The Child Social Exclusion (CSE) index, a multi-dimensional measure of child disadvantage in Australia, serves as a vital area-based indicator of the risk of social exclusion for Australian children. The aim of our study is twofold. First, we develop an augmented index using data from the 2021 Australian Census, supplemented by additional administrative and microsimulation data. We augment the original core index’s key social exclusion domains (socio-economic status, education, connectedness, access to housing and health) with (i) a new community and environment domain, known to matter for child wellbeing but rarely before included in empirical field work and (ii) financial hardships, asthma, and mental health indicators, that extend the socio-economic and health domains. Second, we compare the core index across 2021 and 2016 to provide further depth on the latest disparities in the country. The findings show that close to half of the children living in regional areas lived in the most and second most excluded quintiles of the index. This far exceeds the equivalent share in the greater capital cities (36

Background This study investigates the impact of the 2008 constitutional change on Ecuadorians´ life satisfaction (developing country), based on the Sumak-Kawsay or “The good way of living” philosophy, with a particular focus on caring of people and mingas (community participation). Methods Through a repeated cross-sectional analysis of national survey data, this study compares the periods before (2007) and after (2014) the implementation of the 2008 constitution to examine how caring behaviors and mingas (community work) influence life satisfaction, using an ordinal logistic regression model to assess the role of this reform in shaping these effects. Results The findings reveal significant improvements in life satisfaction following the 2008’ reform, especially in the Eastern region, where community activities are prevalent, and poverty is most concentrated. These activities, including mingas, showed a positive association with an increase in life satisfaction, underscoring the role of public policies in improving public well-being. Conclusion This approach offers innovative empirical evidence on how social public policies that promote prosocial behaviors, such as solidarity and community participation, can create an environment encouraging to greater life satisfaction, particularly in less developed regions. It also underscores how social investment aimed at improving wealth distribution can positively influence collaborative behaviors.

Increased use of electric vehicles (EVs) has the potential to reduce carbon emissions. Therefore, predicting the impact of governments' EV incentive policies on the future uptake of EVs is important. This study estimates the impact of incentive policies introduced in the Australian Capital Territory. This estimation is conducted through constructing a microsimulation model and using it to assess the impact of the incentive policies on the purchase of EVs for households in different income quintiles. In the model, the decision about purchasing an EV is based largely on the total cost of ownership of an EV compared to the vehicle already owned and the additional utility of having a new vehicle. The application of the model shows that, regardless of incentives, a drop in the price of EVs will play the most important role in uptake. Incentives will help lower to middle income households, although EV demand is dominated by those in the highest income quintile. Importantly, however, incentives can increase uptake in locations with previously low uptake. Future work needs to focus on the reliability of data on EV's, and how to incorporate the rapid change in the market (eg, rapid uptake of EV's in the ACT) seen in the last few years.

Most of the studies on the cost of intellectual disability are limited to a healthcare perspective or cohorts composed of individuals where the etiology of the condition is a mixture of genetic and non-genetic factors. When used in policy development, these can impact the decisions made on the optimal allocation of resources. In our study, we have developed a static microsimulation model to estimate the healthcare, societal, and lifetime cost of individuals with familial intellectual disability, an inheritable form of the condition, to families and government. The results from our modeling show that the societal costs outweighed the health costs (approximately 89.2% and 10.8%, respectively). The lifetime cost of familial intellectual disability is approximately AUD 7 million per person and AUD 10.8 million per household. The lifetime costs to families are second to those of the Australian Commonwealth government (AUD 4.2 million and AUD 9.3 million per household, respectively). These findings suggest that familial intellectual disability is a very expensive condition, representing a significant cost to families and government. Understanding the drivers of familial intellectual disability, especially societal, can assist us in the development of policies aimed at improving health outcomes and greater access to social care for affected individuals and their families.

Objectives To estimate the economic burden of informal caregivers not in the labour force (NILF) due to caring for a person with arthritis in Australia, with projections of these costs from 2015 to 2030.Design Static microsimulation modelling using national survey data.Setting Australia nationwide survey.Participants Participants include respondents to the Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers who are informal carers of a person who has arthritis as their main chronic condition and non-carers.Outcome measures Estimating the economic impact and national aggregated costs of informal carers NILF to care for a person with arthritis and projecting these costs from 2015 to 2030 in 5-year intervals.Results On a per-person basis, when adjusted for age, sex and highest education attained, the difference in average weekly total income between informal carers and non-carers employed in the labour force is $A1051 (95% CI: $A927 to $A1204) in 2015 and projected to increase by up to 22% by 2030. When aggregated, the total national annual loss of income to informal carers NILF is estimated at $A388.2 million (95% CI: $A324.3 to $A461.9 million) in 2015, increasing to $A576.9 million (95% CI: $A489.2 to $A681.8 million) by 2030. The national annual tax revenue lost to the government of the informal carers NILF is estimated at $A99 million (95% CI: $A77.9 to $A126.4 million) in 2015 and is projected to increase 49% by 2030.Conclusion Informal carers NILF are economically worse off than employed non-carers, and the aggregated national annual costs are substantial. The future economic impact of informal carers NILF to care for a person with arthritis in Australia is projected to increase, with the estimated differences in income between informal carers and employed non-carers increasing by 22% from 2015 to 2030.

Many empirical studies have been conducted to test the assumptions of the slippery slope framework (SSF). However, although the SSF theory has introduced several tax compliance factors that are believed to have associations with trust in tax authorities and power of tax authorities, most studies tend to include only the two main domains of trust and power in the analysis. None of these studies comprehensively investigates the factors. Therefore, this study is dedicated to fully elaborating on these factors and their correlations with the two main domains of trust and power separately and simultaneously. The results show that most factors are proven to significantly influence trust and power. Tax penalties, norms, distributive fairness and retributive fairness significantly and positively influence trust, while audit probabilities, tax penalties, attitudes, norms and retributive fairness have significant and positive correlations with power. The results also confirm the main SSF assumptions that trust leads to voluntary compliance, while voluntary compliance positively affects overall tax compliance. However, this study fails to demonstrate the relationship of power with enforced compliance, while enforced compliance is found to negatively affect overall tax compliance.

Abstract Worldwide, a growing number of societal wellbeing frameworks are being developed and used to provide measures of progress that go beyond economic growth. The emergence of these frameworks highlights both the opportunities and challenges of reconceptualising social progress and its measurement around the concept of wellbeing. This chapter provides a brief history of the evolution of societal wellbeing frameworks and common challenges in their development, such as how best to determine what to include, how to integrate measures of wellbeing that are typically drawn from a diverse range of disciplines, and, increasingly, how to include both objective and subjective measures. It examines the key need for the ongoing development of an integrated science of wellbeing that can continue to build the validity, utility, and implementation of these frameworks.

A tax reform introduced by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government in 2012 aimed to ease the barrier of owning a home by replacing stamp duty with a broad-based general rates and land tax. This article assesses on the impact of this reform on the ability of low-income families to buy a house using a microsimulation model. The results show that tax reform has increased property turnover and reduced the amounts paid for stamp duty and rates for most groups of vulnerable families in the ACT. However, extreme increases in house prices may offset this gain for vulnerable families.

This paper explores neighborhood-built environment features related to 'better than expected' and 'as expected' early childhood development outcomes (ECD) in 14 Australian disadvantaged communities. This paper draws from mixed methods data collected in the Kids in Communities Study - an Australian investigation of community effects on ECD - in communities across five states and territories. In total, 93 interviews and 30 focus groups were conducted with service providers and parents, and geographic information systems were used to create built environment measures for each local community. Housing factors (e.g. better affordability, tenure, less high-density public housing) were consistently related to disadvantaged local communities with 'better than expected' ECD outcomes. Physical access to services and public transport, living in a walkable area, having high-quality public open space, and a mix of local destinations was perceived to be consistently important by community members in disadvantaged communities regardless of ECD outcomes. Findings may help policymakers to consider neighborhood features that contribute to better ECD outcomes.

Background Mental illness has a significant impact not only on patients, but also on their carers’ capacity to work. Aims To estimate the costs associated with lost labour force participation due to the provision of informal care for people with mental illness in Australia, such as income loss for carers and lost tax revenue and increased welfare payments for government, from 2015 to 2030. Method The output data of a microsimulation model Care&WorkMOD were analysed to project the financial costs of informal care for people with mental illness, from 2015 to 2030. Care&WorkMOD is a population-representative microsimulation model of the Australian population aged between 15 and 64 years, built using the Australian Bureau of Statistics Surveys of Disability, Ageing and Carers data and the data from other population-representative microsimulation models. Results The total annual national loss of income for all carers due to caring for someone with mental illness was projected to rise from AU$451 million (£219.6 million) in 2015 to AU$645 million (£314 million) in 2030 in real terms. For the government, the total annual lost tax revenue was projected to rise from AU$121 million (£58.9 million) in 2015 to AU$170 million (£82.8 million) in 2030 and welfare payments to increase from AU$170 million (£82.8 million) to AU$220 million (£107 million) in 2030. Conclusions The costs associated with lost labour force participation due to the provision of informal care for people with mental illness are projected to increase for both carers and government, with a widening income gap between informal carers and employed non-carers, putting carers at risk of increased inequality.

Abstracts For older people, place is crucial as it is where support networks, social relationships and family are. Older people develop a sense of belonging to their local community through participation and place is strongly linked to personal histories. For older people, ageing in their own home also allows for continuity of relationships and informal support networks in the area. While there are significant benefits of ageing in place, for older people with low wellbeing, the provision of services is going to be essential to allow them to age in place. Therefore, this article aims to identify areas where older people have low wellbeing using an index of wellbeing developed using a range of data; and to show how the domains and indicators can be used to identify why older people in an area have low wellbeing. This analysis can then be used to help to identify what types of services are required to improve wellbeing in an area of low wellbeing best.

There is an equity question around the distributional impact of an emission tax policy in Australia. For households that cannot afford to live in the inner city, their housing options are limited to suburban areas where public transport may not be available. Travelling with their vehicles is crucial for commuting, shopping and other daily activities for these households and being taxed on their emissions means they are more financially vulnerable than households with access to good public transport. In addition, certain household such as those with children may need larger vehicles, and hence may also face a higher emission tax. This study aims to analyse the equity of emission tax policies by looking at its possible impact on different households. This study uses a combined spatial microsimulation and imputation approach to distribute various vehicles to different households and analyse their usage. The results show the dilemma in implementing an emission reduction scheme. Taxing the use of vehicles may impact lower income households the most as they will lose a higher proportion of their income. This is intensified by targeting the more inefficient vehicles, especially older vehicles. Results suggest incentives or concessions could be used to reduce this impact.

There is increasing international interest in place-based approaches to improve early childhood development (ECD) outcomes. The available data and evidence are limited and precludes well informed policy and practice change. Developing the evidence-base for community-level effects on ECD is one way to facilitate more informed and targeted community action. This paper presents overall final findings from the Kids in Communities Study (KiCS), an Australian mixed methods investigation into community-level effects on ECD in five domains of influence-physical, social, governance, service, and sociodemographic. Twenty five local communities (suburbs) across Australia were selected based on 'diagonality type' i.e. whether they performed better (off-diagonal positive), worse (off-diagonal negative), or 'as expected' (on-diagonal) on the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) relative to their socioeconomic profile. The approach was designed to determine replicable and modifiable factors that were separate to socioeconomic status. Between 2015-2017, stakeholder interviews (n = 146), parent and service provider focus groups (n = 51), and existing socio-economic and early childhood education and care administrative data were collected. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were undertaken to understand differences between 14 paired disadvantaged local communities (i.e. on versus off-diagonal). Further analysis of qualitative data elicited important factors for all 25 local communities. From this, we developed a draft set of 'Foundational Community Factors' (FCFs); these are the factors that lay the foundations of a good community for young children.

This report is the fifth in a series spanning more than 20 years of research into locational disadvantage. The report examines communities in every Australian state and territory to identify pockets of entrenched location-based disadvantage and the unique web of challenges these communities face. It provides an unparalleled picture of where disadvantage is concentrated, how various forms of disadvantage overlap, and how disadvantage becomes entrenched and difficult to escape. Through the findings of this report, the aim is to: keep the reality of location-based disadvantage before the Australian community; identify any shifts in the relative fortunes of some localities; contribute to strategic thinking about effective remedial policies; and give community service partners and organisations up-to-date information to guide and assist their work. This information can help governments, decision-makers and communities to set priorities and target resources to effectively reduce the most severe disadvantage.

Despite the wide range of wellbeing frameworks utilised globally, no consensus exists regarding how a wellbeing framework might be assessed. This article aims to fill this gap by proposing a method of assessment to review potential indicators of wellbeing and then shows how this method can be used to assess evidence for a number of indicators. It answers the research question: what indicators have been successfully validated and applied in population settings? To identify the current evidence and any potential research gaps, we investigated key international and Australian frameworks on wellbeing. After identifying the wellbeing indicators used in these frameworks, we assessed the quality of evidence in the academic literature using three criteria: frequency of use, reliability and availability. We then made an overall assessment of the indicators’ practicality and usability weighing up both the quality of evidence and data availability. From the 96 indicators analysed, we identified 16 high usability indicators in the domains of economic, home, health, education and skills, and social and community. These indicators are household income, educational attainment, employment, unemployment, financial hardship, overcrowding, housing affordability, homelessness, life expectancy, self-reported health status, disability, smoking behaviour, mental health, cognitive skills, social network/support and volunteering. This practical method of assessment is not limited to wellbeing indicators and can also be applied in other settings, providing a useful tool for policymakers across the world.

Child social exclusion (CSE) is a complex and multi-dimensional measure of social and material disadvantage in which children lack the opportunities and resources to participate fully in their communities and feel connected. The aim of this article is to provide an update of the risk of child social exclusion at small area level in Australia in 2016 and compare the trends and patterns to 2011. We found that many children are experiencing disadvantage on multiple fronts and are unable to participate fully in their community. Australia's capital cities paint a contrasting picture having clear clusters of neighbourhoods at risk of high but also low levels of child social exclusion. Areas outside capital cities have much lower proportions of children experiencing the lowest levels of social exclusion. We found that from 2011 to 2016, the geographical patterns of the least and most excluded areas remain largely unchanged over time, with 73 per cent of the small areas in Australia remaining in the same quintile in 2011 and 2016. Of the local communities having the highest risk of child social exclusion in 2011, 87% were still in the most excluded quintile in 2016. Between 2011 and 2016, 279 small areas (14%) improved their CSE quintile, but 268 local communities shifted into a more socially excluded quintile. The key drivers of improvement in child social exclusion were 'above-average' improvement in the socio-economic well-being of families in these areas and in their educational attainment, and reduced exposure to increases in housing stress.

A greater uncertainty in climate conditions in Australia and external price shocks in commodity prices has posed a real question for communities on the impact of these external factors on farmers. Spatial microsimulation models are ideal for understanding the spatial impacts of various external shocks, including changes in commodity prices; changes in climate conditions; and changes in Government policy. This study demonstrates the building of a spatial microsimulation model to identify farmer financial stress in the Australian State of Victoria, and then shows how this model can be used to estimate the impact of an external shock such as a drop in the price of milk. The model is estimated for the Australian State of Victoria.