Senior Lecturer, Finance, Curtin University
Lee Smales is a senior lecturer in Curtin University's School of Economics & Finance. Before joining Curtin, Lee was an associate lecturer with University of New South Wales where he also completed his PhD in finance.
Prior to embarking on his academic career, Lee spent 8 years working for a major U.S. investment bank trading foreign-exchange and interest rate derivatives. Lee’s research interests are closely aligned with this prior career and focus on financial markets, and in particular the market response to news-events and the impact of prevailing sentiment and microstructure on this reaction.
Lee has published in leading journals including the Journal of Banking & Finance, Journal of Financial Research, Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Accounting & Finance, The Economic Record, and the Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money.
Lee has won awards for research (CBS New Researcher of the Year, 2013) and teaching (CBS New Teacher of the Year, 2014) and is also a CFA Charterholder.
Explainer: what is reflation and is Australia experiencing it?
Apr 26, 2017 07:56 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Since the 2007 global financial crisis, policy makers have been fighting deflationary (falling prices) and disinflationary (prices rising at slow rate) pressures. But the global economy finally appears to be entering...
Three reasons businesses are paying higher dividends rather than investing
Mar 03, 2017 06:36 am UTC| Insights & Views Business Investing
Typically, low interest rates, together with record profits, would create an environment in which businesses would be happy to invest in new projects providing a boost to economic growth and jobs. Unfortunately,...
Why markets care what businesses are buying
Jan 03, 2017 00:08 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
How we track our economy influences everything from government spending and taxes to home lending and business investment. In our series The Way We Measure, were taking a close look at economic indicators to better...
Perfect storm of events could trigger the next financial crisis
Jul 10, 2016 20:58 pm UTC| Insights & Views
Back in 2007, the first signs of stress in the US housing market were starting to appear. Managed investment funds at Bear Sterns and BNP Paribas were forced to close, or suspend payments, as they were unable to liquidate...
An uncertain election result may lead to stagnant financial markets
Jul 03, 2016 11:49 am UTC| Insights & Views
For the second time in the space of ten days, it appears that betting markets and pollsters have got it wrong. First, despite odds showing a 90% likelihood of Remain winning, the UK voted to Leave the European Union in its...
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