Economics on the Swan with Andrew Leigh

The Economic Society of Australia (WA Branch) is delighted to welcome The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP as the keynote speaker for the first 2025 event in its Economics on the Swan series.

Join us for a (light) breakfast event at The University Club (UWA Campus) on Tuesday, 11 March from 7:30am. Andrew’s talk, "Why Competition Reform Is More Fun Than It Looks – and More Significant Than You Thought", will commence at 8:00am and the event will conclude by 9:00am.

Topic: Using bigger datasets, better econometric techniques and fresh theories, economists have provided new insights on trends in market concentration and the relationship between competition and productivity. The Australian Government’s establishment of a Competition Taskforce within the Treasury reflects the importance we place on competition reform. Already, we have implemented the biggest overhaul of merger laws in half a century, revitalised National Competition Policy and instated key reforms to check the monopoly and monopsony power of big supermarkets. In this talk, I will discuss how research and reform have been intertwined, and what lies ahead for economists and policymakers.

Speaker Bio: Andrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. His books include The Economics of Just About Everything (2014), The Luck of Politics (2015), Choosing Openness: Why Global Engagement is Best for Australia (2017), Randomistas: How Radical Researchers Changed Our World (2018), What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics (2021), and The Shortest History of Economics (2024). Andrew is a keen Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, and hosts a podcast called The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation, about living a happier, healthier and more ethical life. Andrew is the father of three sons - Sebastian, Theodore and Zachary, and lives with his wife Gweneth in Canberra. He has been a member of the Australian Labor Party since 1991.