John Quiggin (born 29 March 1956) is an Australian
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
, a professor 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 ...
. He was formerly an
Australian Research Council
The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...
Laureate Fellow and Federation Fellow and a member of the board of the
Climate Change Authority
The Climate Change Authority (CCA) is an Australian Government statutory agency responsible for providing independent advice to government on climate change policy. It was established by and operates under the ''Climate Change Authority Act 201 ...
of the
Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
.
[The Australian Climate Change Authority board announced. 21 June 2012](_blank)
/ref>[Helen Davidson, (23 March 2017), Two quit Australian climate authority blaming government 'extremists', ''The Guardian''](_blank)
Retrieved 4 September 2017
Education
Quiggin completed his undergraduate studies 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 ...
graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Mathematics in 1978 and a Bachelor of Economics
The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon),
or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics;
the ...
with First Class Honours
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...
with the University Medal
A University Medal is one of several types of award conferred by universities upon outstanding students or members of staff. The usage and status of university medals differ between countries and between universities.
As award on graduation
Many ...
and the Economics Society Prize in 1980. He then completed a Master of Economics
The Master of Economics (MEcon or MEc) is a postgraduate master's degree in economics comprising training in economic theory, econometrics, and/or applied economics.
The degree is also offered as an MS or MSc, MA or MCom in economics;
varian ...
through coursework and thesis at the Australian National University in 1984, and finished his Doctor of Philosophy in economics at the University of New England in 1988, receiving the Drummond Prize for best doctoral thesis.
Academic and professional career
From 1978 to 1983, Quiggin was a research economist and in 1986 was the chief research economist with the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, now called the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. From 1984 to 1985 he was a research fellow of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies at the Australian National University. From 1987 to 1988 he was a lecturer and then senior lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics of 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 1989 he was a visiting fellow at the Centre for International Economics, a consultancy firm in Canberra.
From 1989 to 1990, he was an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics of the University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...
, a Fellow of the Research School of Social Sciences of Australian National University from 1991 to 1992, a senior fellow from 1993 to 1994 and a professor in 1995 at the Centre for Economic Policy Research of the Australian National University in 1995. From 1996 to 1999 Quiggin was a professor of economics and Australian Research Council Senior Fellow at James Cook University. Also in 1996, Quiggin was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. From 2000 to 2002 he was an Australian Research Council Senior Fellow at the Australian National University and an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology and the inaugural Don Dunstan Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide.
He has been based at the University of Queensland since 2003, being an Australian Research Council professorial fellow and federation fellow and a professor in the School of Economics and the School of Political Science and International Studies. He was an adjunct professor at the Australian National University from 2003 to 2006 and was the Hinkley Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...
in 2011.
Other work
Quiggin writes a blog involving "commentary on Australian and world events from a socialist and democratic viewpoint". It was included in the ''Focus Economics'' Top Economics and Finance Blogs of 2018 and the Top 100 Economics Blogs of 2020 by the ''Intelligent Economist''. He is also a regular contributor to ''Crooked Timber
Crooked Timber is a left-of-centre political blog run by a group of (mostly) academics from and working in several different nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia and Singapore. The na ...
'', '' Inside Story'' and ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''. Until April 2015, he was a Fellow at the Centre for Policy Development
Centre for Policy Development is a public policy think tank in Australia. CPD claims to be independent and non-partisan.
Personnel Past research fellows
*Mark Bahnisch . He was an opinion columnist for the ''Australian Financial Review
''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...
'' from 1996 until March 2012.
As of 2015, Quiggin opposed Bitcoin
Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: â‚¿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...
, calling it a "delusion" that would lead to "environmental disaster" due to the "ever-increasing environmental damage from the electricity used in the 'mining' of Bitcoins" and that "The sooner this collective delusion comes to an end, the better." He also proposed that the value of Bitcoin was a refutation of the efficient market hypothesis
The efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) is a hypothesis in financial economics that states that asset prices reflect all available information. A direct implication is that it is impossible to "beat the market" consistently on a risk-adjusted bas ...
: "The EMH states that the market value of an asset is equal to the best available estimate of the value of the services or income flows it will generate. In the case of a company stock, this is the discounted value of future earnings. Since Bitcoins do not generate any actual earnings, they must appreciate in value to ensure that people are willing to hold them. But an endless appreciation, with no flow of earnings or liquidation value, is precisely the kind of bubble the EMH says can’t happen."
In 2012, through Princeton University Press, Quiggin published his book Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk among Us which sold upward of 20 000 copies and was translated into eight languages. His most recent book, ''Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work So Well, and Why They Can Fail So Badly'', was published in 2019 also from Princeton University Press and provides an introduction to free-market economics, covering key theory as well as its successes and failures.
He was appointed in 2012 to the board of the Climate Change Authority of the Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
.
With reference to the pro-nuclear film ''Pandora's Promise
''Pandora's Promise'' is a 2013 documentary film about the nuclear power debate, directed by Robert Stone. Its central argument is that nuclear power, which still faces historical opposition from environmentalists, is a relatively safe and clean ...
'', Quiggin comments that it presents the environmental rationale for nuclear power, but that reviving nuclear power debate
The nuclear power debate is a long-running controversy about the risks and benefits of using nuclear reactors to generate electricity for civilian purposes. The debate about nuclear power peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, as more and more reac ...
s is a distraction, and the main problem with the nuclear option is that it is not economically viable. Quiggin says that we need more efficient energy use
Efficient energy use, sometimes simply called energy efficiency, is the process of reducing the amount of energy required to provide products and services. For example, insulating a building allows it to use less heating and cooling energy to ...
and more renewable energy commercialisation
Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include b ...
.
As part of his "commitment to public debate", Quiggin has contributed to a wide variety of Parliamentary inquires through submissions and appearances. These include the inquiries into Uranium Mining and Nuclear Power, Land Use in Victoria, the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Urban Water Inquiry to name a few.
Awards
Quiggin is one of the most prolific economists in Australia, illustrated by citation frequencies in the period 1988–2000. He has been placed in the top 5% economists in the world according to IDEAS/RePEc
Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, preprints, ...
since its monthly aggregate rankings began in 2004. Quiggin has frequently been awarded and recognised for his research, including twice receiving Federation Fellowship
Federation Fellowships are Australian professorial research fellowships that were instigated by the Australian Government as part of its Backing Australia's Ability
Backing Australia's Ability (BAA) was a five-year innovation plan launched by th ...
s from the Australian Research Council.
He was awarded the Australian Social Science Academy Medal in 1993 and a Fellowship in 1996, received the 1997 and 2000 Sam Richardson of the Institute of Public Administration, Australia, received the 2001 Editors Prize of the ''Australian Journal of Agricultural Economics'', a Fellowship of the Australian Institute of Company Directors in 2002, and a Distinguished Fellowship of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society in 2004. He is a Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
of the Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society of academic economists interested in applying statistical tools to their field. It is an independent organization with no connections to societies of professional mathematicians or statisticians. ...
and in 2011 received the Distinguished Fellow Award of the Economic Society of Australia.
He was awarded an Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2012.
Selected works
* 1994. ''Work for All: Full Employment in the Nineties'', Melbourne University Press, Carlton
Carlton may refer to:
People
* Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname
* Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy
* Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
, (ed., with John Langmore
TOC.
* 1996. ''Great Expectations: Microeconomic Reform and Australia'', Allen & Unwin, Sydney,
* 1998. ''Taxing Times: A Guide to the Tax Debate in Australia'', UNSW Press
The University of New South Wales Press Ltd. is an Australian academic book publishing company launched in 1962 and based in Randwick, a suburb of Sydney. The ACNC not-for-profit entity has three divisions: NewSouth Publishing (the publishing arm ...
, Sydney,
* 1998. "Social Democracy and Market Reform in Australia and New Zealand," ''Oxford Review of Public Policy'', 14(1), pp
79–109
also in A. Glyn (ed.), 2001, ''Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times: The Left and Economic Policy since 1980'', Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 80–109. .
* 2000. ''Uncertainty, Production, Choice, and Agency: The State-Contingent Approach'', Cambridge University Press, New York, (with Robert G Chambers
Description
an
preview.
* 2001. "Demography and the New Economy," ''Journal of Population Research'', 18(2),
p. 177
€“193.
* 2019. ''Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work So Well, and Why They Can Fail So Badly''. Princeton University Press,
an
Introduction.
* 2012
"Prospects of a Keynesian utopia"
''Aeon Magazine'', 27 September 2012
Notes
External links
John Quiggin's Home Page at the University of Queensland
John Quiggin's Blog
Profile
at SourceWatch
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org.
History
CMD was founded in 1993 by progr ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiggin, John
1956 births
Australian bloggers
21st-century Australian economists
20th-century Australian economists
Environmental economists
Fellows of the Econometric Society
Living people
People from Queensland
Australian National University alumni
University of Queensland faculty
University of New England (Australia) alumni
People from Adelaide
Fellows of the Australian Institute of Company Directors