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Research and consulting

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The Centre aims to conduct and support high quality research in the field of efficiency and productivity analysis. Staff of the Centre undertake collaborative research and pursue consulting opportunities with a range of people in academia, business and government

The research programme of the Centre focuses on:

  • the development of new methods and techniques, and on refining existing techniques, for the measurement of efficiency and productivity
  • the assessment, at the micro-level, of the efficiency and performance of firms, industries and different public and quasi-public entities
  • the measurement and analysis, at the macro-level, of the economic performance of the Australian economy, various sectors of the economy, and other economies of the Asia-Pacific Region.

  • Improving Likelihood Estimators: Theory and Applications to Analyzing Productivity and Efficiency and Forecasting of Probability of Economic Recession
    Project: ARC Discovery Project DP130101022
    Investigators: Zelenyuk, V., Park, B. and L. Simar

  • Productivity and Efficiency of Farms in the Northern Grains Region 
    Client: CSIRO
    Investigators: O’Donnell, C.J. and A. Peyrache

  • Analysis of Efficiency and Productivity in Aged Care Homes
    Client: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
    Investigators: O'Donnell, C. J. and K. Nguyen.

  • Efficiency Analysis of Public Hospital Acute Admitted Services
    Client: Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
    Investigators: O'Donnell, C. J., D.S.P. Rao, K. Nguyen and A. Peyrache.

  • Market and Financial Trends: Medium Density Residential Development in SEQ
    Client: AEC Group for SEQ Council of Mayors
    Investigators: A. Rambaldi.

  • Fiscal Federalism and Economic Growth
    Investigators: Bodman, P. (PI) and Campbell, H.A.
    Funding: ARC Discovery Grant, $162,426.(2008-2010)

  • An Econometric Analysis of SEQ Housing Prices (2010), Local Government
    Association of Queensland.
    Consultant for AEC Group, Brisbane: Rambaldi, A.N.

  • Hospital Efficiency Measurement Methodologies (2010), for the NSW Treasury.
    Uniquest Project No. 16753.
    Investigators: O'Donnell, C. J. and Nguyen, K.

  • Construction of Consistent Panels of Real Gross Domestic Product and its Components at Current and Constant Prices
    Investigators: Rao, Rambaldi andDoran
    Post Doctoral Staff: Ganegodage
    Funding: ARC Discovery (2009-2013) $249,882.00 + 50% Professorial Fellowship

  • State-contingent Analysis of Productivity,Efficiency and Innovation;
    Chief Investigators (in order): O’Donnell, Quiggin, Chambers.
    Funding: ARC Discovery (2008-2010) $437,599

The Centre undertakes a range of projects relating to the measurement of productivity and efficiency in various private and public sector enterprises. The main aim of the Centre is to offer state-of-the-art technical advice on matters relating to the measurement of efficiency and productivity.

Areas of expertise

  • Data Envelopment Analysis
  • Index Numbers
  • Stochastic Frontier Methods
  • Productivity Measurement
  • Productivity and efficiency in firms, industries and public sector entities
  • International comparisons of output and productivity
  • Bayesian econometrics
  • Applied econometrics
  • Purchasing Power Parities
  • Inequality and Poverty Measurement

Members of CEPA can offer postgraduate supervision to students enrolled in UQ Master's and PhD programs.

Please see individual staff profiles for further details of research interests and expertise. Recent graduates include:

  • Hieu Phan Sy
    A Spatial Equilibrium Analysis of Policies to Promote the Wood-Processing Industry in Northern Vietnam

  • Kim Nguyen
    Essays on hospital efficiency measurement

  • Nicholas Rhode
    Contributions to the Theory and Practice of Inequality Measurement

  • Renuka Ganegodage
    Structural Transformation and Economic Growth

  • Derek Headey
    The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid

  • Nghiem Hong Son
    Efficiency and Effectiveness of Microfinance in Vietnam

  • Krishna Iyer
    Empirical Studies in Trade, Foreign Investment and Economic Performance

  • Adam Latif
    The Economic Role of Formal and Informal Inter-Firm Networks in the Development of Small and Medium Industrial Enterprises: Study of Symbiosis in the Indonesian garment industry

  • Mopeng Pelotshweu
    Rural Poverty and Economic Deprivation in Botswana

  • Eliana Jiminez
    Migration, remittances and social protection in Fiji, Tonga and Samoa