About Me
My interests in economics of commodity markets, innovation and intellectual property date from my early experiences on my family’s sheep station in New South Wales, Australia. I received a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics (First Class honors) from the University of New England, Armidale, and won a Frank Knox Fellowship to Harvard University, where I received a Ph.D. in Economics. I then joined Yale University’s Economics Department and am now a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, recently ranked top in its field in research and reputation by the United States National Research Council.
My research interests include economics of markets for storable commodities, agricultural policy, invention incentives, intellectual property rights, public finance, the economics of research and development, and the economics of conservation and innovation of genetic resources. I have co-authored or co-edited books including Storage and Commodity Markets; Reforming Agricultural Commodity Policy; Saving Seeds: The Economics of Conserving Genetic Resources at the CGIAR Centers, Accessing Biodiversity and Sharing the Benefits: Lessons from Implementing the Convention on Biodiversity.
I have published extensively in the leading journals in economics (including four of the top five general journals in economics) and agricultural economics, and in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, The Handbook of Plant Biotechnology, and Crop Science.
I am a leading international expert on the economics of intellectual property rights, genetic resources and their conservation, and commodity markets and their stabilization. I am a widely sought speaker on these and related topics, including at two World Grain Fora, the Beijing Forum, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the World Bank, the Milken Institute, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. I have served on two National Academies Panels. I am a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economic Association (AAEA), a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and a winner of the AAEA Frederick V. Waugh Memorial Medal, Quality of Research Discovery Award, and Publication of Enduring Quality Award.
My research interests include economics of markets for storable commodities, agricultural policy, invention incentives, intellectual property rights, public finance, the economics of research and development, and the economics of conservation and innovation of genetic resources. I have co-authored or co-edited books including Storage and Commodity Markets; Reforming Agricultural Commodity Policy; Saving Seeds: The Economics of Conserving Genetic Resources at the CGIAR Centers, Accessing Biodiversity and Sharing the Benefits: Lessons from Implementing the Convention on Biodiversity.
I have published extensively in the leading journals in economics (including four of the top five general journals in economics) and agricultural economics, and in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, The Handbook of Plant Biotechnology, and Crop Science.
I am a leading international expert on the economics of intellectual property rights, genetic resources and their conservation, and commodity markets and their stabilization. I am a widely sought speaker on these and related topics, including at two World Grain Fora, the Beijing Forum, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the World Bank, the Milken Institute, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. I have served on two National Academies Panels. I am a Fellow of the American Agricultural Economic Association (AAEA), a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and a winner of the AAEA Frederick V. Waugh Memorial Medal, Quality of Research Discovery Award, and Publication of Enduring Quality Award.