CoPS news

This page highlights contributions of CoPS' researchers to public debate, outstanding achievements of staff, and other notable happenings over the past twelve months. We have separate pages with information on CoPS events and our GEMPACK-based training courses. You can also find us on LinkedIn and ResearchGate. Older news items are here.

Recent research and other news from CoPS

In February 2024, after 10 years as Director of CoPS, Professor James Giesecke has passed the helm to Professor Janine Dixon.
Staff photo taken November 2023, nearly 10 years after CoPS moved to Victoria University. CoPS is located in the building behind, 300 Queen St. The building is heritage listed and is one of the oldest remaining domestic residences in the Melbourne CBD.
Back row: James Lennox, Philip Adams, James Giesecke, Chris King, Tony Meagher
Middle row: Locky Liu, Robert Waschik, Jason Nassios, Glyn Wittwer, Peter Dixon, Mark Horridge, Louise Pinchen, Maureen Rimmer, Michael Jerie, John Madden, Dean Mustakinov
Front row: Florian Schiffmann, Janine Dixon, Louise Roos, Xiujian Peng.

New book is published: 'CHINAGEM: A Dynamic General Equilibrium Model of China: Theory, Data and Applications', edited by Xiujian Peng. More details here.

Heinrich Bohlmann came to CoPS as a graduate student from South Africa and completed his PhD in 2011. His topic was Labour and Migration Policy in South Africa. Heinrich returned to South Africa and is now Associate Professor at the University of Pretoria where he teaches CGE modelling and Macroeconomics courses, and conducts research on a broad range of policy issues. In 2021 Heinrich became President of the Economic Society of South Africa. Last month he delivered his presidential address titled The Cost of Going Nowhere Slowly at the ESSA Biennial Conference. It is a sombre but highly informative piece written by an economist who cares deeply about his country. Read it here.
Brian Parmenter died on 27th April, of leukaemia. He was 76. Brian was a foundation member of the CoPS group, co-author of the path-breaking ORANI book and a major contributor for 25 years through our first 4 incarnations: at St Kilda road, at La Trobe, at Uni Melb and the first half of the period at Monash. Read some recollections by Peter Dixon. Also see Brian's Facebook page.

An active area of public policy debate in Australia centres on efficient taxation of property. See the latest thoughts by Centre of Policy Studies researchers, A/Prof. Jason Nassios and Prof. James Giesecke, in their submission to a Parliament of Victoria Inquiry into this topic here.
CoPS Associate Professor Jason Nassios spoke recently with Insurance News magazine reporter Bernice Han about insurance duties in Australia. In most regions of the country, these taxes are levied on home insurance or motor vehicle insurance premiums, and are a component of most road users annual car registration fees. Together with Prof. James Giesecke, Jason studied whether these duties have a place in a modern tax system, and found many less damaging alternatives exist. See the full media piece here, and the working paper here.
On 21 December 2022, Prof. James Giesecke made a presentation about the 'Economic Modelling of Tax Reform' to the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) in Colombo [link].

On November 10, 2022, Prof. Peter Dixon spoke at a dinner held to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Melbourne Institute (of which he was the 2nd Director, 1984-91). Read his speech.
"Inefficient at any Level: A Comparative Efficiency Argument for Complete Elimination of Property Transfer Duties and Insurance Taxes." by A/Prof. Jason Nassios and Prof. James Giesecke, October 17, 2022. [Media Release] [Working Paper]
A/Prof. Janine Dixon joined colleagues A/Prof Andrew Wade of CIRES and Aisha Nicolay of WOMEDA to give a presentation at the Wyndham Jobs Summit, October 7, 2022 [photo below].
'"Marginal benefit" from fuel excise: study', by Dr Locky Liu for the Gunnedah Times, 6 Oct, 2022. [Media Release] [Working Paper]
A/Prof. Janine Dixon was part of a panel on "Options for Increasing Revenue" at the Australia Institute's Revenue Summit held at Parliament house, October 6, 2022.
Submission on reforms of the Safeguard Mechanism made to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, by Dr James Lennox, September 14, 2022. [Submission]
"As the jobs summit talks skills - we predict which occupations will have shortages and surpluses in the next 2 years" by A/Prof. Janine Dixon for The Conversation, August 29, 2022. [Working Paper]
Dr. Xiujian Peng was a panel speaker by the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI) and the International Society for Energy Transition Studies (ISETS) on "Carbon neutrality transition in China and its impacts on Australia", August 18, 2022. [Working Paper]
"Swapping stamp duty for land tax would push down house prices but push up apartment prices, new modelling finds" by A/Prof. Jason Nassios and Prof. James Giesecke for The Conversation, June 20, 2022. [Working Paper]
CoPS Director Prof. James Giesecke was named as a GTAP Research Fellow (2022-25) in recognition of his CGE contributions in regional modeling, tax analysis, finance, and disaster analysis, and supporting GTAP through the Centre of Policy Studies by allocating time for the GEMPACK team to service GTAP through software development, training, and support; and growing the global community of CGE modellers by promoting CoPS' international CGE projects and training efforts and providing databases created as part of CoPS' global modelling activities to the GTAP Data Base effort.
"Micro-credentials are the best-match for Australia's skills shortages" by A/Prof. Janine Dixon for the Australian Financial Review, June 19, 2022
"China's population is about to shrink for the first time since the great famine struck 60 years ago. Here's what it means for the world", by Dr Xiujian Peng for The Conversation, May 30, 2022. Republished widely, including by the BBC and the World Economic Forum.
Prof James Giesecke, Dr Nhi H. Tran, and A/Prof Robert Waschik were awarded AJARE Best Paper Prize for their article "Should Australia be concerned by Beijing's trade threats: modelling the economic costs of a restriction on imports of Australian coal". [Working Paper]
Prof Glyn Wittwer delivered a keynote address and was named as an AARES Distinguished Research Fellow for his many contributions to research on sub-national multi-regional computable general equilibrium modelling.
"The government's net-zero modelling shows winners, we've found losers" Prof. Philip Adams for The Conversation, November 15, 2021.

Pictures from recent events

Janine Dixon (left) and colleagues at WOMEDA Janine Dixon at WOMEDA