Once you have made your selection, please join the relevant Canvas group (named after the title of the paper/or report chapter) so that we know your selection.
ü Canvas groups will be created on WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 (WEEK 2). Till then KEEP READING so that you make the right choice.
ü As soon as I see your selection in Canvas, I will instruct you to register for the data (WAIT FOR MY INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE APPLYING FOR THE DATA).
ü Note that approval process for HILDA/ABS may take upto 15 days. For IPUMS, it may take upto 7 days. Hence, we must start early. By week 5, you must get started with data processing/cleaning.
ü In conducting the data analysis (which involves cleaning/processing the data, running the descriptive analysis, and estimating statistical models), you will write your own codes. Don’t worry, the teaching team is here to help you!
ü It is a good idea for students who are working on the same paper to work together. We recommend that you use the Canvas group page to communicate with each other.
4. TIPS
ü How to select a paper? Skim read the papers–read the abstract/introduction first; and if it interests you subsequently read the complete paper.
ü Once you have made YOUR selection, think carefully about which part of the analysis you can replicate. Most journal papers/or research reports are lengthy, so you are not required to replicate the entire analysis.
ü If the empirical approach of the original paper/report chapter (OP, hereafter) is too complex/or some data is not available, we will simplify the approach.