The value of dividend imputation tax credits in Australia

A dividend imputation tax system provides shareholders with a credit (for corporate tax paid) that can be used to offset personal tax on dividend income. This paper shows how to infer the value of imputation tax credits from the prices of derivative securities that are unique to Australian retail markets. We also test whether a tax law amendment that was designed to prevent the trading of imputation credits affected their economic value. Before the amendment, tax credits were worth up to 50% of face value in large, high-yielding companies, but Subsequently it is difficult to detect any value at all. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Documenting the heroin shortage in New South Wales

Australian heroin markets have recently undergone dramatic change, sparking debate about the nature of such markets. This study aimed to determine the onset, peak and decline of the heroin shortage in New South Wales (NSW), using the most appropriate available methods to detect market level changes. The parameters of the heroin shortage were determined by reviewing: reports of heroin users about availability and price (derived from the existing literature and the Illicit Drug Reporting System); qualitative interviews with injecting drug users, and health and law enforcement professionals working in the illicit drug field; and examining data on heroin seizures over the past decade. There was a marked reduction in heroin supply in NSW in early 2001. An increase in the price of heroin occurred in 2001, whereas it had decreased steadily since 1996. A reduction in purity also occurred, as reported by drug users and heroin seizures. The peak period of the shortage appears to have been January to April 2001. The market appears to have stabilised since that time, although it has not returned to pre- 2001 levels: heroin prices have decreased in NSW for street grams, but not to former levels, and the price of `caps' (street deals) remain elevated. Heroin purity in NSW has remained low, with perhaps a 10% increase above the lowest recorded levels. These data support the notion that the heroin market in NSW underwent significant changes, which appear to have involved a lasting shift in the nature of the market.

A Complementary Economy? National Markets and International Product in Early Australian Theatre Managements

The international circulation of commercial theatre in the early twentieth century was driven not only from the centres of Great Britain and the USA, but by the specific enterprise and habitus of managers in ‘complementary’ production sites such as Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. The activity of this period suggests a de-centred competitive trade in theatrical commodities – whether performers, scripts, or productions – wherein the perceived entertainment preferences and geographies of non-metropolitan centres were formative of international enterprise. The major producers were linked in complex bonds of partnerships, family, or common experience which crossed the globe. The fractures and commonalities displayed in the partnerships of James Cassius Williamson and George Musgrove, which came to dominate and shape the fortunes of the Australian industry for much of the century, indicate the contradictory commercial and artistic pressures bearing upon entrepreneurs seeking to provide high-quality entertainment and form advantageous combinations in competition with other local and international managements. Clarke, Meynell and Gunn mounted just such spirited competition from 1906 to 1911, and their story demonstrates both the opportunities and the centralizing logic bearing upon local managements shopping and dealing in a global market. The author, Veronica Kelly, works at the University of Queensland. She is presently undertaking a study of commercial stars and managements in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australia, with a focus on the star performer as model of history, gender, and nation.

Lifetime Subsidies in Australian Private Health Insurance Markets with Community Rating

This paper considers the problem of inducing low-risk individuals of all ages to buy private health insurance in Australia. Our proposed subsidy scheme improves upon the age-based penalty scheme under the current "Australian Lifetime Cover" (LTC) scheme. We generate an alternative subsidy profile that obviates adverse selection in private health insurance markets with mandated, age-based, community rating. Our proposal is novel in that we generate subsidies that are both risk- and age-specific, based upon actual risk probabilities. The approach we take may prove useful in other jurisdictions where the extant law mandates community rating in private health insurance markets. Furthermore, our approach is useful in jurisdictions that seek to maintain private insurance to complement existing universal public systems.

Lifetime cover in private insurance markets

In the last few decades, private health insurance rates have declined in many countries. In countries and states with community rating, a major cause is adverse selection. In order to address age-based adverse selection, Australia has recently begun a novel approach which imposes stiff penalties for buying private insurance later in life, when expected costs are higher. In this paper, we analyze Australiarsquos Lifetime Cover in the context of a modified version of the Rothschild-Stiglitz insurance model (Rothschild and Stiglitz, 1976). We allow empirically-based probabilities to increase by age for low-risk types. The model highlights the shortcomings of the Australian plan. Based on empirically-based probabilities of illness, we predict that Lifetime Cover will not arrest adverse selection. The model has many policy implications for government regulation encouraging long-term health coverage.

A simulation analysis of the market effect of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

In this paper we utilise a stochastic address model of broadcast oligopoly markets to analyse the Australian broadcast television market. In particular, we examine the effect of the presence of a single government market participant in this market. An examination of the dynamics of the simulations demonstrates that the presence of a government market participant can simultaneously generate positive outcomes for viewers as well as for other market suppliers. Further examination of simulation dynamics indicates that privatisation of the government market participant results in reduced viewer choice and diversity. We also demonstrate that additional private market participants would not result in significant benefits to viewers.

Phenolic compounds in tea from Australian supermarkets

Phenolic compounds constitute 50-70% of tea water extract and are the main quality parameters for teas. Theaflavins (TF), thearubigins (TR) and theabrownins (TB) are the major polyphenols that determine the quality of black tea. These compounds were measured in 56 leaf teas and teabags sampled from Australian supermarkets in Queensland. The various quantities of TF, ranging from 0.29% to 1.25%, indicate a quality difference that exists among the teas studied. Low TF content in black tea may be due to over-fermenting and/or long periods of storage. The solubility of TR and TB from teabags ranged from 82% to 92%, indicating that the permeability of teabags was variable. Variable quantities of TF in Australian teas show instability and a tendency of TF to oxidize during storage. Total polyphenols in green teas ranged from 14% to 34%, indicating a large variation, which was not reflected in price. The solubility of total polyphenols from teabags has been proposed as a useful quality index of the filtering paper used for the teabags. This chemical analysis of phenolic compounds in commercial teas may be a potential tool for the quality control of Australian manufactured and imported teas in Australian markets. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Major issues in business process management: An Australian perspective

Business Process Management (BPM) is widely seen as the top priority in organizations wanting to survive competitive markets. However, the current academic research agenda does not seem to map with industry demands. In this paper, we address the need to identify the actual issues that organizations face in their efforts to manage business processes. To that end, we report a number of critical issues identified by industry in what we consider to be the first steps towards an industry-driven research agenda for the BPM area. The reported issues are derived from a series of focus groups conducted with Australian organizations. The findings point to, among others, a need for more consolidated efforts in the areas of business process governance, systematic change management, developing BPM methodologies, and introducing appropriate performance measures.

Two Australian islander communitities as audiences, and their news needs

Many of the 8000 mapped islands within the Australian Exclusive Economic zone are home to full-time but small communities, and many in the far north are home to relatively large Indigenous communities. But small remote communities such as on these islands, and individuals within those communities, become isolated because conventional news media providers regard them as unviable markets. Community development is at risk in such apparently unviable news media markets because individuals an lose touch with each other, others in the community and those in the "outside world".