As an economist, I think it is important to promote my work and actively take part in policy debates in various arenas, including the media. My study entitled “Internet usage and educational outcomes among 15-year old Australian” received significant media attention worldwide. For example, the study featured in news stories by CNN, CBS, The Guardian, The Times of London, and Toronto Star internationally. Domestically, the study was covered by most major newspapers and television outlets, including The Australia, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, as well as ABC News 24, SBS World News, 9 News, 10 News, and 7 News. This study was cited hundreds of time in the international media over August and September 2016. Recently, I was also asked by the Australian Institute of International Affairs to write a piece about Venezuela-Colombia relations in light of the Venezuelan's government choice to expel a large number of Colombian migrants in that country. The piece argues that severe economic mismanagement has caused chaos in Venezuela. Therefore President Nicolás Maduro is using Colombian migrants as a scapegoat. I wrote a piece for The Conversation on the implications of Cuba-US renewed diplomatic relations for the rest of the Latin American region, particularly Neo-Socialist countries. I was invited by Radio 2SER in Sydney to discuss the Venezuelan crisis. I talked about how out-of-control government expenditure coupled with price ceilings lead to the worse economic crisis in Venezuela’s history. The crisis is a story of bad policies and unsustainable practices with important lessons for the Latin American region and beyond. I have also been interviewed in ABC Weekend Breakfast with Andrew Geoghegan and Eliza Harvey, ABC NewsRadio Drive with Tracey Holmes and in Breakfast with Red Symons on ABC Melbourne about how our recent research on sports economics and player productivity can be used to predict the chances of the Australian team making it past the group stage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Unfortunately for the Socerroos, this does not look likely! The Australian Financial Review featured several stories by RMIT researchers including a snapshot of what Simon Feeny, Lachlan McDonald and I (with collaboration with many others) have been doing in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. The story highlights various features of our work, including our finding that women in these societies bear a substantial burden of the adjustment to macroeconomic shocks, at the household level. A shorter version of this piece can be found here. |