The Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research - History

History

The Melbourne Institute was formed in 1962 as the Institute of Applied Economic Research under the leadership of Professor Ronald Henderson. It was the first economic research institute in an Australian university. Henderson built up an organisation with about 40 staff by the early 1970s. It engaged in a wide range of research areas including macroeconomic forecasting, financial economics and social economics, and is best remembered for its work on poverty and the development of the Henderson Poverty Line. The name of the institute was later changed to Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (IAESR).

After the Henderson era, Professor Peter Dixon was appointed Director and after some restructuring, the new Melbourne Institute based its operation around Dixon's ORANI model of the Australian economy. In the early 1990s Peter Dixon and a number of his senior colleagues left the institute to join Monash University. This necessitated a second period of adjustment and restructuring initiated by Professor Richard Blandy who was Director from 1992 to 1994.

Professor Peter Dawkins, took up his position of Director in January 1996. In that year, the Director and his senior management team, in association with the staff and the advisory board, developed a strategic plan with the unifying theme being the link between economic performance and social outcomes. The first version of this plan was for the period 1996–2000 and it is updated annually. In that year, the name of the institute was changed to Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research.

Professor John Freebairn was appointed Director in 2005 and returned to the Department of Economics in 2007. Stephen Sedgwick, former Board member of the Asian Development Bank was Director fron August 2007 until July 2009. In April 2010 Professor Deborah Cobb-Clark was appointed the Director and Ronald Henderson Professor.