Macro Public Finance Lab @ ANU

Micro data and macro models for better public policy

We integrate micro data into quantitative macroeconomic models to analyse how economic policies jointly determine household behaviour, aggregate outcomes, and social welfare.

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Research School of Economics, ANU CEPAR research network TTPI research network
Academic base

Research School of Economics, Australian National University.

Policy relevance

Work designed to inform tax, spending, and macro policy evaluation.

Quantitative focus

Lifecycle, overlapping-generations, and microsimulation frameworks.

Research training

PhD workshops, model-based training, and capacity building.

Research themes

Six pillars of the lab's research agenda

These themes organise the lab's work on fiscal design, household heterogeneity, and long-run policy evaluation.

Research theme

Income Taxation

Analysis of personal income tax schedules, labour supply incentives, savings responses, and the design of progressive taxation.

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Research theme

Fiscal Progressivity

Measurement of the combined progressivity of taxes and transfers across income, age, wealth, and household structure.

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Research theme

Welfare Transfers

Evaluation of family payments, means testing, and transfer design with attention to work incentives and welfare outcomes.

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Research theme

Health Macroeconomics

Research on health shocks, insurance design, portfolio choice, and the interaction between health and wealth inequality.

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Research theme

Retirement Financing

Work on pensions, superannuation, ageing economies, and the fiscal sustainability of retirement systems.

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Research theme

Growth, Redistribution, and Inequality

Study of earnings dynamics, wealth dispersion, and intergenerational distribution using structural models and rich data.

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Engage with the Lab

Follow seminars and workshops, request publications, or get in touch about research collaboration and training.

17
Aug 2026
Conference

EEA-ESEM 2026

Dublin. August 17 - 21, 2026

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Publication

Featured recent work

Selected papers from the lab's working-paper, journal, and policy-facing research output.

Working paper WP2026-01

On the Complementarity of Public and Private Pensions: Equity, Efficiency, and Optimal Design

George Kudrna, Chung Tran
MPF Lab Working Paper Series, 2026
Paper
Working paper WP2025-01

The Evolution of Earnings Distribution in a Sustain Growth Economy: Evidence from Australia

Darapheak Tin, Chung Tran, Nabeeh Zakariyya
MPF Lab Working Paper Series, 2025
Paper
Working paper WP2024-03

Health Heterogeneity, Portfolio Choice and Wealth Inequality

Juergen Jung, Chung Tran
MPF Lab Working Paper Series, 2024
Paper
Working paper WP2024-02

Child-Related Transfers, Means Testing and Welfare

Darapheak Tin, Chung Tran
MPF Lab Working Paper Series, 2024
Paper
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Training

Methods, computation, and policy application

The lab's training program equips graduate students, early-career researchers, and policy economists with practical tools for frontier research in macro public finance.

Training combines quantitative macroeconomic theory with computational implementation, calibration, and policy simulation. The goal is to help participants move from model intuition to applied research practice.

Workshops and seminars are built around the same methods used in the lab's own research on tax policy, transfers, pensions, and inequality.

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  • 1Introduction to quantitative macro models
  • 2Lifecycle models and heterogeneous agents
  • 3Calibration and structural estimation
  • 4Fiscal policy simulation methods
  • 5Applications to Australian tax policy
  • 6Communicating research for policy impact