Macquarie University Economics Professor David Throsby, world authority on  the economic benefits of the arts and culture, presented the 51st Joseph Fisher Lecture at the University of Adelaide on 16 August 2006. The Fisher Lecture has been delivered biennially since 1904, and is one of Australia's most prestigious public lectures. It commemorates businessman and philanthropist Joseph Fisher whose endowment of $1,0000 reflected his interests in liberal markets and non-interventionist government. Previous Fisher lecturers have included Sir Robert Menzies, Sir Roland Wilson, Dr H.C. Coombs and Professor Max Corden.

The Joseph Fisher  Lecture was titled "Paying for the Past: Economics, Cultural Heritage and Public Policy". Professor Throsby addressed the economics of heritage, "cultural capital", a new area of considerable interest in theoretical and applied economics. Cultural heritage provides both private and public benefits to the community, and economists have been busy devising ways to measure the non-market benefits of heritage as a basis for informing public policy. He opined that while present government policy in Australia recognises the existence of market failure, current estimates of demand for the public-good benefits of heritage suggest that not enough support for heritage conservation is being provided. "The recent Productivity Commission report into Australia's cultural heritage provides a useful overview of current policy and institutional structures, but there are serious weaknesses in some of its recommendations."

About the Speaker

Professor of Economics at Macquarie University since 1974. Internationally known for his work in the economics of the arts and culture, including "Economics and Culture" (Cambridge University Press, 2001).

His book 'The Economics of the Performing Arts', co-authored with Glenn Withers, first published in 1979 and reissued in 1993, has become a standard reference work in the field, and has been translated into five languages.  In addition to the performing arts, Professor Throsby’s research and writing has covered the economic role of artists, the economics of public intervention in arts markets, cultural development, cultural policy, heritage issues, and sustainability of cultural processes.  He has also written extensively on the theory of public goods and the economics of higher education.  His most recent book, Economics and Culture, was published in 2001 by Cambridge University Press.  

David Throsby holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Sydney, and a PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics.  He has been Professor of Economics at Macquarie University in Sydney since 1974.  He has been a consultant to the World Bank, the OECD, FAO and UNESCO as well as many government organisations and private firms.  In 1990-1992 he chaired three of the Prime Minister’s Working Groups on Ecologically Sustainable Development.  He was a member of the Experts' Committee drafting the UN Convention on Cultural Diversity in 2003 -2004.

Professor Throsby has held numerous position on Boards and Committees, including President of the NSW Branches of the Australian Agricultural Economics Society and the Economic Society of Australia, President of the Association for Cultural Economics International, and Foundation Chair of the National Association for the Visual Arts.  He has served on the Boards of the Australian Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Copyright Agency Limited and VISCOPY.  He is also currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Cultural Economics, the International Journal of Cultural Policy, Poetics, and the Pacific Economic Bulletin.  

David Throsby is listed in Who’s Who in Australia and Who’s Who in Economics (3rd edn.).

Alumni Lecture: "Does Australia need a cultural policy?"

Speaker: Professor David Throsby
Date: Tuesday 31 October 2006
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Function Room, Level 3, SAM Building (C10A), Macquarie University

Contact: Skaidy Gulbis

Phone: 9850 4774