Emeritus Professor Kym Anderson AC

1. Tell us about yourself and some career highlights

Having grown up in rural South Australia, I was attracted to UNE for its rural location and because it had specialized degrees in agricultural economics and rural science. But I expected my career would broaden beyond things agricultural, because I wanted to focus on issues that promoted economic development and reduced poverty and inequality. Openness to international trade seemed an important enabler, so I specialized in that field as a graduate student at the University of Chicago and Stanford University in the mid-1970s, and subsequently as a Research Fellow at ANU’s Institute for Advanced Studies. While based at ANU I was granted leave to take up a Ford Foundation Fellowship in International Economics that allowed me to spend a fascinating year of research in South Korea. After moving to the University of Adelaide in 1984 I had two subsequent periods of extended leave, one leading the research program at the GATT Secretariat (now the World Trade Organization) in Geneva (1990-92), the other as Lead Economist in Trade Policy at the World Bank in Washington DC (2004-07). During 2010-17 I also served on the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington DC), chairing it from 2015. I became a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2015 and have since received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Adelaide and become an Honorary Life Member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia and a Distinguished Alumnus of UNE.

2. Did you study online or on campus? How was your UNE study experience?

When I was an undergrad (1967-70) there were just 1500 students on campus (not counting the 3000 external students). With much socializing centred on the campus’s residential colleges where we all lived, it was possible to get to know a large proportion of the student body over those four years. To me it felt like we were a large happy family in an ideal environment, free of many of the stresses my school friends were feeling in large capital-city universities.

3. Please provide comments on your UNE lecturers/professors

The faculty were excited to be in one of the best agricultural economics groups in the southern hemisphere at that time. They were extremely friendly toward students, devoted teachers, and were able to bring out the best in us. They taught at the frontier of knowledge, and many were pushing out that frontier with their research and publications. Several of them were actively engaged in international consulting/conferencing/board activities. They shared their travel experiences with students as much as with staff on their return, via seminars and social events. The world was their oyster, and they dared us to hope it could be ours too.

4. What was your end goal when you started your degree?

I was fortunate to have a cadetship with the South Australian Department of Agriculture, which generously financed my undergrad studies. It meant I was required to work in that Department for the first three years after graduating, but that was excellent practical experience before I took up doctoral studies in the United States in pursuit of my long-term interests in international trade and economic development.

5. How are you using what you learned in your degree in your professional life?

UNE in the 1960s provided an extremely solid training in applied, policy-relevant economics and quantitative methods that set students up for making an impact in a wide range of careers in government, business, international organizations, NGOs and academia. We were also taught how to do meaningful research, helped by having a 4-year degree in which everyone, not just honours students, wrote a thesis. That of course was especially useful for those of us who eventually chose academic careers, but it ensured we all had sufficient analytical capability to hit the ground running when we graduated.

6. What are your plans for the future?

I am now an Emeritus Professor at Adelaide and ANU and so have more time to engage in a range of pro bono activities, research, book-writing, consultancies and the like, and of course to spend more of each week with family.

7. What does living in South Australia mean to you?

My wife and I greatly enjoyed a few years in Canberra after studying in the US. In the back of our minds we imagined we might eventually return to South Australia, at least to retire. But in a trip back to visit extended family in 1983 we were amazed at how Adelaide had been transformed under Don Dunstan’s leadership as State Premier though the 1970s. Since a vacancy in the University of Adelaide’s Economics Department was on offer, we decided to take it and to settle on a farm in the Adelaide Hills. We’ve never regretted it: in addition to being close to extended family, the city and its surrounds offer a culturally rich life and wonderful food, wine, beaches, clean air – and short commutes to campus and an international airport. Life is better than good here, it’s great!