Economist Professor Richard Holden FASSA today formally takes over as President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, succeeding Distinguished Professor Jane Hall FASSA FAHMS.

Professor Holden will serve as President for three years and is keen to strengthen the public-facing profile of the Academy.

“I think it’s going to be an exciting and interesting time ahead as we move into the second half of our century as an Academy,” says Professor Holden.

Richard Holden is Professor of Economics at UNSW Business School, director of the Economics of Education Knowledge Hub @UNSWBusiness, co-director of the New Economic Policy Initiative and is the current editor of the Journal of Law and Economics. Prior to that, he was on the faculty at the University of Chicago and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

His research focuses on contract theory, organizational economics, law and economics, and political economy. He has written on topics including network capital, political districting, the boundary of the firm, incentives in organizations, mechanism design, voting rules, and blockchain.