Melbourne Institute News December 2011
ISSN 1442-9519 (online)
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ISSN 1442-9500 (print)
New Measure of Social Exclusion in Australia
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PwC Melbourne Institute Asialink Index 2011 Page 3
The CASiE Survey and Reports about the Macroeconomy
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Melbourne Institute Economics Forums Page 5
MABEL Longitudinal Survey of Doctors Extended Five Years Page 6
Australian Economic Review
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Significant Cost Savings by Abolishing Rebates
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Issue 34
New Measure of Social Exclusion in Australia The wellbeing of citizens, in particular those suffering disadvantage, is a fundamental measure of society. However, traditional methods used to gauge disadvantage in Australia have involved the examination of income, specifically analysing the number of people living below the ‘poverty line’. This has changed with a partnership between the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Melbourne Institute utilising a new approach to assessing the proliferation of disadvantage, a measure of social exclusion in Australia. Social exclusion arises when individuals experience multiple, intersecting problems, such as poor health, unemployment and inadequate education. These multiple problems prevent them from full participation in society. This phenomenon is now being measured via the Social Exclusion Monitor, a new study that has been developed by the Brotherhood of St Laurence and the Melbourne Institute using data from the annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Dr Rosanna Scutella, a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, has stated that while it is clear that having a gauge for the wellbeing of citizens is important for governments, common aggregate measures of living standards, such as Gross Domestic Product per capita, provide only partial information. According to Dr Scutella these measures need to be supplemented with indicators examining the distribution of resources and the opportunities associated with that distribution. “In any discussion about social disadvantage, or in this case social exclusion, it is therefore essential to know how many people are disadvantaged, or excluded, who these people are, and the nature of their disadvantage,” she said. Measuring social exclusion provides a robust tool to evaluate the effectiveness of policy and performance both
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