When are investment tax breaks effective?
Authors: Nu Nu Win, Robert Breunig and Jonathan Hambur
We investigate the effectiveness of seven business investment tax breaks under a range of different macroeconomic conditions using Australian tax and survey data over a 15-year period. Policies implemented during the 2009 Global Financial Crisis increased investment. Policies implemented during normal economic times mostly have no effect. Where present, responses are larger for unincorporated businesses, likely reflecting reduced efficacy of investment stimulus under Australia’s dividend imputation system. We find no evidence that policies enacted to address COVID-19 had any effect on investment, perhaps because of the unique nature of the economic shock.
Living long and living well: Tax systems and population ageing
Author: Miranda Stewart
The success of the development project of the 20th century relied on economic growth to lift incomes, and on a tax-and-welfare state to share the wealth. It also relied fundamentally on an unequal and gendered care economy, primarily focused on care of children, in which women bore much of the cost of care. Today, economic and demographic conditions are increasingly unlike conditions of the mid-20th century. Population ageing increases care needs, but also contributes to higher wealth inequality and slower economic growth. Most governments have failed to address the tensions in the gendered distribution of work, care, and wealth. Tax and welfare policies must adjust in the context of these changing conditions to enable a more equal distribution of the cost of care and economic returns, so that we can live long and well in the next 100 years.
Ageism in job search: A panel study
Author: Sasan Bakhtiari
This study uses a very rich panel of job seekers in Australia to investigate the scale of ageism in hiring decisions. Direct survey questions do make a case for ageism, though, there seems to be much subjectivity in what is viewed as age discrimination. Instead, I utilize unemployment spell and estimate non-parametric hazard models of finding a job for a more complete picture of job finding experience. In doing so, I account for quitting labor as a competing event. The estimates show that job markets are far from age-neutral, and more educated job seekers could be facing ageism earlier and on a much larger scale. Occupations undertaken by the latter job seekers mainly rely on constant learning and an active, analytical mind. As such, a chief driver of ageism is the perception, contrary to evidence, that older people lack the cognitive and learning abilities to keep up with progress and function properly in an analytical and advanced technology environment.
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