Home page and About Me
LAST UPDATED DEC 2011
Thank you for viewing my page. It was created to store and share some of my work and I hope you enjoy what I have here to share.
I am an Australian / Irish human development specialist and econometrician, currently working at the Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC) in their Brisbane headquarters.
Current areas of projects and research at FDC include:
- financial inclusion and microfinance networks;
- youth development policy issues (demographic, economic, social and institutional) in the Pacific;
- regional trade agreements and the asymmetric costs/benefits to signatories;
- payments for ecosystem services for poverty alleviation;
- social enterprise and sustainability in the private sector; and
- the resource sector and sustainable development.
Some of my current personal research interests are:
- migration, remittances and brain drain/gain in the Pacific;
- social performance measurement in the financial inclusion sector;
- cross-border fiscal effects and economic interdependence; and
- the human development/resource dependence nexus.
I completed my Master's degree in Development Economics at the University of Queensland in 2010 and then went on to do a short course with the United Nations Development Programme and Central European University in Sustainable Human Development. I also hold Bachelor's degrees in International Trade and Finance (Economics) and International Business (Business Management), and have five years experience across the international development (NGO), finance (private) and government (public) sectors.
My masters thesis provided the first empirical evidence of cross-border fiscal multipliers, using Australia/China and US/Canada case studies. One case study was presented at the WEAI 2011 conference. Different components of my thesis are currently under review for journal submissions. Of particular interest, we found that Chinese fiscal spending has a significant negative effect on output growth in Australia,and are currently investigating the extent to which this might be from increased commodity demand crowding-out manufacturing and services sectors which account for most of the country's employment. This would be consistent with other findings on the current 'productivity paradox' in Australia and is the only realistic rationalisation we have for this negative multiplier at the moment.
I was recently listed on the Scientific Committee for COST MANAGEMENT, with an upcoming conference and special issue on cost management and social performance in microfinance. The conference page is: http://item3.weebly.com/index.html
I am open to collaboration on any of my working papers (or perhaps one of yours where I may lend my skills and knowledge) and feedback is always most welcome. Please feel free to contact me for any further information via the 'Contact' page, as I am open to connecting with people with similar professional interests and passions from around the world. Follow me on twitter @ryanbedwards..
All the best,
Ryan
| us-canada-weai5b15d1.pdf |
Relaxing at the Sunshine Coast
