Bio of Professor John Quiggin
John Quiggin has been an active member of the Australian economics profession since joining the (then) Bureau of Agricultural Economics (now ABARES) in the late 1970s. Apart from two temporary appointments in the United States, he has spent his entire career in Australia, at the University of Sydney, the Australian National University and James Cook University. Since 2002 he has been at the University of Queensland. As of 2024, he is semi-retired, with a primary focus on public engagement.
Although he has worked on a great many topics, his abiding interests have been decision theory, resource and environmental economics and Australian public policy. He has published 10 books and over 250 journal articles. Recent and forthcoming books include Western Welfare Capitalisms in Good Times and Bad (2023), After Neoliberalism (2024) and Public Policy and Climate Change: Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
Quiggin has followed the path of earlier generations of Australian economists (notably including agricultural economists) who saw it as part of their job to take an active part in debates on public policy. While some of his contributions have been made through academic publications, the greater part has been addressed to the public at large. He has written numerous ‘trade’ books, published in paperback and aimed at a general audience. Recent examples are Zombie Economics: How Dead Ideas Still Walk Among Us and Economics in Two Lessons: Why Markets Work so Well, and Why they can Fail so Badly.
As well as commenting regularly in print and broadcast media, Quiggin has been very active in exploring the potential of new media. In 2002, he established what is now Australia’s longest-running political blog at johnquiggin.com.
In political terms, Quiggin advocates a mixed economy, with democratic social control over sectors of the economy where competitive markets cannot deliver adequate outcomes, including infrastructure, health and education, underpinned by a public commitment to full employment.
Prof Quiggin visited Norfolk Island in March 2024 without professional fee and delivered two lectures on governance.