News
2009
- Congratulations to Dr David Pitt who was awarded the Australian Learning and Teaching Council’s citation for ongoing and sustained commitment to providing actuarial students with a learning environment that nurtures, motivates and develops graduates with outstanding analytic and business skills.
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- Congratulations to Associate Professor Michael Shields who has been promoted to
Level E. - Congratulations to Dr Roland Hodler and Dr Simon Loertscher who have been promoted to Senior Lecturer
- Professor Ian McDonald was a guest on the ABC Radio National program
"The economic down turn: what should we do?" - Congratulations to Dr Roland Hodler who was awarded the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
- Listen to or download the podcast interview by Dr Nikos Nikiforakis about behavioral economics, social norm enforcement and laboratory experiments.
- Balanced Growth - A History of the Department of Economics, University of Melbourne.
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Professor Jeff Borland has been appointed to the Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard. This is a most prestigious appointment and Jeff is the first economist for a number of years to be appointed to this position.
The Australian Chair at Harvard was established by a gift from the Australian Government to Harvard in 1976 and since that time a number of eminent scholars from a range of disciplines have held this Chair. Jeff will commence his appointment in mid 2010.
2008
- Congratulations to Associate Professor Donald MacLaren who received the Quality of Policy Contribution Award from the European Association of Agricultural Economists in 2008.
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Associate Professor Neville Norman was awarded a “Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management” from the Australian Institute of Management in 2008. He was also awarded the Official Visiting Research Scholar: July – October 2008 from the Faculty of Economics, Cambridge U.K.
- Congratulations to Professor John Freebairn who has been appointed as the Ritchie Chair [The Ritchie Chair was founded by R.B. Ritchie in memory of his son who had been killed in World War I.]
- Welcome to Dr. Chris Edmond who commenced with the Department in September 2008 as a Senior Lecturer.
- Congratulations to Professor Ian King who has taken up the position of Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.
- Welcome to Dr. Tom Wilkening who commenced with the Department in July 2008 as a lecturer.
- Congratulations to Sephorah Mangin, PhD student (Economics): Sephorah has been accepted to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings (20 - 23 August) in Economic Sciences. She will join more than 300 of the worldwide best young economists who will meet 14 Laureates in Economic Sciences and the Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Professor Yunus (visit website for more details).
- Congratulations to Robert Dixon on his promotion to Professor.
- Professor Jeff Borland, Dr. Eoin Killackey, Professor Henry Jackson, Dr. Rosanna Scutella and Dr. Yi Ping Tseng awarded a $380,000 ARC grant: Dr. Eoin Killackey and Professor Henry Jackson from the Psychology Department, Dr. Rosanna Scutella and Dr. Yi Ping Tseng from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Professor Jeff Borland from the Department of Economics, have been awarded a $380,000 ARC grant for their project, 'Improving Employment Outcomes in Early Psychosis: Social and Economic Benefits of Early Intervention'. The ARC Linkage Grant will commence in July 2008.
- Leading research professor joins the Department of Economics: The Department welcomes Professor Harry J. Paarsch who joined the Department in May 2008. His previous appointment was as Professor of Economics and Robert Jensen Research Fellow at the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. His publications appear in the Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Econometrics, International Economic Review, European Economic Review, among other journals.
- Professor Ross Garnaut has been appointed a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne, and a Professorial Fellow in the University's Faculty of Economics and Commerce. Professor Garnaut will take up the part-time appointment at Melbourne after completion of the Garnaut Climate Change Review. He will be attached to the Department of Economics and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, both within the Faculty of Economics and Commerce.
- Ian J. Macfarlane, AC, previous Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, has been appointed Professorial Fellow in the Department till 2010. As part of his appointment, one of his first tasks will be to address the Economic Honours Students on April 22.
- Some good news: Andrew Clarke, Russell Hillberry and Mark Joshi have all been confirmed in their positions. Congratulations to all three.
2007
- Economics Honours student is Victorian Rhodes Scholar for 2007: Congratulations to John Feddersen who has been awarded the 2008 Victorian Rhodes Scholarship for postgraduate study at Oxford University. John is in the process of completing his Honours in Economics in 2007. He has also completed a Bachelor of Commerce (Economics), Bachelor of Science (Mathematics and Statistics) and a Diploma in Modern Language (German).
He has earned four University Blue Awards in Hockey, selection in the Australian Universities Hockey team, Victorian Vikings Squad and Australian Under 19 team. John also captained the University Hockey team to victory at the Australian University Games in 2006 and is a keen life saver (Lorne Life Saving Club).
- Two of our PhD students awarded prizes: Congratulations to Yuelan Chen (Yuelan would like to express her thanks to her supervisor Dr. Simon Loertscher) and Vicar Valencia (Vicar would like to express his thanks to both his supervisors, Dr. Nisvan Erkal and Prof. Bill Griffiths) who were awarded "best student presentation" prizes at the UWA PhD conference held on 2 November. These were the only student prizes awarded.
- New business and economics journal, Insights launched: Insights, a new public interest journal produced by the Faculty of Economics and Commerce, publishes condensed and edited versions of public lectures held at conferences and seminars connected with the Faculty.
These are valuable and acessible contributions to current debates and issues and they offer the latest thinking on business and economics. Insights provides business and community leaders, alumni, students and researchers with easy access to contemporary materials, keeping professionals up to date with new findings and key ideas relevant to their profession. Insights is available online.
- The Australian Economic Review, Volume 40, Number 3 now published: Edited by Professor Ross Williams from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economics and Social Research (MIAESR) and Professor Ian McDonald from Economics, the most recent volume of 'The Australian Economic Review', has been published. Contributors to this volume include Professors Nilss Okekalns and John Creedy from Economics, and Professors Kostas Mavromaras and Mark Wooden from MIAESR.
- Mark Joshi elected to University Council: Congratulations to Mark Joshi who has been elected from the Academic non-professorial staff to University Council for a term of office from 1 January, 2008 to 31 December, 2009.
- Econochat returns! After a couple of years in the wilderness, Econochat is back with an all new format. Further information on Econochat and back issues.
- Opening of the New Experimental Economics Laboratory: On 23 August, 2007 the Experimental Laboratory was officially opened by Mr. Grant Hehir, Secretary of the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance and Professor Nilss Olekalns, Head of the Department of Economics. Other attendees included Ms. Claire Thomas, Director of the Economic and Financial Policy Division of the Department of Treasury and Finance. Visit the Experimental Economics website.
- Professor Jeff Borland receives a Carrick Institute "Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning": The citation recognises "two decades of teaching of large student cohorts in economics, including innovative curriculum design and resource development to support student learning". Learn more about the award.
- Commendation for Dr. Nikos Nikiforakis: Nikos received a commendation as part of the University's Knowledge Transfer Excellence Awards. The Commendation is in recognition of Nikos' efforts in the various training modules and other related work that he has undertaken for the Victorian Department of Treasury and Finance.
- ARC Discovery Project Grants for 2008: Congratulations to Department of Economics staff who have secured ARC Discovery Project Grants. Dr. Liana Jacobi received a grant for her project: Bayesian Analysis of Treatment Effects in Experiments with Imperfect Compliance. Professor David Dickson, Associate Professor Mark Joshi and Dr. David Pitt received a grant for their project: The Pricing and Risk Management of Reverse Mortgages in the Australian Market. Professor John Freebairn, Dr. J. Yong and Dr. A. Palangkaraya received a grant for their project: Effects of Private Health Insurance on Health Care Usage and Health Outcomes in Australia.
- ARC Linkage Grants for 2008: Professor Daniel Dufresne and Professor Anne van den Nouweland were awarded an ARC Linkage Grant with Faculty co-investigators Associate Professor F.J. Vazquez-Abad and Dr. M. Menabde for their project: Understanding Cycles in Mineral Commodity Price, A Market Model with Uncertainty.
- National Carrick Institute Grant for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Congratulations to Associate Professors Joe Hirschberg, Jenny Lye and Carol Johnston who have won a National Carrick Institute Grant for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education ($212,722) entitled: "Measuring Student Experience: The Relationship between Teaching Quality Instruments (TQIs) and the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ)".
- The Department extends a warm welcome to our new staff members: Ms Rosy Qin and Ms Olga Brown.