Professor of Economics and PLuS Alliance Fellow, UNSW
Richard Holden is Professor of Economics at the UNSW Australia Business School and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow from 2013-2017.
Prior to that he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a PhD from Harvard University in 2006, where he was a Frank Knox Scholar.
His research focuses on contract theory, law and economics, and political economy. He has written on topics including: political districting, the boundary of the firm, incentives in organizations, mechanism design, and voting rules.
Professor Holden has published in top general interest journals such as the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
He is currently editor of the Journal of Law and Economics, and is the founding director of the Herbert Smith Freehills Inititative on Law & Economics at UNSW.
He has been a Visiting Professor of Economics at the MIT Department of Economics and Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School.
His research has been featured in press articles in such outlets as: The New York Times, The Financial Times, the New Republic, and the Daily Kos.
What the neoliberalism-hating left should love about markets
Mar 11, 2022 16:54 pm UTC| Economy
It is fashionable these days to dunk on markets. Show me something bad in the world and Ill show you someone blaming it on neoliberalism. Our collective failure to tackle climate change thats the fault of...
Australian unemployment steady at 4.2%, but it will need to go lower still to lift wages
Feb 18, 2022 04:52 am UTC| Economy
Thursday brought news that Australias official unemployment rate in January remained at a historically low 4.2%. In parliament, Prime Minister Scott Morrision boasted of the nation being on track to achieve a rate with a 3...
Vital Signs: Albanese to come clean on emissions targets, but a carbon price is still hush-hush
Dec 04, 2021 01:56 am UTC| Economy
The Australian Labor Party is set to announce its target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions today. At the 2016 and 2019 elections, Labor promised net zero emissions by 2050 and a cut of 45% on 2005 levels by 2030....
Marketing is getting in the way of markets that could get us to net-zero
Nov 13, 2021 07:33 am UTC| Economy
This week the prime minister entered full marketing mode. Scott Morrisons topic was climate change and his plans to get to net-zero. At the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday, he tried out a few...
Nov 06, 2021 07:59 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Heres a story from the Bible. As far as I know, its the first reported instance of the branch of economics known as implementation theory. Its from the First Book of Kings, Chapter 3, starting at Verse 16. Two women...
Laugh at the US if you will, but Australia narrowly escaped a debt ceiling
Oct 09, 2021 08:11 am UTC| Economy
The United States government is scheduled to hit its debt ceiling of US$28.4 billion on or around October 18. The US debt ceiling isnt like the limit on a credit card, which is imposed by the lender worried about the...
Australia's 4.6% unemployment rate hints at what's possible, but it's not the real thing
Aug 22, 2021 01:17 am UTC| Economy
This week provided a first tiny glimpse into the labour-market fallout from Australias recent lockdowns. Australian Bureau of Statistics published the wage price index for the June quarter yesterday, showing sluggish...
African countries lost control to foreign mining companies – the 3 steps that allowed this to happen
Silencing Sarah Jama diminishes Canadian democracy
Alleged assassination plots in the U.S. and Canada signal a more assertive Indian foreign policy