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.
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Apr 04, 2021 09:36 am UTC| Economy Investing
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What if Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus plan is too big?
Feb 12, 2021 07:55 am UTC| Politics Economy
Its not often centre-left economists disagree with each other let alone get into a stoush. But its what happened over the last week. On February 5 former US Treasury Secretary and National Economic Council Chair Larry...
Biden's economic centrism isn't exciting, but right for these divisive times
Jan 22, 2021 07:33 am UTC| Economy
In an age of hyperpartisan politics, the Biden presidency offers a welcome centrism that might help bridge the divides. But it is also Bidens economic centrism that offers a chance to cut through what has become an...
Sure, the US election is gerrymandered, but so are others, and its hard to stop
Nov 08, 2020 11:07 am UTC| Insights & Views
At the time of writing we dont yet know who will win the US presidential election. But we do know this for sure: Donald Trump will be able to win with less than half the votes cast. Put another way, Joe Biden will be...
We'll never cut unemployment to 0%, but less than 4% should be our goal
Oct 30, 2020 07:51 am UTC| Economy
One of the most concerning things that happens in any recession is the spike in unemployment. The COVID-19-induced recession in Australia and around the world is no exception other than perhaps the magnitudes...
50 years ago Milton Friedman told us greed was good. He was half right
Sep 20, 2020 05:57 am UTC| Economy
The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed for lack of a better word is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its...
This university funding crisis was always coming – COVID-19 just accelerated it
Aug 14, 2020 15:18 pm UTC| Insights & Views
In the early 1930s a 21-year-old undergraduate at the London School of Economics asked a great question during his summer research project: if my economics professors are right that markets are an efficient way to allocate...
Trade War Escalates: China Strikes Back