Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research : Find an Expert : The University of Melbourne

Our Research

The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, serves as Australia’s pre-eminent economic and social policy research centre. For over 60 years our world-class economists have conducted rigorous, independent research and analysis, providing an evidence base for effective policy reform. We help to solve some of the most pressing and complex issues affecting ordinary Australians, striving to advance opportunity, equity and prosperity for our nation.

Researchers

Researchers in the research group. Showing 12 of 39.

Prof A. Abigail Payne

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DR Ana Gamarra Rondinel

DR Barbara Broadway

Prof Beth Webster

DR Bill Pascoe

A/Prof Cain Polidano

MR Daniel Fischer

MR Derek Tong

DR Diana Contreras Suarez

A/Prof Ferdi Botha

Prof Guay Lim

Prof Guyonne Kalb

Projects

Projects conducted by research group members

Displaying 10 projects from 262 for the research group.

Policy Solutions to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalisations for Australians With Disability

2026 - 2028

Active

Postgraduate Loan-Scholarships Effects on Labor and Scientific Outcomes

2025 - 2028

Active

Scholarly Works

Scholarly Works by research group members

Displaying 10 scholarly works from 1785 for the research group.

Adverse childhood experiences and paternal mental health during the transition to fatherhood: Findings from a cohort study of Australian men

M Mazidi, JA Macdonald, K Wynter, J Chhabra, Z Seidler, SR Zubrick, V Vuong, J Kabatek, MJ Wilson, F Mitrou, VO Mancini

Journal article | 2026 | Child Abuse and Neglect

Open access

Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with poorer mental health across the life course. However, researc..

Healthcare Costs Following Medical Gender-Affirmation: Evidence From Whole-of-Population Australian Administrative Data

K Saxby, D Petrie, BJ Nolan

Journal article | 2026 | Health Economics United Kingdom

Open access

Gender incongruence in trans and nonbinary (“trans”) populations is often associated with psychological distress and increased dem..

Better ways to improve care economy productivity in Australia

H Cutler, A Scott, R Viney, Y Zhang, K van Gool, K Dalziel, J Hall, J Ratcliffe

Journal article | 2026 | Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

Temporary Employment and First-Time Homeownership in Australia

I Laß

Journal article | 2026 | Australian Economic Review

Open access

Research Questions: How does temporary employment, that is, fixed-term contract and casual employment, affect the transition into ..

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Private Health Insurance Amendment Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate Bill 2026

Yuting Zhang, Nathan Kettlewell, Judith Liu, Kevin Staub, Ou Yang, Jongsay Yong

Report | 2026

Identifying payment-driven patient selection using machine-learning-predicted cost risk: evidence from neonatal care in China

Yingbei Xiong, Changli Jia, Yifan Yao, Tianqin Xue, Yuting Zhang, Li Xiang

Journal article | 2026 | BMC Medicine

Open access

BackgroundThe global pursuit of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has spurred a worldwide shift towards case-based payment systems t..

Measuring commuting satisfaction: validation of the commuting satisfaction scale in the Australian context

S Bischof, F Botha, I Laß, H Rüger

Journal article | 2026 | Transportation Research Part F Traffic Psychology and Behaviour

Open access

Commuting satisfaction is an important sub-domain of subjective well-being, with commuting dissatisfaction linked to lower well-be..

Submission to Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Private Health Reforms - Consultation Paper 1

Nathan Kettlewell, Ali Yasin Vergili, Yuting Zhang

Report | 2026

Women's Transitions in the Labor Market and Childbearing: The Challenges of Formal Sector Employment in Indonesia

L Cameron, D Contreras Suarez, YP Tseng

Journal article | 2026 | Population and Development Review

Open access

It is well established that women's labor force participation drops markedly with marriage and childbearing, however, little is kn..

Publisher Correction: Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research (Nature, (2026), 652, 8108, (151-156), 10.1038/s41586-026-10251-x)

A Brodeur, D Mikola, N Cook, L Fiala, T Brailey, R Briggs, A de Gendre, Y Dupraz, J Gabani, R Gauriot, J Haddad, G Lima, J Ankel-Peters, A Dreber, D Campbell, L Kattan, D Marino Fages, F Mierisch, P Sun, T Wright, et al.

Journal article | 2026 | Nature

Correction to: Naturehttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10251-x Published online 1 April 2026 In the version of this article initi..

News

News by research group members

Displaying 10 news articles from 190 for the research group.

Why health insurance cuts for the over-65s won’t swamp public hospitals after all

Yuting Zhang

The controversy surrounding the federal government’s plan to scrap extra private health insurance rebates for the over-65s continues. Not e..

September 9, 2026

conversation Article

Reform wasn’t meant to be easy. Here’s how the battles for Medicare and child support defeated vested interests

Beth Webster

Can you imagine Australia without Medicare, the age pension, or with 50% tariffs on imported goods such as cars, clothes and shoes? Insti..

September 8, 2026

conversation Article

Health insurance rebates may change for the over-65s. Our new study shows what to expect

Yuting Zhang, Kevin Staub, Nathan Kettlewell

Since the federal government announced earlier this year it would scrap the higher private health insurance rebate for people aged 65 and o..

August 5, 2026

conversation Article

For the first time, the census will ask your sexual orientation. My new study shows why it matters

Karinna Saxby

When Australians complete the census on August 11, they’ll face a new question that’s been a long time coming. For the first time, people..

August 2, 2026

conversation Article

Want to use health insurance in an emergency? Here’s what it does (and doesn’t) cover

Yuting Zhang

Imagine going to a public hospital’s emergency department and a nurse from a private hospital asks you if you want to go to there instead. ..

July 8, 2026

conversation Article

‘No gap’ private health insurance can save you money. But there’s a catch

Yuting Zhang

During a cost-of-living crisis, many Australians may be wondering if their private health insurance policy actually delivers. Rising prem..

April 29, 2026

conversation Article

What does disadvantage look like in Australia? New research shows who’s struggling most

Peter Whiteford, Jenny Gordon, Roger Wilkins

The Australian government just released the 2026 report of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee. The committee was asked to explore ..

April 24, 2026

conversation Article

Soaring petrol prices are hurting more than your wallet

Kushneel Prakash

It’s time to put Australia’s car dependency in reverse The key message is simple: rising fuel prices don’t just strain budgets, they make l..

April 2, 2026

pursuit Article

How Indigenous business enterprise is rewriting Australian economics

Cain Polidano, Michelle Evans, Sarah Dahmann, Admiral Manganda, Yashu Kalera, Julie Moschion, Miguel Ruiz, Brooke Murray-Noble

In contemporary Australia, jobs are a vital socio-economic vehicle. Having a job brings benefits to people and their families beyond the si..

February 26, 2026

pursuit Article

How to make specialists’ fees fair? It’ll take more than a revamped website

Yuting Zhang, Charles Kemp, Stephen Duckett

Consumers will soon have a clearer picture of how specialists’ fees compare if legislation before parliament is passed. New legislation w..

February 18, 2026

conversation Article

Support Our Research

Email melb-inst@unimelb.edu.au

Contact Us

Address Level 5, 111 Barry Street, The University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia Mailing Address Melbourne Institute Level 5, 111 Barry Street, The University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia Email melb-inst@unimelb.edu.au Phone +61 3 8344 2100 Fax: +61 3 8344 2111

Emailmelb-inst@unimelb.edu.au

Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research

The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research is an academic department in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne dedicated entirely to research.

Our Research

Researchers

Projects

How Australian Fathers Shape the Trajectory of Their Children's Wellbeing

Building the Financial Capacity of Australia's Cooperative Housing Sector

Trust in AI / AI Barometer

Survey of Consumer Inflation Expectations

DP260105065: Firm Closures and Layoffs: The Impact of Australian Families

Quantifying the Economic Causes and Costs of Family and Domestic Violence

Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: Measuring What Matters and Why

Mobilise Matched Evaluation

Policy Solutions to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalisations for Australians With Disability

Postgraduate Loan-Scholarships Effects on Labor and Scientific Outcomes

Scholarly Works

Adverse childhood experiences and paternal mental health during the transition to fatherhood: Findings from a cohort study of Australian men

Healthcare Costs Following Medical Gender-Affirmation: Evidence From Whole-of-Population Australian Administrative Data

Better ways to improve care economy productivity in Australia

Temporary Employment and First-Time Homeownership in Australia

Submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee Inquiry into the Private Health Insurance Amendment Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate Bill 2026

Identifying payment-driven patient selection using machine-learning-predicted cost risk: evidence from neonatal care in China

Measuring commuting satisfaction: validation of the commuting satisfaction scale in the Australian context

Submission to Department of Health, Disability and Ageing: Private Health Reforms - Consultation Paper 1

Women's Transitions in the Labor Market and Childbearing: The Challenges of Formal Sector Employment in Indonesia

Publisher Correction: Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research (Nature, (2026), 652, 8108, (151-156), 10.1038/s41586-026-10251-x)

News

Why health insurance cuts for the over-65s won’t swamp public hospitals after all

Reform wasn’t meant to be easy. Here’s how the battles for Medicare and child support defeated vested interests

Health insurance rebates may change for the over-65s. Our new study shows what to expect

For the first time, the census will ask your sexual orientation. My new study shows why it matters

Want to use health insurance in an emergency? Here’s what it does (and doesn’t) cover

‘No gap’ private health insurance can save you money. But there’s a catch

What does disadvantage look like in Australia? New research shows who’s struggling most

Soaring petrol prices are hurting more than your wallet

How Indigenous business enterprise is rewriting Australian economics

How to make specialists’ fees fair? It’ll take more than a revamped website

Support Our Research

Contact Us

Acknowledgement of Country