Should clerics refrain from politics? Australians' ideals, with international comparisons.

M.D.R. Evans

The budget, the election, and the voter

Glenn Withers and Lindy Edwards

Attitudes towards homosexuality in 29 nations.

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Jonathan Kelley

Major party preferences over time

Consumer sentiment recovers from fall

Safe when home alone?

Gender and self-employment

Management report card.

Are tax cheating and welfare fraud wrong? Public opinion in 29 nations.

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Gender and employment biographies in Australia

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Preferred voting patterns over time 

Economic outlook: The next 12 months

Jobs: Government's responsibility?

Self-employment and occupation

Spectrums of political support

Science: International opinion

Are non-standard jobs sub-standard jobs?

Mark Wooden

Does informal job training matter to careers and incomes?

M.D.R. Evans

One Nation: Bane of the National Party?

Jonathan Kelley

How many trade union members?

Marriage among seniors

Attitudes towards trade unions: 
Sources of support and opposition in Australia    29

Multivariate analysis shows that social differences in attitudes towards trade unions are large: those who grew up in families favouring the Liberal or National parties remain much less sympathetic to unions than are offspring of Labor families; union members are more sympathetic than nonmembers; occupational differences are important in the government sector but not the private sector; the poor are more sympathetic than the prosperous; and the young are more sympathetic than the old.

Key results: Regression analysis (40k graphic) 

Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans

Equal opportunities or equal outcomes?    36

Does fairness mean that everyone should have a 'fair go' or does it mean that there should be equal outcomes for all regardless of their efforts and achievements? Data from the 1999-2000 IsssA survey show that most Australians feel very warm. Multivariate analysis shows that support for equal opportunities is widespread throughout Australian society. By contrast, equal outcomes draw a rather cool rating of 31 on average, and multivariate analysis shows that the issue is socially divisive. Cool ratings of equal outcomes are typical throughout the social structure, but there are significant and moderately large differences by education and income. In turn, supporting equal outcomes leads people to support trade unions, to favour government ownership of industry, and to favour corporatist industrial relations.

Key regression results on unions, government ownership and 
industrial relations (50k graphic)

Jonathan Kelley

Cultural resources and educational success: 
The Beaux Arts versus scholarly culture   41

Today's Australian adults mostly grew up in homes rather lightly touched by 'high culture' activities, as shown by the 1999-2000 IsssA. Factor analysis reveals two distinct (but not opposed) high cultures: a scholarly culture emphasising reading, and a Beaux Arts culture emphasising art exhibits, classical music, and drama. Moreover, regression analysis shows that scholarly culture and the Beaux Arts culture have quite different consequences for education. The regression analysis shows that parents who are avid readers endow their children with skills that lead to higher marks and to perseverance into higher education, even aside from the parents' educational attainment, the father's occupation, and other potentially confounding factors. This is a large and important effect- large enough that early school leaver parents in working class jobs with little wealth who nonetheless persist in reading regularly confer on their children more educational advantage than do educated people in high status jobs who never crack a book at home. By contrast, having parents who regularly visit art museums, theatres, and concert halls does not provide one with extra skills to get good marks. It does have a small positive effect encouraging students to persist in school further than they otherwise would. 

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Women's participation in the labour force: Ideals and behaviour   49

This article explores workforce participation across the lifecourse for women, using IsssA data. After finishing their education, nearly all Australian women enter the labour force, mostly fulltime. For women, employment generally continues after marriage (unlike the usual pattern a few generations ago), but then drops sharply when the first child is born and rises slowly, in complex and changing patterns, as the children grow older, enter school, and eventually reach adulthood. Comparative international data on ideal patterns of women's workforce participation over the life cycle show that Australians hold typical views for an advanced country, but with a stronger homemaker ideal for mothers of young children. 

M.D.R. Evans

Informal job training: 
How many take courses and who are they?     58

Australians are avid consumers of informal job training courses with fully 67 per cent of the workforce doing a work-related course in 1999, according to IsssA data. The IT revolution rolls on, with 33 per cent of the workforce doing a computer course in 1999. Multivariate analysis reveals a number of social differences, and further shows that these are specific to course type. For example, senior workers are offered fewer on-the-job training opportunities, but take other courses at the same rate as younger workers. 

M.D.R. Evans

Gap between the major parties 

Family finances compared to a year ago 

Interstate migration

Child labour

How temporary are casual jobs?

Crime location

Churchgoing steady in 1999

Changing attitudes toward trade unions in Australia: 1984-1999

In the middle 1980s, Australians had very negative views about trade unions, far more hostile than the generally ambivalent views common in other Western nations. But since then, Australians' attitudes have grown increasingly favourable. By the late 1990s, they were only mildly negative, little different from the views of people in other Western nations . Multivariate analysis shows that social differences in attitudes towards trade unions are large: Those who grew up in families favouring the Liberal or National parties remain much less sympathetic to unions than are offspring of Labor families; union members are more sympathetic than non-members; occupational differences are important in the government sector but not the private sector; the poor more sympathetic than the prosperous; and the young are more sympathetic than the old.

Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans

Does mother's employment affect children's education?

This article assesses the impact of maternal employment on children's educational attainment using the pooled IsssA surveys, 1984-1995 (N=24,350). Using OLS regression to model years of school completed and logistic regression to model secondary school completion, we find that there is no blanket impact of maternal employment. Instead, there seems to be little or no problem with relatively low levels of employment for any group, and, moreover, no problem with moderate hours of work for children of the least educated mothers, but clear educational disadvantage to the children of highly educated mothers who work long hours.

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Charity work: International differences and Australian trends

IsssA 1999 survey data show that 33 per cent of Australians do regular volunteer work, up from 28 per cent in 1995. On conservative estimates, each Australian volunteer makes an annual contribution of time worth over $8,000 on average. Internationally, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States are among the leaders in charitable activity. Multivariate analysis shows that volunteers come from throughout the social hierarchy and from all regions of Australia, but are especially common among church-goers, rural folk, prime middle-aged people, among housewives and retirees, and university graduates. Rates of volunteering are equally high for toilers in modest jobs and for professionals and administrators at the top of the occupational hierarchy, equally high for men and women, and equally high among those with low and high incomes.

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Coalition and ALP voting: Pre-GST 

Economic outlook looking up to the GST

Internet use in Australia

Australians and internet purchases

Housing values in Australia

Life expectancy, 1995-2000

Smoking: Social patterns in Australia, 1999

Fewer people take up smoking, and more quit in Australia in the late 1990s than before, but the pace of change is slow, according to 1999 IsssA data. That decline occurred in the face of many social trends that might have been expected to increase smoking. Importantly, this general small decline masks strong, conflicting currents for different social groups. Most strikingly, there have been large declines for male university graduates and large increases for female early school leavers, with other groups intermediate.

M.D.R. Evans

Downsizing in Australia

The 1990s has been a decade of downsizing in Australia. Our survey of organisations shows that these trends are continuing. The spread of downsizing as a strategy is associated with a number of organisational characteristics. Large organisations, public sector or-ganisations, and manufacturing organisations are more likely to have downsized. These characteristics are statistically significant and quantitatively important.

Ben Jensen and Craig R. Litler

Money laundering: Quantifying international patterns

There are no systematically generated estimates of the global costs, or the profits, from crime, nor are there systematic estimates of the extent of international money laundering. This article develops a framework for studying money laundering and provides preliminary estimates of the volume of money laundering and its distribution around the world. The crime-economic simulation, constructed from existing international databases, closely 'predicts' a range of expert assessments of the extent and proceeds of crime, and the amounts of money being laundered around the world.

John Walker

Voting patterns over the year 

Family finances in the next 12 months

Who is developed?

Danger on the job?

Australian dollar

Casual employment

Income in Australian states

Agricultural employment

Medical Care and Risky Conventional Lifestyles

This article finds that the citizenry would prefer the public purse to share with individual risk-takers financial responsibility for medical costs associated with risky lifestyles -- medical care for heart attacks, lung cancer, and cirrhosis of the liver. Sympathy for the risktakers' plight tilts ideals towards governmental responsibility for medical payments. But those who see risk-takers as competent individuals who chose their own fate tend to favour individual responsibility. Personal contact with afflicted individuals has no impact on payment ideals, nor on sympathy or blame. Important social differences include the impact of political conservatism: Political conservatives hold risktakers to blame, but even aside from that have a decided preference for responsibility for medical payments. By contrast, education seems to undermine individualistic orientations, by decreasing blame, increasing sympathy, and, even apart from that, eliciting a preference for governmental payment.

M.D.R. Evans

Monarchy, Republic, Parliament and the People

This article puts the resounding loss of the recent referendum in context. IsssA survey data show that Australians' support for the monarchy has been declining for three decades, and, moreover, that there was no resurgence of support for the monarchy during the referendum campaign. By the time that the referendum was framed, a substantial majority of Australians favoured a republic, and a huge majority of republicans favoured direct election of the head of state. Support for a republic did not fall over the course of the referendum campaign. But panel survey data for Canberra show that support for the referendum declined sharply in two key groups. "Direct election" republicans favoured the referendum by an overwhelming majority early in the campaign, but many fell away over the course of the campaign and only a narrow majority still supported the referendum at the end. Second, of people who were torn between monarchy and republic, almost half supported the referendum in the beginning but only a quarter did so at the end. Our microsimulation using nationwide data indicates that a referendum offering a republic with a directly elected head of state would have won handily. So Australia is likely to have a republican future, but it will be a republic with an elected president.

Jonathan Kelley, M.D.R Evans, Malcolm Mearns, and Bruce Headey

Australians' Views about the Theory of Evolution

New 1999 IsssA data show that a very large majority of Australians accept the theory of evolution by natural selection for plants and lower animals. But, when it comes to human origins, the majority narrows, and many find themselves with conflicting opinions. Opinion on these issues has held steady since the mid-1990s. Religion is the single largest source of opposition to the theory of evolution, with church-going believers even more opposed than equally strong believers who do not go to church. Aside from religion, education is the most important social force enhancing acceptance of the theory of evolution. Does acceptance of evolution by natural selection affect people's worldview in other ways? The answer is mixed. On the one hand, Darwinians are more supportive of abortion and premarital sex and of reducing religion's influence on society than are otherwise similar non-Darwinians. But on the other hand, Darwinians do not take an especially grim view of human nature, nor do they have less confidence in Australia's churches than do their non-Darwinian peers. Thus, Darwinianism does ramify into other aspects of culture, but it does not appear to have the demoralizing, anti-social effects that many have feared.

Jonathan Kelley

Coalition and ALP voting in 1999

Family finances in 1999

Languages spoken in Australian homes

Homicides in Australia

Infant mortality

International unemployment

Australian wine sales

Ideals about industrial relations in Australia, Finland, and Poland

This paper examines attitudes on industrial relations in Australia, Finland and Poland using data from the International Survey of Economic Attitudes. It shows that the populace in all three countries finds attractions in both corporatist, centralised systems and also in liberal, marketised systems. This probably indicates that preferences concerning industrial relations are in transition, rather than that they reflect a settled preference for a mixed system. In all three countries, these attitudes are only weakly related to social class, but education has important effects on them.

Krzysztof Zagorski

Organisational downsizing: What happens to those left behind?

Organisational downsizing is analysed in the context of the effects upon employees remaining in organisations that have downsized. The notion of survivor syndrome is introduced and is analysed in the Australian context. We find that a large majority of employees' companies have downsized recently. Low morale or 'survivor syndrome' is common in many organisations that have downsized especially in the public sector. Nonetheless, survivor syndrome seems to be less of a problem than earlier in the decade.

Peter Jensen, Peter Dawkins, Craig Littler and Rebecca Valenzuela

Attitudes toward abortion: Australia in comparative perspective

Large majorities of Australians think abortion should be allowed under extreme circumstances, involving the mother's health or serious birth defects. When the consequences of the birth are would be less dire, a majority of Australians are still supportive, but the majority is much smaller. And when the consequences of the birth are harmless, few Australians would allow abortion. Over the past 15 years, there is little overall trend either for or against abortion. But there are important signs of de-polarisation, with support for extreme positions declining and more people holding centrist views, neither strongly supportive of abortion nor strongly opposed. Social differences are sharp, with the religious much more strongly opposed to abortion than the non-religious. In international perspective, Australia and most other English-speaking nations are less opposed to abortion than citizens of many other nations, in large part because Australians are less religious.

Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans

ALP and the Coalition

Sustained growth in family finances

Fertility and growth rates: 1995-2000

Women's employment by age: International comparison

Job mobility

Employment in services

Australian schools: Past 15 years

Confidence in universities: Australia 1984-1996

Data from two large representative national sample surveys show that confidence in Australian universities is moderately high in absolute terms, notably higher than for most other major national institutions. Confidence is fairly evenly distributed throughout the population, except that the well-educated have more confidence than those with little education (whose confidence has actually declined in recent years). Confidence in Australian universities has not changed much in the last decade, if anything declining slightly. However this is a relatively good performance compared to other institutions: over the last decade, confidence in many has declined, in some cases sharply.

Jonathan Kelley

Domestic violence in Australia: Are women and men equally violent?

The usual belief is that domestic violence is overwhelmingly perpetrated by men against women. Results from the IsssA 1996/97 (N = 2,151), in which partnered men and women were questioned about committing or suffering physical domestic violence in the last 12 months, show that women and men were equally likely to report that they were victims of violence, and to suffer injuries of about the same severity. In over half the couples between whom violence occurred, both partners allegedly hit each other. There was some evidence of intergenerational transmission of violent behaviour both from father to son and mother to daughter. However, most respondents who admitted violence did not claim to have had violent parents.

Bruce Headey, Dorothy Scott and David de Vaus

What form should government old age pensions take: Citizen attitudes

Most Australians still find a universal age pension paid out of general revenue a more attractive ideal than other options. Completely self-funded retirement is by far the least popular option we considered, with intermediate ratings given (1) to Australia's current welfare-style age pension restricted to the poor elderly and (2) to a contributory scheme. None of these schemes exhibit marked social differences in support. Many Australians find more than one option appealing, suggesting that the trend towards a mixed system may be most in accord with public ideals.

M.D.R. Evans

The Democrat vote

Economic outlook: The next 12 months

Organizational restructuring

Foreigners and land ownership

Labeling genetically engineered food

Conflict between the unemployed and workers in 20 nations

Australia's unemployment has not ebbed with the economic growth of the 1990s. By international standards, Australians perceive moderately high levels of conflict: less than Americans, about the same as denizens of the other English-speaking countries, more than Scandinavians, Central Europeans, or Slavs. Importantly, multivariate analysis reveals that economic growth substantially exacerbates conflict and actual unemployment levels also somewhat intensify conflict.

M.D.R. Evans

Costs of children and living standards in Australian households

Raising a child is not simply a "labour of love" -- it takes a considerable amount of time, energy and money to nurture children. Parents have to devote money to items such as food, shelter, education and recreational activities. Knowledge of the cost of a child is of immense practical importance in a range of economic and social policy areas. This paper provides reliable estimates of these costs and an insight into the relative standard of living of Australian households.

Ma. Rebecca Valenzuela

Health benefits and potential budget savings due to pets:
Australian and German survey results

Australian and German dog and cat owners use health services less than the rest of the population. In both countries pet owners make about 12-15% fewer annual doctor visits than non-owners. German owners spend 32% fewer nights in hospital. Benefits appear particularly strong for older people, the population group with the worst health and heaviest use of health services. The paper also links the survey results to national health expenditure in order to estimate potential savings due to pet ownership. Indicative estimates are given of $2 billion savings for Australia in 1994-95 and DM9 billion for Germany in 1996.

Bruce Headey and Peter Krause

Attitudes to foreign trade in 16 nations

The elite, and the highly educated among the general public, generally support free trade. But data from 16 nations show that the majority of the public has grave reservations in most countries, and in Australia more than most. Within nations, support for free trade is widespread among the well educated but rare among the less educated.

Jonathan Kelley

Voting patterns over elections

Spending on major household items

Secondary school retention

Apprenticeships in Australia

Willing to move?

Non-Catholic private schools

Non-Catholic private schools do better for their students educationally, getting more to graduate from secondary school and more through university. Part of this is due to the advantageous family background of private school students. But that is not all. Even after taking into account relevant aspects of their students' family background, private schools provide a substantial educational benefit, increasing the chance of graduating from secondary school by 21% and the chance of graduating from university by 7%.

Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans

Changing attitudes toward income inequality in East and West

Social attitudes towards income inequality are reflected in views about relative earnings of different professions. Comparing how much elite professionals should earn relative to blue-collar workers, the major shift towards a market economy in Poland was accompanied by a dramatic increase in tolerance of unequal earnings. The subtler shift towards freer markets in Australia was accompanied by an equally modest increase in our tolerance of inequality.

Jonathan Kelley and Krzysztof Zagorski

Superannuation: Why choose it?

Superannuation is a key policy tool for increasing private savings. Ownership of superannuation is widespread across age cohorts and income groups, but is more prevalent among managers and professionals. Compared with other assets, few people believe superannuation offers convenience, high rates of return or a good way to spread their investment risk. Moreover, few people would choose to invest further in superannuation if they had surplus funds.

Elizabeth Webster

Small families or large? Australia in international perspective

Are the fertility declines of recent decades in accord with Australians' preferences? Social ideals as well as personal preferences focus on a two-child or larger family, with only a tiny handful seeing childless, only-child, or very large families as ideal. This is true throughout the industrialized world, although more prosperous nations are more sympathetic to childless and one-child families, as are ex-Communist nations. People's family size ideals are much more differentiated by their values and feelings than by their social location.

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Voting preferences

Family finances

Cultural participation: The beaux-arts

Public expenditure on education

Men's working hours

Secondary school retention

Secession in Australia

Sources of national pride in 24 nations

Australians exhibit pride in their country's achievements in sciences, arts and sports. Compared to citizens of other nations, Australians are especially proud of their scientific and sporting achievements. By comparison, and despite a creditable performance by many standards, Australians are not especially proud of their economic achievements.

Jonathan Kelley and M.D.R. Evans

Taxing food and the GST

Whether to include food in the GST is currently one of the main stumbling blocks to tax reform. The authors discuss the characteristics associated with people who favour zero-rating food and views on how a tax exclusion should be financed.

Elizabeth Webster, David Johnson and Peter Dawkins

Why is education rewarded - Necessary skills or arbitrary credentialism?

More educated individuals typically receive higher earnings in the labour market. But are those rewards due to the development of job-related skills, or simply the acquisition of social credentials? Evidence from Australian workers suggests that most people believe their level of education closely matches their job requirements.

M.D.R. Evans and Jonathan Kelley

Shedding the wowser image: Gambling in Victoria

Gambling has emerged as the growth industry of the 1990s but its development has come with many misgivings. Surveys of gambling and gamblers in Victoria reveal an ambivalent attitude towards gambling.

David Johnson

Voting preferences

Family finances

Church-going in Australia

Gender differences in tertiary education

Duration of unemployment

Attachment to states: Who cares most?

Employment in manufacturing