Donald McLean Lamberton (29 July 1927 – 28 November 2014) was an Australian economist. His work focused on

information economics Information economics or the economics of information is the branch of microeconomics that studies how information and information systems affect an economy and economic decisions. One application considers information embodied in certain types o ...

Early life and career

Lamberton grew up in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Homeschooled until the age of eleven,Macdonald, Stuart.
Don Lamberton 1927–2014
" Prometheus 32.3 (2014): 223-225 he went to work at the

Bank of New South Wales The Bank of New South Wales (BNSW), also known commonly as The Wales, was the first bank in Australia, being established in Sydney in 1817 and situated on Broadway, New South Wales, Broadway. During the 19th century, the bank opened branches ...

in May 1942, aged just fourteen years.Lodewijks, John Prof (2007)
Professor of Foresight; An Interview with Donald Lamberton
" Journal of Economic and Social Policy: Vol. 11: Iss. 2, Article 5. He earned a degree in economics from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

in 1949. He then worked for the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' as a financial journalist and the

Sydney Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as, ...

in research and statistics.

Academic positions

In 1953, Lamberton joined the University of New England as a lecturer. With funding from the Australian War Services Canteen Trust Fund, he moved to the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1957 to read for his PhD at

Merton College Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, ch ...

. His thesis "The Theory of Profit" was accepted in 1962 and published in 1965. Concurrently, he was a senior lecturer (later, associate professor) at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

from 1960 to 1969. In 1966 he visited the United States as a Fulbright scholar at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

until 1967. From 1969 to 1972, Lamberton was a professor at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

and then, from 1973 to 1989, a chair in economics at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

. From 1989 to 1992 he worked in Melbourne as co-director of the Centre for International Research on Communications and Information Technologies. Lamberton was at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

from 1992 to 2004, in their Urban Research Programme and Public Policy Programme. In 2005 he moved to the

Queensland University of Technology Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public research university located in the urban coastal city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. QUT is located on two campuses in the Brisbane area viz. Gardens Point and Kelvin Grove. The univ ...

Writing

He authored over 20 books, 60 book chapters, 40 articles, and 30 reports, including:

Books edited

* ''Industrial Economies'', 1971 * ''Economics of Information and Knowledge'', Penguin, 1971 * ''The Information Revolution'', 1974 * ''The Trouble with Technology'' (with Ken Boulding), 1983 * ''The Economics of Language'', 2002

Journals edited

In 1983 he founded ''

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, know ...

'' and was general editor for most of the rest of his life.

Writing about his work

festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

honoring his work was published in 1999. In December 2015, the journal ''Prometheus'' published a special issue of papers written by his students.Prometheus. December 2015, Vol. 33 Issue 4. .

Awards

In 2006 he was made an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for "service to economics, as a leading academic and researcher in the field of information economics through the multidisciplinary study of the impact of technology, information and society on economic development".New Adjunct Professor appointed to the Centre
,

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamberton, Donald Officers of the Order of Australia Australian economists Information economists Australian people of Scottish descent 1927 births 2014 deaths Alumni of Merton College, Oxford