Director, Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology
Professor Beth Webster is the Director of the Centre for Transformative Innovation at Swinburne University of Technology. Her area of study is the economics of how knowledge is created and diffuses through the economy. On these topics alone she has authored over 100 articles in outlets such as RAND Journal of Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Oxford Economic Papers, Journal of Law & Economics and Cambridge Journal of Economics. She has been appointed to a number of committees including the Lomax-Smith Base funding Review; CEDA Advisory Council; the Bracks Automotive review; the Advisory Council for Intellectual Property; the European Policy for Intellectual Property Association; the Economic Society of Victoria and the Asia Pacific Innovation Conference. She is also holds honorary research positions at the Universities of Melbourne, Oxford and Tasmania.
She has a PhD (economics) from the University of Cambridge and economics degrees from Monash University.
R&D tax incentives need to be simple and underpin investor confidence
Oct 04, 2016 07:47 am UTC| Insights & Views Law Economy
Few examples of Australian tax policy are subject to as frequent change as the Research Development tax subsidy, again under review by the federal government. Substantive changes to the rules have occurred every five of...
So what do we really know about entrepreneurship?
Aug 16, 2016 13:33 pm UTC| Insights & Views Business
The first thing is that the term entrepreneurship means different things to different people. So the starting point of any discussion is to agree not to use the term. People often mean start-ups new businesses when they...
PC report on industry assistance needs to go beyond just reporting costs
Jul 29, 2016 07:29 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology
The recently released Productivity Commission (PC) Trade Assistance Review is a competent and thorough estimate of the costs of industry assistance. But missing, as always, are estimates of their benefits. To be fair, the...
Flat-earth economists lead the hysteria over budget deficits
Jun 09, 2016 08:55 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Back in the good old days of the 19th century when market economies oscillated between boom and prolonged recession, economists believed that nations were like households. They had to balance their budgets. If they spent...
There’s an extra $1 billion on the table for NT schools. This could change lives if spent well
Political donations rules are finally in the spotlight – here’s what the government should do