Research Area leader:
Adjunct Professor Eddie Oczkowski
Applied Economics is one of the strategic research areas within the Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences. It focuses on economic issues and government policy related to agricultural and environmental economics.
Our vision is to be a world leader in the analysis of agricultural and environmental economics issues, and to contribute significantly to Australian and international debates on public policy. By pursuing this vision we will extend our contribution to key societal issues, and develop Charles Sturt University's reputation for producing outcomes "For the Public Good".
Our mission is focused on publishing high quality work on agricultural and environmental economics issues. We aim to publish our work in high quality Australian and international journals. As we progress in our research we expect to inform the Australian community about issues of critical importance, and contribute to policy debate. We will also continue to contribute to the education and training of highly qualified research and higher degree students.
Issues under investigation in the area of agricultural economics include the management and production of agricultural goods, agricultural land-use change, supply chain management, wine pricing and the impact of soil management practices on land prices. Environmental economics research is targeted towards valuation of changes in environmental quality, development of market-based instruments and research into encouraging participation in market-based instrument programs and incentives, and climate change communications.
Our philosophy is to incorporate a strong business emphasis into our applied economics research. While the focus within some of our research programs is on important Australian issues, such as the Murray-Darling Basin, there is also a strong international component to much of our work.
| Name | Title/Position | Employer if not Faculty of Business, Justice and Behavioural Sciences, Charles Sturt | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Parton | Professor | Orange/Bathurst | |
| John Hicks | Professor | Bathurst | |
| Mark Morrison | Professor | Bathurst | |
| Eddie Oczkowski | Adjunct Professor | Wagga Wagga | |
| Yapa Bandara | Adjunct Senior Lecturer | Wagga Wagga | |
| Richard Culas | Senior Lecturer | Faculty of Science and Health | Orange |
| Darla Hatton MacDonald | Dr | Adjunct/CSIRO | Adelaide |
| Di Girjasankar Mallik | Senior Lecturer | University of Western Sydney | Sydney |
| Project Name | Brief Description | Funding Body | Investigators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agricultural Economics | |||
Engaging difficult to reach landholders in market-based instruments and incentive programs | This research seeks to identify programs and methods of communication that will more effectively reach landholders with low engagement in NRM. Involves segmentation of landholders and testing of communications programs. | NSW Environmental Trust, Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment Management Authority (CMA) | Mark Morrison, Jenni Greig, Michael Lockwood (University of Tasmania), David Waller (University of Technology Sydney) and Rod McCulloch (University of the Sunshine Coast) |
| Drought in the wheat-sheep belt of NSW | Analysis of droughts since 1900 to assess the influence of drought on the development of the economy of rural NSW. | Charles Sturt | Kevin Parton and Robert Tierney |
| Climate change adaptation | Reviewing the methods by which climate change adaptation is integrated into economic analysis. | Charles Sturt | Kevin Parton |
| Optimising canal and groundwater management to assist water user allocations in maximizing crop production and managing salinisation (in Pakistan) | The aim of this research is to analyse how to redistribute water use from the surface and ground water sources to improve crop productivity while reducing the salinity effects from ground water for the Lower Chenab Canal (LCC) Irrigation System in Pakistan. | Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research in collaboration with University of Arid Agriculture (UAAR) and Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority (PIDA), Pakistan | Richard Culas and other collaborators |
| Modelling climate impact and market variability for improved decision making in agriculture: wheat production in the Australian wheat-sheep zone. | This research analyses the determinants of land use between wheat and wool (sheep) enterprises, while taking into account the possible interaction between the two enterprises. | Charles Sturt | Richard Culas |
| Management of supply chains in Australian Agribusiness | Assessing the types of measures to enhance the ability of supply chains in Australian agribusiness. | Charles Sturt | Kevin Parton and Ferry Jie (RMIT) |
| Farm earnings and succession planning | This project analyses the determinants of farm profitability and succession potential among farmers in Australia's Wimmera region in Victoria. | Charles Sturt | John Hicks, Allan Curtis, Emily Mendham and Girija Mallik |
| Sustainable livestock grazing systems on Chinese temperate grasslands | This project engages with Chinese herders and their advisors to identify and investigate strategies to sustainably improve household welfare in grazing systems. The project is developing a series of decision support tools that allow investigation of strategies at different temporal and spatial scales, with their findings being implemented at the herder level in western and northern China. | Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), collaboration with Gansu Agricultural University, Gansu Grassland Ecological Research Institute, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Beijing Agricultural University and Industry & Investment NSW, 2011-2015 | David Kemp and collaborators |
| Improving adoption of management strategies for summer perennial weeds through effective engagement processes | This project establishes a national network of demonstration sites and case studies to investigate strategies for controlling Silver Leaf Nightshade, including the economics of infestation and control, and development of methods for improved rates of adoption. | MLA, collaboration with NSW Department of Primary Industries, 2013-2016 | Vaughan Higgins, Institute of Land, Water & Society (ILWS), Hanwen Wu and Phil Bowden (NSW DPI) |
| Evaluation of the Lachlan Soil Carbon MBI Pilot Program | Five focus groups and a survey of 500 landholders was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Lachlan MBI Pilot. The project sought to identify landholders' evaluations of the pilot program, their preferred program features and their behavioural changes due to the pilot program. A segmentation analysis was undertaken to identify, which groups of landholders participated in and benefitted most from the pilot program. | NSW Trade & Investment | Mark Morrison and Jason Crean (Department of Primary Industries) |
| Development Economics | |||
| Impact of skills shortages in regional Australia: Lessons from Riverina | This project aims to investigate if the impact of skill shortages vary between the sectors using in-depth case studies from Riverina region. | Regional Development Australia, Riverina | Kishor Sharma, Eddie Oczkowski and John Hicks |
| China - Regional Growth Comparisons | This research examines the growth experience of China at the provincial level to compare with the national level achievements. At the national level China's amazing growth has been driven by increases in labour productivity. Initially this was explained by increases in the capital/labour ratio, but, more recently, increases in total factor productivity. | Compact funding | John Hicks |
| Regional labour market comparisons | This project analyses several aspects of Australia's regional labour market: * Whether regional Australia exhibits structural change in the industry composition of employment and, if so, what is the pattern and magnitude of such change. * Shift-share analysis using Census data to analyse employment changes across Australia's regions over time. * Gender wage discrimination across regions in Australia. | Compact funding | John Hicks, Thomas Murphy and Girija Mallik |
| Assessing farmers' cost of compliance with European Union (EU) legislation in the field of environment, animal welfare and food safety | This project engages with Chinese herders and their advisors to identify and investigate strategies to sustainably improve household welfare in grazing systems. The project is developing a series of decision support tools that allow investigation of strategies at different temporal and spatial scales, with their findings being implemented at the herder level in western and northern China. | Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), collaboration with Gansu Agricultural University, Gansu Grassland Ecological Research Institute, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Beijing Agricultural University and Industry & Investment NSW, 2011-2015 | David Kemp and collaborators |
Environmental Economics | |||
| Comparing Climate Change Segments across USA and Australia | Involves a replication of the Maibach et al. (2011) Six America's study, with additional questions to identify segment willingness to pay, appropriate methods of communication, worldview and religious orientation. Nationwide survey repeated in 2011 and 2015. | CSIRO (part funding) | Mark Morrison, Rod Duncan, Kevin Parton, Don Hine,University of New England (UNE) and Steve Hatfield Dodds (CSIRO) |
| Community Values for Improved Urban River Health Along the Cooks and Georges Rivers | This project will use hedonic pricing and travel cost modelling to value improved river health from the perspective of home owners and renters. pilot. | Greater Sydney Local Land Services, Canterbury City Council, Fairfield City Council and CSIRO | Roderick Duncan, Mark Morrison, Kevin Boyle (Virginia Tech), George Parsons (Delaware) and Rosalind Bark (Leeds), Buyani Thomy (Charles Sturt PhD student) and Weibin Xu (Virginia Tech PhD student) |
| Evaluation of the Lachlan Soil Carbon MBI Pilot Program | Five focus groups and a survey of 500 landholders was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Lachlan MBI Pilot. The project sought to identify landholders' evaluations of the pilot program, their preferred program features and their behavioural changes due to the pilot program. A segmentation analysis was undertaken to identify, which groups of landholders participated in and benefitted most from the pilot program. | NSW Trade & Investment | Mark Morrison and Jason Crean (Department of Primary Industries) |
| Valuing redevelopment of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct | This was a contingent valuation study of the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct re-development. Several different split samples and elicitation formats were used, including a payment card, discrete choice referendum, and discrete choice referendum plus dissonance minimisation. Separate samples were also collected from inner and outer Sydney, and the rest of NSW. A segmentation analysis was also undertaken to understand the usage of Walsh Bay arts facilities, engagement in the arts and willingness to pay across segments. | Trade & Investment, NSW | Mark Morrison, Christine Hill and Stewart Webster |
| Production sharing in Australian manufacturing trade | The aim of this project is to investigate the determinants of parts and components trade in Australian manufacturing and its welfare implications. | Compact funding | Yapa Bandara and Kishor Sharma |
| Student | Award | Topic | Supervisor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quoc Hieu Au | MSA | Contract Farming and Value Chain Efficiency for Vegetable Growers in Quang Nam Province Vietnam | Dr Richard Culas rculas@csu.edu.au 02 63657590 |
| Ngoc Nguyen Bui | MSA | Rice Export and Food Security in Vietnam: Policy and Implications | Dr Richard Culas rculas@csu.edu.au 02 63657590 |
| Mark Frost | PhD | The nature and strength of the relationship between the real Australian exchange rate and world commodity prices | Professor Kevin Parton kparton@csu.edu.au 02 6365 7654 Dr Jammie Penm |
| Sosheel Godfrey | PhD | Traditional domestic milk value chains and dairy policy environment in Pakistan | Professor Gavin Ramsay gramsay@csu.edu.au 02 69334795 Dr Karl Behrendt kbehrendt@csu.edu.au |
| Gopal Giri | DSA | Diversifying Bhutan's Agriculture Sector through commercialisation | Dr Richard Culas rculas@csu.edu.au 02 63657590 Professor Kishor Sharma |
| Keith Henderson | Hons | Impact of the AUD on Australian fund managers asset allocations and strategic direction | Assoc Prof Mark Frost mfrost@csu.edu.au 02 63384455 |
| James Karbowiak | MABM | Capturing value for the family farm through farm gate branding of produce. Success factors from case studies of food producing farms in Central Western NSW. | Dr Karl Behrendt kbehrendt@csu.edu.au 02 63657119 Professor David Falepau dfalepau@csu.edu.au |
| Koena Mathekga | MSA | Factors Influencing Adaptation of Farmers for Reallocation of Water Use: The LCC System in Pakistan | Dr Richard Culas rculas@csu.edu.au 02 63657590 |
| Tran Quyen Nguyen | MSA | Causes of Low Coffee quality in Vietnam and strategies for improvement | Dr Richard Culas rculas@csu.edu.au 02 63657590 |
| Nirmala Singh | DBA | Female enterprises in Fiji: issues of access to finance | Assoc Prof Branka Krivokapic-Skoko |
| Lucinda Stayley | MOen&Vit | Identifying strategies for Australian wine producers to increase product saleability in European markets | Dr Karl Behrendt kbehrendt@csu.edu.au 02 63657119 |
| Carl Sudholz | PhD | User centered design in the development of agricultural software | Dr Yann Guisard yguisard@csu.edu.au 02 6365 7889 Professor Kevin Parton |
| Samir Thapa | PhD | Impact of the clean development mechanism in Nepal | Professor Kevin Parton kparton@csu.edu.au 02 6365 7654 Dr Roderick Duncan |
| Buyani Thomy | PhD | Economic value of improvements in the health of urban waterways | Dr Roderick Duncan rduncan@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4982 Professor Mark Morrison |
| James Vordtriede | DBA | The effects of IMF and World Bank conditionality in Sub-Saharan African nations | Professor Eddie Oczkowski eoczkowski@csu.edu.au 02 6933 2377 |
| Abdual Wazirzadad | DBA | Evaluating the efficient use of road network in NSW | Prof John Hicks jhicks@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4234 |
| Shana Wilkinson | MABM | Optimising the use of key performance indicators in Corporate Farming Systems: relationships with enterprise scale and the adaption potential of alternate industry indicators | Dr Karl Behrendt kbehrendt@csu.edu.au 02 63657119 Professor David Falepau dfalepau@csu.edu.au |
The following opportunities exist in applied economics:
| Supervisors | Topics |
|---|---|
| Professor Eddie Oczkowski eoczkowski@csu.edu.au 02 6933 2377 |
|
| Professor John Hicks jhicks@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4234 |
|
| Dr Yapa Bandara ybandara@csu.edu.au 02 6933 2960 |
|
| Dr Roderick Duncan rduncan@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4982 |
|
| Supervisors | Topics |
|---|---|
| Professor Kevin Parton kparton@csu.edu.au 02 6365 7654 Orange Discipline: Management and Marketing |
|
| Professor Eddie Oczkowski eoczkowski@csu.edu.au 02 6933 2377 Wagga Wagga Discipline: Economics/Finance |
|
| Professor John Hicks jhicks@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4234 Bathurst Discipline: Economics/Finance |
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| Dr Yapa Bandara ybandara@csu.edu.au 02 6933 2960 Wagga Wagga Discipline: Economics/Finance |
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| Dr Roderick Duncan rduncan@csu.edu.au 02 6338 4982 Bathurst Discipline: Economics/Finance |
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