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Annual Report 2010

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Annual Report 2010 Economics Program ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Economics Program ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Economics Program The University of Western Australia Mailbag 251 35 Stirling Highway Crawley, Western Australia, 6009 http://www.biz.uwa.edu.au/ This report was compiled by John Ryan with contributions from other members of the Economics Program. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 2 2. STAFF MEMBERS ................................................................................... 3 3. RESEARCH IN ECONOMICS ................................................................ 13 4. SEMINAR SERIES ................................................................................. 15 5. THE SHANN MEMORIAL LECTURE ..................................................... 18 6. PHD CONFERENCE IN ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ........................ 20 7. VISITORS .............................................................................................. 22 8. RESEARCH GRANTS ........................................................................... 24 9. TEACHING ............................................................................................ 26 10. PHD STUDENTS’ TOPICS ..................................................................... 28 11. HONOURS STUDENTS’ TOPICS .......................................................... 29 12. PRIZES .................................................................................................. 30 13. VARGOVIC MEMORIAL FUND .............................................................. 31 14. PUBLICATIONS .................................................................................... 32 15. DISCUSSION PAPERS .......................................................................... 36 16. SEMINAR AND CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS BY STAFF ............. 38 17. OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES .................................................. 42 1. Introduction Economics has been an important part of the University of Western Australia since the founding of the University in 1912 when Professor Edward Shann was appointed. Professor Shann went on to become one of the country’s leading economists and his contributions are still celebrated with the influential annual Shann Memorial Lecture. The Economics Group continues the tradition of excellence and offers comprehensive programs of instruction at all levels, from the Bachelor of Economics to the Doctor of Philosophy degrees. With about 20 academic staff, Economics is a small but active group whose work has been published in top journals, is widely cited and highly regarded. One indication of the professional standing of the group is provided by the flow of quality visitors to the University. For example, in 2009 two of the most prominent econometricians in the world made substantial visits to UWA -- Sir David Hendry, from Oxford University, and Arnold Zellner, from the University of Chicago. Another indicator of reputation is provided by formal rankings; on a size adjusted basis, UWA Economics is usually ranked among the top three Australian and New Zealand universities. Economics is thriving at UWA. Student interest in taking economics is buoyant (there are approximately 1400 first-year students), the research record is excellent and UWA Economics occupies a position of national prominence and leadership. We continue to attract talented students. With the strong support from the University and the Business School, a number of new appointments have been made recently, including two at level E (Peter Robertson and Rod Tyers). Staff and students received recognition in several ways in 2010. Peter Robertson was appointed to the position of Associate Dean (Research and Research Training) of the Business School; Andrew Williams and Sam-Ho Lee were both recipients of Business School Best Paper Awards; Anu Rommohan and Elisa Birch received Dean’s Research Fellowships for excellence in research; Peter Robertson was awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant; Michael McLure was promoted to Professor; David Halperin won the undergraduate prize for the WA Branch of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Society for his honour dissertation and Economics student Ganesh Viswanath Natraj won the prestigious Reserve Bank of Australia Economics Essay competition. 2010 was a year in which a number of valued colleagues left our discipline. We acknowledge the valuable contributions of Winthrop Professor Paul Miller, Associate Professors David Butler and Dr Anh Tran Le, Assistant Professor Duy Tran and Ms Sarah Coakley. We wish them well in their new endeavours. We also welcome to the discipline Dr Ishita Chatterjee, Ms Ha Le, Ms Jenny Hu and Ms Shirin Tafazzoli. In mid-2011, Assistant Professors Luciana Fiorini and Leandro Magnusson will join the staff and we look forward to their arrival. 2 2. Staff Members WINTHROP PROFESSORS K.W. Clements BEc-Hons MEc (Monash), PhD (Chicago), FASSA Winthrop Professor Clements is a generalist economist with interests in international finance, monetary economics, index numbers and the economics of drugs. His research has been supported by a series of grants from the Australian Research Council and he has published recently in journals such as the Journal of Business, Journal of International Money and Finance and International Statistical Review. Cambridge University Press published his book (co-authored with X. Zhao) Economics and Marijuana. He is on the Editorial Boards of Resources Policy, Economic Papers and the Australasian Journal of Economics Education. In 2009 he received Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council. He currently holds a BHP Billiton Research Fellowship. P. Robertson MEc (UNE), PhD (Simon Fraser), BA Hons 1 (Otago) Winthrop Professor Robertson joined the Business school in July 2009 Prior to this he was an Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales and an Assistant Director at the Research Division of the former Productivity Commission. He was educated at the University of Otago, the University of New England and Simon Fraser University. He has established a research record in the fields of economic growth, international trade, and environmental economics. Peter’s current research interests are centred on interactions between economic growth and international trade, such as the effects of the growth of India and China on the international economy, the effects of international trade on human capital accumulation, and the impact of international flows of skilled labour. He has published widely in economics journals such as International Economic Review, Review of International Economics, Economics Letters, Oxford Economics Papers and Explorations in Economic History. D.A. Turkington BA (Wellington), MCom (Canterbury), MA PhD (Berkeley), FASSA Winthrop Professor Turkington specialises in theoretical econometrics. He has published in Journal of Econometrics, Journal of the American Statistical Association and International Economic Review, and is the co- author (with R. Bowden) of the Econometric Society Monograph, Instrumental Variables. Professor Turkington’s current research focuses on the application of matrix calculus to econometric models. He has written a book on this topic: Matrix Calculus and Zero-One Matrices: 3 Statistical and Econometric Applications, published by Cambridge University Press, 2002. His most recent book is Mathematical Tools for Economics, published by Blackwell Publishing, 2007. R. Tyers BEng (Melbourne), MEngSci (Melbourne), MS PhD (Harvard) Winthrop Professor Tyers specialises in applied international economics and has contributed in areas of commodity trade policy, the labour market effects of trade reform, the economic effects of global demographic change and open economy macroeconomics as applied to Chinese economic policy and its international implications. He has published four books, more than 60 refereed journal articles and more than 40 chapters in edited books. Three of his articles have been republished with permission in subsequent books. One, prize-winning, article has been thus republished three times. His research has been supported by six Discovery grants from the Australian Research Council and research grants from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the Australian Council for International Agricultural Research, the World Bank and the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture. His teaching has ranged from introductory macroeconomics to advanced microeconomics and international trade theory. PROFESSORS N. Groenewold BEc MEc (Tasmania), MA PhD (W. Ontario) Professor Groenewold teaches in international finance. His research Interests include theoretical and applied macroeconomics, regional economics and financial economics. He has published in a number of journals including Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of Macroeconomics, China Economic Review, Pacific Economic Review, Journal of Empirical Finance, Economics Letters, Economic Inquiry, Regional Studies, and Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance. He is currently working on applications of regional models to issues in China and Australia with researchers at Jinan University and the University of Tasmania as well as on the contribution of various forms of macroeconomic policy to stabilisation in Australia. M.T. McLure BA (Murd.), Grad DipEd (WAIT), MEc (W. Aust.), PhD (Curtin) Professor McLure’s research primarily
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