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Welcome to my economics page. This page contains an assortment of material that I have written during my undergraduate, honours and PhD studies. It also contains some material I have used in teaching as well as miscellaneous other economics related material.

• Why Study Economics ?
• My Work

Why study Economics ?

Economists aim to provide decision makers with the information on what is the most 'efficient' use of scarce resources. This is different to saying that economists provide information on the 'best' use of resources. Sometimes the best alternative will be the most economically efficient one, however sometimes other factors may need to be considered in making the best decision.

I enjoy my field of study greatly and I am often dismayed by the way economics is misrepresented in society and the media. Too often, accounting and cost reducing policies are passed off as 'economic rationalism' when in fact these policies have very little if any economic basis.

I am also dismayed by the way in which those who are negatively effected by such 'false economics' are so quick to criticise economists and the discipline, without realising that the tools of economics can often be used to defeat 'false economics'.

For example, economic analysis in health care. Economics as a discipline is now developing measures of health output which incorporate both qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Cost-cutting measures passed off as 'economics' could then be fought be demonstrating that the reduction in output (because of the reduced quality) bought about, are in fact leading to inefficiency.

I therefore believe that economists have a continuing role in society and would suggest that those looking for a challenging career should at least look at it.

My Work

I am currently a post-graduate student with the School of Policy (Economics), Newcastle University.

From July 1997 to Dec 2001 I was employed as a part-time/casual tutor with the department. I have taught tutorials in first, second and third year microeconomics and first year macroeconomics. My main research interests are in the economics of the Internet and telecommunications. However I am also interested in health economics and other areas of applied microeconomic theory.

The links below are an assortment of items I have written predominantly during the last year of my undergraduate degree or during my honours or postgraduate degree. Feel free to quote from these if you wish however please acknowledge/cite me as the source if you use an original item of my work.

Note. Only the first two items could be considered refereed. (the first because it was refereed prior to acceptance and the second because it was assessed and passed with a 1A grade)

However the others should all be regarded asl unrefereed/unpublished articles so it may pay to go to the original sources cited in the bibliographies in case I have interpreted material differently.

• A 'Characteristics' Approach to Content Regulation and Consumer Choice' . A conference paper I presented which enabled me to combine my research interst in economics with my interest in the effects of censorship and content regulation.

• Easing the Internet Traffic Jam: A Comparison of Capacity Expansion and Congestion Tolls as Means of Alleviating Internet Congestion - my honours thesis (approx. 10 000 words)

• Externalities: Implications for Allocative Efficiency and Suggested Solutions- a 300 level microeconomics essay which discusses the standard negative/positive externalities and approaches to dealing with them. A succinct summary of the area for those wanting a lead in to the area. (approx. 2500 words)

• A Game Theory Analysis of the Browser Wars - honours level microeconomics paper which uses game theory to attempt to explain the continual innovation of web browsers. Very limited in its scope and assumed behavior, but it might provide some useful ideas.(approx. 2000 words)

• Moral Hazard in Insurance Markets - moral hazard is a problem of hidden information which occurs in insurance markets. This honours paper introduces one way of analysing and explaining moral hazard. (approx. 2000 words)

• The History of Pastoral Leases in Australia and The Economic Implications of the 'Wik' Decision - written in 1997 as part of an honours course. The 'Wik' decision by the High Court of Australia ruled that the native title rights of Aborigines was not extinguished by the granting of pastoral leases. This paper provides a brief chronology of the evolution of pastoral leases in Australia and discusses the possible implications of the Wik decision. (approx. 4000 words)