A message from the Head
It has been a very busy period in second semester, with a number of important developments across the department of Economics.
One of the biggest changes has been the move of many staff from the Clayton campus to Caulfield, following the acquisition of additional office space on Level 4. While we are still awaiting the completion of the final renovations to the kitchen and entrance, it has been wonderful to see colleagues interacting and socialising on campus. Having staff and PhD students together in one location has already created a very positive atmosphere.At the same time, we retain a strong footprint at Clayton. Associate Professor Christis Tombazos has agreed to assume the role as our Campus Director at Clayton, with the support of Professor Gary Magee. At Caulfield, Professor Kaveh Majlesi serves as Campus Director and shares this responsibility with Professor Lata Gangadaran. I would like to thank Christis, Gary, Kaveh and Lata for taking over these important roles.
I also want to acknowledge the tremendous effort that everyone in the Department has put into the major changes associated with teaching at the beginning of this semester. These changes have required significant time, energy and flexibility, and I am very grateful for the commitment and professionalism shown by all our staff.
Celebrating our achievements
We have several wonderful achievements to celebrate.
Congratulations to Quoc-Anh Do and Rigissa Megalokonomou, who have both been promoted to Level E. This is a significant achievement and well-deserved recognition of their contributions to the department.
We are also delighted to celebrate Professor Sascha Becker and Professor Yves Zenou, who were selected as part of the inaugural cohort of Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Professors. This is a tremendous honour and reflects the outstanding international reputation and contribution of both colleagues.
As part of Monash University’s 70th anniversary celebrations, three members of our department were among the first 123 Fellows recognised for their contributions to the University:
For Contributions across Research: Rigissa Megalokonomou and Erte Xiao
For Contributions to Enterprise and Commercialisation: Simon Angus
A heartfelt congratulations to all of our colleagues on these outstanding achievements.
We are also pleased to celebrate Professor Lata Gangadharan’s appointment as Department Editor at Management Science and Professor Yves Zenou’s appointment to the Editorial Board of the Journal of Economic Theory, further recognising their significant contributions to the field.
Visitors and new appointments
We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Matt Jackson from Stanford University. It is exciting to have Matt visiting the Department again, and we wish him a stimulating, interesting and productive stay with us.
We are also delighted to welcome several new colleagues.
Associate Professor Daniela Scur joins us from Cornell University as part of the Magnet program. We also welcome Dr Ying Feng, who joins us from the National University of Singapore, and Dr Ieda Matavelli, who joins us from UBC/UNSW and will commence in early September.
Looking further ahead, we are pleased to welcome Simon Greenhill from the University of California, Berkeley, and Simon Fuchs from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, who will commence with the Department in 2027/28, respectively.
These appointments further strengthen the breadth and international profile of our Department, and we look forward to welcoming all our new colleagues.
Looking ahead
There is a great deal happening across the Department, and it is wonderful to new appointments, visits and opportunities taking place alongside the substantial work involved in delivering our teaching programs.
Thank you again to everyone for your hard work, collegiality and commitment during what has been an exceptionally busy start to the semester. I look forward to seeing our department continue to thrive across both campuses in the months ahead.
Kind regards,
Professor Paul Raschky
Head of the Department of Economics
Monash Business School
Previous messages
2026
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Welcome back everyone. It is hard to believe the first few months of the year have already passed since I formally stepped into the role of Head of Department. As is often the case at the beginning of the academic year, it has been a busy and productive period.
I am continuing to find my feet in the role, learning from many of you, and working to establish some clearer practices and procedures that support the department’s research, teaching and engagement activities. I am grateful for the patience and support I have experienced during this transition.
A key focus so far this year has been recruitment. We received over 500 applications from across the globe for our Level B and Level C positions. From these, 60 candidates were shortlisted for online interviews, with 16 invited to participate in in-person or virtual fly-outs. The calibre of applicants has been exceptionally high, and the strength of this pool reflects the growing reputation and ambition of our department. Once the process is finalised, we will share the outcomes with you.
I would like to sincerely thank everyone who contributed to the recruitment process. The level of engagement and the commitment shown by the department and recruitment panel was remarkable. I am very aware of the time and care this work requires, and it has not gone unnoticed.
I would also like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our education team — Professor Choon Wang, Dr Birendra Rai, and our Department Manager, Celeste Medcalfe — whose work behind the scenes was instrumental in ensuring we were prepared for the start of Semester One.
On a personal note, while the role has been demanding, it has also been rewarding. I am busy and happy. As the year unfolds, I hope we continue to support one another, share ideas and foster a collegial and intellectually vibrant environment.
Wishing you all a successful year ahead.
Kind regards,
Professor Paul Raschky
Head of the Department of Economics
Monash Business School
2025
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Professor Michael Ward shares some final thoughts before stepping down as Head of the Department of Economics, and Professor Paul Raschky also talks to EcoNews ahead of assuming the HoD role in January 2026.
What do you see as your greatest achievement during your time as HoD?
“Our external review a couple years ago stated in the Executive Summary:
‘Dramatic improvement in the quality of research and teaching over the last ten years. Morale within the Department is high .… The academic staff have a strong sense of inclusion.’
That’s a team achievement, but I’m proud of my part in it. From the start, my goal was to continue the great trajectory that Russell Smyth and Stephen King launched us on before I even arrived at Monash in 2012. The most important element of success is that we have a lot of great people. To retain and recruit great people, you need resources. So perhaps my most important contribution has been in our broad push to build courses and curriculum. From that flow both great educational opportunities and the resources to re-invest in great people.”
What is the greatest achievement that no one will thank you for?
“What most people don’t see is the business part of things: Finance, budget, HR, faculty relations, Chancellery, curriculum strategy, cross-department negotiations, and so on. We are not only an academic department of researchers and educators, but a large business. We have about 18,000 student enrolments across multiple campuses, 110 units taught, 70+ continuing staff and $90 million in revenue, and our units are in the core of over fifteen distinct degrees including two in Arts. Our business has doubled in the decade I have been head. It’s a huge operation, and most of the business complexity is not visible to 90 percent or more of the Department at any point in time.
The broader leadership team, especially in education, is deeply involved in some of the business details. But, only the HoD is across the full range of business issues.
I figured out early on that the ship doesn’t steer itself. It’s not getting steered from above either, since some of the most important strategic and business decisions happen at the Department level. In terms of visibility of the head job to the broader department, the tip of the iceberg cliché applies. So, I’d say my greatest achievement that is not really understood has been simply steering around that massive hidden iceberg without crashing.”
What is your greatest mistake and/or disappointment?
“On reflection, I think I got the big decisions right. I have made lots of smaller mistakes, but we wouldn’t learn much if we never made mistakes. One lesson I learned early is to avoid business conversations and decisions when you are feeling any negative emotion. Almost every people-management mistake I have made stemmed from that.”
What will you do now?
“Work. I want to focus on getting back on research. I also would like to rest and get my life back. Being HoD made me a narrower person because I put the job first as there is so much responsibility. I want space to be able to read books and be a whole person and have something more interesting to talk about than the department.”
What do you look forward to?
“Less stress.”
What will you miss most?
“I found it satisfying to try to build something that can be great. There’s a certain dopamine rush to that. I think I will miss the buzz of being in the middle of everything.”
Do you have three statements of wisdom for Professor Paul Raschky, the next Head of Department?
“Always put the people first. Always prioritise long-term thinking. Pick your battles but once you do, always win.”
Famous last words for the department?
“I’m a true believer that Monash Economics is a great department and can be even greater. It’s a great place and it’s very collegial with lots of resources and talent. People should believe in themselves and the department. I do.”
Professor Paul Raschky will become the new Head of Department on January 1, 2026. While on sabbatical in 2025, he learned and prepared for the new role. EcoNews caught up with him for a quick chat about the future.
Professor Paul Raschky.
What are the most important things you hope to achieve?
“To (retain Monash Economics as) the best economics department in the country. The goal for the mid-to long term is to play in the top league within the Australasian region.”
How will the department and beyond know and understand that there has been a leadership change?
“Economists gossip, so the world will be aware that there is a new Head of Department. Within the department, people know both Michael and myself, and how we handle things differently, so that will become apparent. I will just need to do my thing and people will get used to it and we’ll see if it works.”
As Head of Department you get a lot of emails - what’s your strategy to cope with the information overload?
“Triage, delegate, ignore.”
What is your leadership style?
“Charming authoritarian.”
How do you decompress and stay sane?
“Doing sports; going to the gym and surfing if time permits. I also like going to concerts. The last band I saw was the Swedish band Refused.”
What’s a hidden talent no one in the department knows about you?
“I can breathe fire.”
Some words of gratitude for Michael?
“Thank you for steering the ship through stormy weather - and ten years is way too long.”
What can you learn from him?
“To not do it for ten years!”
Your first important message for your colleagues in the department?
“Besides the little day-to-day fires I have to put out, the exciting thing is that we are the best economics department in the country. We are playing in a high league globally. It’s like a sports team - we can attract very good talent at both junior and senior levels. I like to build things, and we are in a very good position to keep building. Compared to other Australian economics departments, we are doing so well.
“I’ve been here for 15 years, and the department was very different when I started. Monash was really the underdog compared to the University of Melbourne and Australian National University. I have a soft spot for the underdog, but the situation has changed. We really punch above our weight, so we need to change people’s perception of who we are. I’m taking over the department in good shape, and we have the resources to grow further.
Finally, the organisation of Monash University and Monash Business School is complex, and I am still learning. So, most of the time when people ask me things, I will have to make them wait before I find out and get back to them.”
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Welcome back everyone to Semester 2. As you have all learned by now, the Dean has announced Professor Paul Raschky as the new Head of the Department of Economics.
Prof Raschky will start from 1 January 2026. Paul is currently on sabbatical, and I am most grateful to him for currently taking the time to move through a period of learning and transition for his new position.
I believe there are three key skills you need to succeed at this job: Integrity, an entrepreneurial spirit and to not to react emotionally to difficult and stressful things. I believe Prof Paul Raschky has all these qualities and I am pleased he decided to accept the job.
I will do my best to tidy up some last things during spring before handing the job over to him following my 10 years in the role. I look forward to having more time to focus on my research.
I'd like to thank all the members of the Department Executive that have worked with me over the years:
Simon Angus (Learning and Teaching), Sue Ball (Dept Manager), Sascha Becker (Deputy HoD), Niki Calastas (Dept Manager), Arthur Campbell (Caulfield), Zhijun Chen (Clayton, HDR), Nick Feltovich (Education, Clayton), Xiaodong Fan (acting HDR), Lata Gangadharan (Research), Phil Grossman (Deputy HoD, Research), Gennadi Kazakevitch (Deputy HoD, Education), Stephen King (Special advisor), Jeff LaFrance (HDR), Andreas Leibbrandt (acting HDR), Jakob Madsen (Caulfield), Pushkar Maitra (Clayton, HDR), Kaveh Majlesi (Caulfield), Vinod Mishra (Deputy HoD, Education), Jaai Parasnis (Learning and Teaching), Russell Smyth (Special advisor), Erte Xiao (Research), and Choon Wang (HDR).
And I would very much like to thank the department EAs. Without such wonderful and patient support, I could not have done this job. They are:
Isabelle Ho (Exec Assistant), Felicity Milne (acting Exec Assistant), Harshita Rupanagudi (Exec Assistant), and Elena Shcherbak (Exec Assistant).
But I am not the only one whose daily activities will soon change. We recently said goodbye to Professors Philip Grossman and Vai Lam, who have both retired after long and fruitful careers, as has Ms Sue Ball who retired as department manager.
Many thanks to all of you for your contributions to research, teaching and the smooth running of the department.
We have yet again concluded a successful round of recruitment and I would like to wish a warm welcome to all our newcomers:
Professors Tim Moore and Matt Jackson (fractional);
A/Professors: Darryl Biggar (practice academic);
Andrew Rendall (practice academic)
Lecturers - Dr Mitch Watt, Dr Keaton Ellis, Dr Santiago Hermo, Dr Lisa Botbol, Dr Anthony Niu (education focused); and
CDPAE staff - Ms Icy Guo and Dr Sahar Shafiei.
All new staff will be based at Clayton campus. With so many new colleagues we hope they will enjoy the good collegial atmosphere as well as the beautiful and spacious campus.
Ms Celeste Medcalfe also joins the department as a new department manager.
Finally, congratulations to all the staff who were recently promoted:
Dr Anupama Sethi and Dr Weijia Li - promoted to the level C.
Dr Gordon Leslie, Dr Jaai Parasnis, Dr Siew Ling, Dr Xiaodong Fan - promoted to level D.
Dr Choon Wang, Dr Michelle Rendall - promoted to level E.
Wishing you all the best,
Professor Michael Ward
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I would like to start this message by acknowledging the sad passing of our much-valued colleague Professor Sisira Jayasuriya.
I arrived at Monash around the same time as Sisira did, and we spent quite a lot of time together over the years at conferences and on trips abroad, as his interest in development and mine in sustainability often intersected. While I learned lots about real economics from him, I learned even more about life from him. I am very grateful for his friendship, his wisdom, and all the good times.
Sisira will be widely missed as a colleague, mentor and friend. There will be a within-department memorial event for Sisira later this year. Gary Magee is leading the planning.
On another note, we are re-starting our research mentoring program, which we hope will encourage the culture of sharing knowledge and giving feedback to each other in a more formal way. This will encompass not only professors and more junior staff, but also peer-to-peer. We hope to further improve the collegial spirit by creating more interaction between people and exploiting opportunities to help each other out. Our aim is to create more positive externalities. This is a great opportunity for all of us, and it is how we get better as a department.
In the future, I am also interested in starting education mentoring. Many of you are teaching in innovative ways, but there is no systematic dissemination of your excellent ideas. This is something I would like to improve. I want us to be systematically across the evidence-based best practice in education. Both sharing ideas in education and creating more structure.
Finally, a thanks to all who contributed to our recruiting this year, and congratulations to all involved in helping select and recruit such wonderful and talented future colleagues.
Wishing you all the best for the year ahead.
Professor Michael Ward
2024
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As we approach the end of 2024, I’d like to take a moment to recognise two dear colleagues, Professor Phil Grossman and Professor Vai Lam Mui, who will be retiring in early 2025. It has truly been a pleasure working with you both, and I know the entire department joins me in expressing deep gratitude for your service and wishing you all the best in the exciting years ahead.
I would also like to extend our best wishes to Associate Professors Stephanie Fischer and Corey White, who have moved to Seattle to pursue new careers with Amazon. We’re thrilled for you both and wish you great success in this new chapter.
And while some leave us, we’re also welcoming new members to the department. We’re pleased to have Dr Mallory Avory joining us as the new MonLEE director, and also welcome recent additions Dr Alexander Haas and Dr Kate Huang. Additionally, we’re excited to have Associate Professor Gaurav Datt formally rejoining us after his years with the Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability.
This year brought some challenges, particularly around federal student caps and adjustments to teaching loads. Despite these uncertainties, the overarching story for our department is one of resilience and growth. The financial health of Monash Business School has fully rebounded since 2019, with our department reaching record revenues, and we anticipate continued strong financial performance in the years to come. Our student numbers have grown this year, and we expect this upward trend to continue into 2025, even with student caps. All this is very promising for the ongoing vitality of our department.
In addition to our success as a department, this year has also seen wonderful achievements by individual members.
A/Prof Gaurav Datt and Dr Emilia Tjernstrom, as well as A/Prof Paulo Santos have all been awarded impressive research grants.
A/Prof Rigissa Megalokonomou received the departmental Early Career research award.
A/Prof Chengsi Wang received the departmental Research award.
And the departmental Teaching award for 2023 was awarded to Dr Siew Ling Yew.
Dr Anupama Sethi and Dr Koh Geok May from the Malaysia School of Business have been jointly awarded the 2023 Department of Teaching Award.
Prof Erte Xiao was elected as a member of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences.
Colleagues who are among co-authors of top-five Economics papers for 2024 are Professor Arthur Campell, Dr Xiaodong Fan, Dr Kate Huang , Dr Gordon Leslie, Associate Professor Michelle Rendall and Professor Yves Zenou (x 2).
Finally, a huge thank you to Dr Jaai Parasnis and the Learning and Teaching committee for organising a very useful and successful education retreat.
Thank you all for your hard work and dedication. Here's to more growth and success together! Wishing you all the best for the holidays and a great year ahead!
Professor Michael Ward
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I would like first to acknowledge the work and life of our dear colleague Dr Ross Booth, who recently passed away. Ross taught the popular unit, Sports Economics in the department for many years, drawing on insights from his long involvement in sport from his days as player to his days as TV commentator.
Ross cared deeply about his students, both in Sports Economics and in the honours program for which he regularly volunteered as a research project advisor. To my knowledge, Ross was the longest serving member of our department ever, and of course he was a long-time good friend to many in the department, the university, and the community.
During his memorial service, we probably all learned something new about the wonderful person Ross was. I wish I had taken more time to connect with him beyond the professional basics. I hope we all keep in mind the value of regularly connecting with each other as colleagues and friends.
Later in the year I am looking forward to an important learning and teaching retreat. This is an area of our work that is changing so much. We have a lot of new challenges to talk about such as generative AI, take-home exams, ideas and experiences for great workshops, peer review of units and curriculum, and how to ensure that students are really learning for the long-term.
We’re doing well, but the way we teach is changing globally, and we must make sure we continue to provide a world-leading education. This short on-campus retreat will replace an ordinary department meeting, but hopefully it will be much more useful for everyone. We are open to ideas and want to make this both engaging and interesting. Please contact Jaai Parasnis if you have any suggestions.
Many of us in the department are taking the opportunity to work and travel during the winter break.
I look forward to seeing you all back in the department and I wish you all the best in your research as well as in planning your teaching for the next semester.
Professor Michael Ward
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Professor Michael Ward Happy New Year and welcome back!
As many of you know we have just completed a fantastic round of staff recruitment. We should all be very pleased with the outcome. This is a continuation of the excellent recruitment we have done over the last few years.
The reason we are so successful, I believe, is because the department has put in such a large effort, and I would like to thank each one of you for your time and efforts.
We had around 600 applications for researcher positions and interviewed 60 of those applicants. For each of the four available positions, we had four fly-outs. I’m convinced casting a wide net to hire has been an important part of our success.
It is a lot of work, but it is also an opportunity. It’s a privilege that we get to meet and listen to some of the brightest young researchers in the world. Their sharing of research with us is one of the highlights of our year. Thanks especially to the hiring committee and to our professional staff team for managing over 15 fly-outs.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Alexandr Haas, Wanying (Kate) Huang, Santiago Hermo, and Lisa Botbol (in order of acceptance) to the Department of Economics at Monash Business School.
The other big current event is of course the start of our teaching period for the year. It is clear that we are in a time of transition, and change always arrives with some friction.
We are in continuous constructive discussions with faculty and university management to improve areas including (but not limited to) timetabling and well-suited teaching spaces for our new workshop delivery model. However, let’s keep focused on the long run and on opportunities for better teaching and improved learning from interactive workshops.
It is my firm belief that we will look back on the current transition costs as a small price to pay relative to the benefits.
Professor Michael Ward
2023
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Professor Michael Ward Dear colleagues,
We are nearing the end of the year, and what great news to end it on. I couldn’t be more pleased with our recent Australian Research Centre (ARC) grant success. Huge congratulations to Dr Quinyuan Du, Professor Lata Gangadharan, Professor Erte Xiao and Professor Yves Zenou. Monash Business School Economics faculty received one-third of all Discovery Project grants this year. Our friends in Econometrics (EBS) and the Centre for Health Economics (CHE) also had grant success. It is very encouraging to see the number of both applicants and recipients of ARC grants from the department this year, given that the success rate in general for Economics from recent years has been very low. This is an indication that we should keep applying for grants, and it will pay off despite the recent headwinds for economics grants nationally. Given how important grants are for our research and also for our reputation within the university, this is very positive and hopeful. I hope we can all celebrate this success together.
Looking to the year ahead, one major change concerns our teaching, and this development is already taking shape. As all of you know, we will be moving towards workshops as the norm, and away from the system of lectures / seminars. Many students prefer recorded lectures only as they offer the choice of going back to enable learning, and we have seen that in diminished in-person lecture attendance. Of course, we also learned a lot about effective online materials during the pandemic and we need to continue to invest in quality online material with the support of our educational designers and learning and teaching committee.
In-person teaching is far from disappearing, however. On the contrary, we will have more interaction with students through a workshop model that is more interactive for face-to-face time. One simple model is to edit and update existing recorded lectures to get started with the online component, then in a two-hour workshop (a) spend half an hour reinforcing main points, taking questions, and applying to current events (b) half an hour of small group discussion or collaborative problem-solving and (c) an hour of whatever is currently covered in the tutorial. While that skips past many issues and details (such as ensuring students come to class prepared), the point is that a transition does not require wholesale reinvention of our already very high-quality teaching from day one. Rather, let’s get started down a simple transition, learn as we go, and continuously innovate and improve.
Based on feedback from those who have moved to workshops already, I suspect most people will thrive much more in a student-focused environment where our job will be to summarise, answer questions and instigate problem-solving, discussions and debate. The aim is to have better student experiences, better learning outcomes, and more job satisfaction once teaching moves away from traditional lecturing into more interactive workshops. I think this gives us a real opportunity to enjoy the teaching more once we have made the transition. The aim is for us to have mostly made the transition by the end of 2025. I encourage everyone to be curious, and I look forward to engaging with you all on this journey of change. That said, I am keenly aware that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. So, Jaai and I will be meeting individually with each of you to better understand the challenges you face, to gather ideas to be shared, and to learn what support you need.
As discussed in the last department meeting, we are also looking to restructure the research groups to tie them more closely to the research committee and improve our mentoring. In the new model, the research groups would have much more significant resources to spend as they vote on seminars, workshops, visitors, data, etc. Each group will also decide individually how they want mentoring to be carried out. They will also be much more involved in the screening of new applicants. We want to give them more autonomy, more authority and more responsibility.
Finally, a top priority for research suggested in our recent external review was to improve and strengthen our macroeconomics group. This is also an independent priority of the Dean. We have been investing a lot of effort into macro recruiting, and I think and hope it is likely we will have good news on this by the end of the usual first-quarter job cycle in economics.
With this, I would like to thank everyone for their hard work and enthusiasm this year. The department is fundamentally in fantastic shape, and our trajectory is clearly still up with so many wonderful new staff. Let’s all work together to make 2024 even better.
Professor Michael Ward
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Dear colleagues,
On Aug 22, we will gather to remember and honour our colleague and friend Prof Klaus Abbink. The date has been chosen so that members of his family can attend.
Klaus will be missed, and he will not be forgotten. Klaus was devoted to the students, especially in his experimental economics class and in the PhD milestones to which he contributed tirelessly. So, it is fitting we will be creating a student scholarship in his honour.
Despite that tragic start to the year, it is great to now welcome everyone back to the department after a well-earned semester break. Over the next few months, I also look forward to welcoming new colleagues Dan McGee, Filip Premik, Maxime Gravoueille, Moshe Hazan, and Ricardo Dahis. In addition to our very successful round of hires earlier in the year, we are now looking to recruit a junior position for Clayton campus.
I would like to spend a moment to reflect on the recent Department external review.
The executive summary commented on the dramatic improvement in the quality of research in teaching over the last ten years and noted that morale within the Department was high, with there being no obvious retention issues. The strong sense of inclusion among academic staff was also commented upon.
I’m delighted the panel saw the wonderful story here at Monash Economics. People have worked very hard to make this a great place. It’s not just the metrics, though the metrics are very strong.
For example, we have the highest student satisfaction in the faculty and the faculty has the highest in the university. Also, on almost every international ranking we are now in the top 50 research departments worldwide. We are no longer just another Australian department, but a department on the world stage.
I’m particularly pleased with the panel’s positive view on us as a group of colleagues. This is indicated, for example, by the “strong sense of inclusion” identified in the summary and by the comment elsewhere that “There is a strong culture in the Department -- it is a happy department.”
A happy and high performing department, that’s what we all want, and that’s what the review team saw here. So, congratulations everyone; you should all be proud of what we have accomplished together!
This feels fantastic. The good thing is the baseline about ten years ago was pretty good already, and we’ve come a very long way since then.
Yet there is still work to be done. We need to improve mentoring and further strengthen collegiality in the department. It is important that we help each other and work even better together. Since the pandemic there is a lot of working from home, but we also need to ensure a vibrant workplace atmosphere where we interact and learn from each other. We also need to work on having a bigger voice and more impact on Australian policy issues.
Restructured research groups will play a key role in the next steps. These will have more responsibility, and decision-making, and resources to host their own seminars, workshops, and visitors.
We will better align the research group structure with the Department research committee to streamline and improve communication and sharing of ideas further. And each group will have their own mentoring program. I encourage you all to explore and be creative in this area and to try out new things.
Professor Michael Ward
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Dear colleagues,
Ordinarily, at this time of year it is great to see all the students back on campus for the first semester and to interact with colleagues, discussing research and teaching, making plans for the year ahead. While this still holds true, these pleasures are overshadowed by the passing of our colleague and friend Professor Klaus Abbink. We received this news with deep sadness. Klaus will be greatly missed.
Many years ago, I was told by my department chair at the time that to build a great department you have to focus on three main things: recruit top quality people, manage so they have the time and resources to do great work, and retain them. If we do these, everything else for success follows. The new QS subject ranking last week put us at #1 in Australia and #34 in the world in economics and econometrics. Since this ranking includes both performance metrics and reputation metrics for both research and education, this is an indicator that our successes are being noticed.
We have just completed an unprecedented round of recruitment which has been very successful. It is with great pleasure that we welcome Professor Moshe Hazan. He fills this very important role in Macroeconomics. This is an area where we aim to make further investments, especially given that Macroeconomics is one of a Dean’s priority for engagement and impact investments.
Dr Maxime Gravouille (PSE), Dr Filip Premik (Minnesota) and Dr Ricardo Dahis (Northwestern) have all accepted positions with us. Their research will help strengthen several diverse areas such as public, labour, industrial organisation, development, political economy, and environmental. I’m very optimistic about these hires as they all bring new capabilities to the department while also fitting very well existing strengths.
With Rigissa Megalokonomou and Q.A. Do, who commenced earlier this year, this is a simply fantastic year for new colleagues.
In other news, Michelle Rendall, Stephen King and Mark Crosby have formed a working party engagement and impact strategy, coordination with Sascha Becker as Deputy Head. Also, a refresh of the Research group structure is under consideration. I hope to increase their decision making and financial resources this year. Finally, the new executive team is off to a strong start. I wish them, and all of you, the best in your endeavours.
Professor Michael Ward
2022
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Dear colleagues,
As we approach the end of the year I would first and foremost I would like to extend a big thank you to the leadership team that is now winding up.
Everybody has done truly a wonderful job. And I am very much looking forward to working with the new team, and I'm grateful to them for stepping up for these often under-appreciated but vital roles.
As our recent department review showed, the department is on a great trajectory. It is remarkable that the previous review, 13 years ago, stated that we “ranked towards the bottom of the Go8 departments in terms of high quality research outputs”.
Look where we are now. By almost any metric, we are now in the absolute top one or two in Australia and clearly in the top fifty internationally in research. While education rankings are not available, I’d be very surprised if we don’t compare equally well there; we certainly do within the university.
We owe a lot of that to the leadership of those who have been in Executive roles previously. I want to keep improving in all dimensions, and to improve in a way that makes people feel better off.
That requires always asking "why are we doing it this way". I want the new Executive committee to keep asking "why this way?” and making improvements as a result. This job is never really done, because new opportunities always emerge as you try new things.
Some areas are still in the midst of big changes. The PhD program has huge opportunities and also challenges.
For example, our new funded pre-PhD model will be coming online next year as well as a new PhD coursework model, and the university is likely to fundamentally change the financial rules so that we can offer our own tuition scholarships for PhD.
Teaching delivery is also in a period of significant change. With the pandemic, new technologies and new student demands have emerged. Our future has to be focused on delivering interactive and engaged learning experiences for students.
Other areas need fine-tuning, not wholesale change. For example, our curriculum has been through a massive overhaul the past 3 years.
Now is the time to consolidate the gains. Research is also going extremely well, but we can always do a better job of mentoring, career development, and supporting each other.
Finally, as we go into hiring season, I look forward to recruiting and meeting new colleagues. My wish for 2023 is that we all start enjoying each other’s company once again by fully returning to campus.
The sense of community in the department is so important. Let’s not forget each other, let’s work towards a thriving academic community and more intellectual exchanges in 2023.
Many thanks for all your hard work and contributions this year. Wishing you all joyful holidays ahead.
Professor Michael Ward
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Dear colleagues,
Congratulations again to newly promoted Prof Zhijun Chen and Associate Professors Laura Puzello and Paulo Santos.
Welcome in advance to Dr Rigissa Megalokonomou who will be joining as Associate Professor in early 2023, and congratulations also on her forthcoming AER publication entitled ‘Human Capital Depreciation’.
It is also great news that Dr Quoc-anh Do is joining us in January next year.
Also, a very warm welcome back to Professor Stephen King, our former dean and department colleague, into a part-time practice appointment.
Stephen never really left, since he has been a very engaged adjunct professor, but it's great to have him officially back on staff.
I am optimistic there will also be good news soon on the macroeconomics recruitment front, and perhaps exceptionally good news, but we will know in the fullness of time.
Professor Michael Ward
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Dear colleagues,
As you know, the Department of Economics is on a fantastic trajectory in research, education, and financial performance.
The COVID-delayed external review in November provides an excellent opportunity for us to reflect as a department on the next steps. That means continuing improvement in the areas where we are already strong, as well as broadening our areas of excellence such as active learning, research impact, external engagement and campus life.
The Department retreat at the end of June will take a deep dive into our self-review and strategic plan. A good plan is vital to our future, and to be good a plan must reflect our collective aspirations for the future.To ensure everyone's voice is heard, the retreat will include small break-out group discussions. Not everyone will agree on all points, but with transparency of discussion I expect we can build a common understanding of issues and constraints.
I believe these discussions will be pivotal in continuing our great academic trajectory, as well as in reinforcing the community of the department. I look forward to seeing you all there.
Professor Michael Ward
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I'd like to offer a warm welcome to our new colleagues Kaveh Majlesi, Mallory Avery, Sebastiano Della Lena, and Krisztina Orban (next month). And I look forward next year to the arrival of Quoc-Anh (QA) Do.
Unfortunately, there are also some goodbyes. Jeff LaFrance and Gennadi Kazakevitch have both retired following many years of distinguished service. Giovanni Caggiano will be departing and returning to Italy in March for family reasons. We are fortunate that Jeff, Gennadi and Giovanni all plan to maintain continuing affiliations with the department as adjunct or honorary colleagues.
The saddest goodbye is of course to Leo Simon, who passed away suddenly in January. Leo was a native Melburnian, and he had returned home for a portion of each year with a Monash affiliation after a long career at Berkeley. Leo was a generous colleague, a great economist, and a dear friend to many, including me. He will be sorely missed.
After two long years of pandemic lock-downs and closed campuses, we look forward in 2022 to reconnecting with colleagues and students, live on campus.
The department is in very good shape for the future, with excellent financials, ever-improving research performance, and some of the best teaching at Monash.
This has been a collective effort, so thanks to everyone who made it possible. It is a privilege to work with such wonderful colleagues at Monash Economics.
Professor Michael Ward
2021
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This latest lockdown has hit many particularly hard, and of course we all hope for a return to more normal times in 2022 and beyond. There will be a big hangover, especially from lost international commencements. There is also reason for optimism, and I can mention a few of these briefly.
Our student numbers for the Department are up over 15 per cent since before the COVID crisis. Our Master of Economics commencements are up in particular, and this has been a big strategic priority for us.
It is very likely we will be able to recruit at the junior level in the coming months. Relaxation of border restrictions appears on the horizon, and we plan to offer an Economics unit in Prato in July. Our research productivity in the best outlets continues to grow.
As you all know, we have made large investments into curriculum redesign and refreshment over the past few years, which are clearly working out very well.The next major set of changes proposed are likely to involve the Bachelor of Economics. We are in the initial consultations with colleagues from the EBS and B&F departments about some potentially really exciting revisions to the degree.
The aim is to create a strong peer cohort, rigorous technical training, strong professional pathways, and opportunities to specialise in focus areas such as quantitative economics, financial economics, or public policy.
With an eye to the professional pathways aim, we will need to develop more internship opportunities for students. If you have any good connections or leads for internships, please pass those on to Vinod.
Despite terrible circumstances, we are thriving professionally, and the trend is up on almost all dimensions. That said, many of us are struggling with homeschooling, social isolation, and the challenges of online teaching. Ideas on how we can collectively be more supportive of each other are most welcome.
Wishing you all the best.
Professor Michael Ward
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Congratulations to our newly promoted colleagues! Arthur Campbell, Paul Raschky, Wayne Geerling, Ayushi Bajaj, Gordon Leslie, Xiaodong Fan, Anupama Sethi, and Kris Ivanovski.
We are now expecting new colleagues Stefanie Fischer and Corey White to arrive in June. Kaveh Majlesi and Krisztina Orban are anticipated to arrive near the end of this year.
The Economics Department has continued to increase our student numbers this year and last year, despite the adverse circumstances. Most of this is due to a large strategic investment in new units and new programs, which is still an on-going process for us.
For example, the new Politics Philosophy and Economics (PPE) degree now has a healthy intake in its second year, and we anticipate more growth next year as word of mouth spreads.
The Department currently contributes to well over ten different degree programs and we are working on more. One exciting proposed new program is offering the Economics major through the Bachelor of Arts as well as Bachelor of Commerce, which is how for example our friends in Parkville manage things.
I believe we are likely to have a formal role in fifteen or more degree programs by 2023, which gives us both broad educational impact and a highly diversified business in a risky time. We'll give a full accounting of all our curriculum initiatives in the upcoming department self-review.
Many people have contributed to new or revised programs and units, too many to list by name, but we all owe thanks to those who have contributed to the design and delivery of these many initiatives.
With all the new business and new students, we will be making the case soon for at least one strategic hire to help continue those investments. Recruiting leads are very welcome.
Professor Michael Ward
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2020 was another very strong year of teaching for Economics, despite the adversity of pandemic. Once again, as in the previous few years, Economics had the highest average student evaluations of any department in the Faculty. This takes a team effort, and there are many to thank. I would like to acknowledge the teaching associates who provided so much of the front-line small group teaching experience, each of the chief examiners who so effectively ran the units, and of course the members and leaders of the Education and the Learning and Teaching committees.
We are clearly delivering a good level of satisfaction in how we teach. What we teach is of course at least as important. I will recap a few of the recent developments in curriculum, and foreshadow others. There is so much to cover that I’ll just note in one sentence each of the major initiatives, but it is useful to see it all together to get a sense of how much innovation is underway.
In 2020, we launched the new Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics; restructured our economics majors in both Clayton and Caulfield to provide more choice and better integration; restructured the Masters, refocused it as a professional degree, and introduced specialisations such as Development Economics; integrated some of the PhD and Honours coursework; and taught more than five new units on topics including Networks, Energy, Big Data and China.
For 2021 and beyond, initiatives (both exploratory and already approved) include new specialisations on International Business Economics for the Master of Business and Master of Business Leadership; a new Economics specialisation in the Bachelor of Data Science; an innovative multi-campus unit with Malaysia and eventually Indonesia; a summer and possibly eventual full semester in our Prato Italy campus; a new graduate diploma of Economic Analytics; the restructure of the PhD program; a broad new partnership with Arts, and again over five new units on topics such as the Internet, Growth, Cost-Benefit, and Finance. That’s quite a lot, and I’ve left out dozens of smaller initiatives. Most of us are involved in a few parts of this, putting it all together I hope this gives the department a broader overview of just how much change and innovation is going on.
The hope of course is that this will serve the students well and keep the department thriving well into the future.
Professor Michael Ward