CMD Newsletters

CMD Newsletters

  • December 2019

    News from the Centre for Market Design

    We are delighted to report we have received the 2019 Excellence in Engagement - Public Value Award from the University of Melbourne.

    It is the second Excellence in Engagement Award for the CMD in two years and recognises our collaborations with various stakeholders.

    We are also celebrating two individual awards presented by the Faculty of Business and Economics: Simon Loertscher has received the Prize for Exceptional Distinction in Research Training and David Byrne received the Carol Johnston Teaching Excellence Award.

    Australian Research Council Discovery grant

    The CMD Director Simon Loertscher and Advisory Board member Leslie Marx, have been awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery grant to work on Incomplete Information Models for Industrial Organisation. They aim to develop practical tools to evaluate the competitive effects of changes to market structure and content.

    Future Fellowship

    Professor Tom Wilkening, CMD Deputy Director, has been awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship aimed at improving the way land is reallocated.

    Gender research

    CMD affiliate Dr Maria Recalde is investigating how to help close labour market gender gaps, under her Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.

    Solving waste problems

    A report by CMD Director of Policy, Gary Stoneham, has been published by Infrastructure Victoria (IV) as it seeks to find new ways to manage Victoria's waste.

    Gary and his team are working on phase two of IV's waste sector reform project, to report to the Victorian Government on applying microeconomic reform to help solve waste and recycling problems.

    The report is published on the IV website along with IV's interim report.

    Project updates

    Bolstering biosecurity

    The first phase (theory) of the CMD's three-phase project with the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources to improve Australia's biosecurity system has been completed. A paper has been submitted for publication.

    Biodiversity offsets

    The CMD has been funded by the Office of Environment and Heritage New South Wales to design, create and implement a market for biodiversity offsets.

  • August 2019

    News from the Centre for Market Design

    The Centre for Market Design is now in its third phase of operation, as a university research centre following six successful years working as a consortium in partnership with the Commonwealth and Victorian Treasuries.

    We thank our outgoing Board members for their innovation and commitment to the CMD since its inception in 2012 and look forward to collaborating with our new Advisory Board, Directors and affiliates.

    Our excellence in building capability, applying economic design to policy and producing high quality research continues.  Read our 2018 Annual Report HERE.

    We thank you for your interest in the CMD and look forward to updating you further on our operation later this year. Please read on for recent news on the CMD.

    Simon Loertscher, Director

    Leadership team

    We welcome two new Deputy Directors – Professor Tom Wilkening and Dr Alexandru Nichifor – to our leadership team in 2019.  Tom and Alex have long been affiliates at the CMD and we are enthusiastic about the energy they bring to the CMD. We also welcome two new Post-doctoral Fellows to the CMD this year - Andy Wu and Byeong-hyeon Jeong.  We plan to appoint another Post-doctoral Fellow in 2020.

    Next generation of market designers arrive for Hordern Winter School

    The Centre for Market Design has hosted an enthusiastic group of next-generation market design scholars from across Australia at the inaugural Frontiers in Market Design and Analysis Hordern Winter School.

    The 20 students, selected from across Australia and representing 12 regional and metropolitan universities, are emerging leaders in the field of market design. They spent three days at the University of Melbourne from 17-19 July, immersed in modern microeconomics.

    The CMD Director, Professor Simon Loertscher, and colleagues Associate Professor David Byrne (CMD Director of Capability Building) and Dr Siqi Pan, welcomed the students for classes, collaboration and conversations to spark ideas and to form lasting relationships.

    We thank the Samuel and June Hordern Endowment and the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne for their generous donations to enable us to hold this Winter School, and hopefully many more such endeavours in the future.

    Improving disability transport

    Director of Policy, Gary Stoneham and his team completed a pilot with CMD partner, Professor Charles Plott from the California Institute of Technology, that improved transport for school children with a disability in Melbourne. Read more on the Projects page.

    Reducing electricity use

    Director of Capability Building, Associate Professor David Byrne was instrumental in the design and evaluation of a Power Changers large scale randomised controlled trial at Victorian energy distributor Jemena. Read more on the Projects page.

    Waste sector reform

    The health and environmental impacts of waste is an ongoing challenge for all levels of government. Director of Policy, Gary Stoneham, is working with Infrastructure Victoria to assess the waste sector in Victoria. Read more on the Projects page.