How do macroeconomic fluctuations affect the educational choices of young Australians? The 1990 1991 recession, recent evidence, and econometric issues

This project will study how young people's educational decisions are affected by macroeconomic fluctuations and, in particular, whether young people from low and high socioeconomic backgrounds are equally able to use the education system as a buffer against poor employment opportunities during recessions. The empirical findings will inform future public policy on several issues including for example income support to students and young unemployed people, funding requirements of educational institutions, and long-term inequality. The project will advance the theoretical literature by developing a new method for handling left-censored data and by providing a comparison of different methods for dealing with interval censored covariates.