A/Prof Michael Johnson

Research Summary

His research interests include the role of the public sector in the economy and the areas of infrastructure provision (water electricity and infrastructure policy), regulation as well as the area of public management and its reform. He is also interested in environmental management and development policy in the area of the role of 'not-for-profits' and human rights.

UNSW Research Profile

Teaching

In 2008 in the Undergraduate Program Michael taught or coordinated the following courses;

PECO 1000 Introduction to Political Economy (Lecturer- Session 1)
SLSP/PECO 2000 Political Economy and the State (Lecturer and Coordinator – Session 1)
COMD 2000/SLSP 2000 Theory and Practice of Development (Lecturer and Coordinator – Session 1)
HUMS 2000 Undergraduate Internship (Academic Coordinator- Session I, 2 and Summer)
In the Postgraduate Coursework Program he taught on the following courses::
SLSP 5015 International Development Policy (Lecturer and Coordinator- Session 1)
SLSP 5092 Policy Project (Academic Coordinator)
COMD 0508/SLSP 0508 Special Project (Project Supervisor)

He was Coordinator of the Undergraduate Development studies Program, The Master of Arts in Development Studies Program and in Session 2 was acting Coordinator of the Master of Policy Studies Program.

He supervises Honours and PhD research students.

Postgraduate Research Supervision
*Exploring fairness: the ethics of Fair Trade
* Inter-firm cooperation
* ICT and development
* Public sector reform

Publications

REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Johnson, M. (2008) ‘Privatisation, myopea and the long run provision of infrastructure’, The Economics and Labour Relations Review, November (forthcoming).

Tarentolla, D., Byrnes, Johnson, M., A., Kemp, L., Zwi, A., and Gruskin S., (2008) ‘Human rights, health and development’, Australian Journal Of Human Rights, vol. 13, no 2, pp.1-32.

Johnson, M. (2007) ‘Is the Existing ethical Framework Sufficient to Manage the Current Extension of Contracting and Competition in the Australian Public Sector?’, Australian Journal of Professional and Applied Ethics, vol 9, no.2, pp.96-105,

Johnson, M. (2002) 'Integrating environmental data and reporting to create a national accounting framework for the environment', The Economic and Labour Relations Review, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 226-243.



Johnson, M. (1997) 'Studies in reforming Britain and Australia's infrastructure: A review', The Economic and Industrial Relations Review, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 226-243.


Johnson, M (1992) Evaluating the privatisation of the English and Welsh water industry, The Economics and Labour Relations Review, vol 3, no 2, December.


RECENT REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS



Johnson, M. (2007) ‘ The Need for Further Evaluation of the Impact of privatisation’, in Chester, L. and Johnson, M. (eds) Heterodox Economic Perspectives on contemporary Issues: Edited Proceedings: Refereed Papers, 6th Australian Society of Heterodox Economists Conference, UNSW, 10-11 December, 2007, ISBN No. 978-0-7334-2582-0.



Chester, L. and Johnson, M. (2006) A New Approach Needed for Australia’s Infrastructure, in Kriesler, P. Lodewijks, J. and Johnson, M. (eds) Essays in Heterodox Economics: Edited Proceedings: Refereed Papers, 5th Australian Society of Heterodox Economists Conference, UNSW, 11-12 December, 2006, ISBN No. 978-0-7334-2417-5.



EDITED BOOKS



Johnson, M. and Chester, L. (2007) Heterodox Economic Perspectives on Current Economic Issues: Edited Refereed Papers, 6th Australian Society of Heterodox Economist Conference, Society of Heterodox Economists, UNSW, Sydney. ISBN 978-0-7334-2582-0 



Johnson, M. Kriesler, P. and Lodewijks, J. (2006) Essays in Heterodox Economics: Edited Refereed Papers, 5th Australian Society of Heredox Economist Conference, Society of Heterodox Economists, UNSW, Sydney. ISBN 978-0-7334-2417-5.

Fiske, P. & Johnson, M (1995) ‘Memories of Fred’, ABC Books, Sydney.

Johnson, M., Kriesler, P. and Owen, A. (eds.) (1993) ‘Issues in Australian Economics’, Allen and Unwin, Melbourne.

Johnson, M. and Rix, s. (eds) (1993) ‘Water: Reforming the Organisations and Institutions of the Water Life Cycle’. Pluto Press, Sydney, 1993. (Two printings)

Johnson, M., Kriesler, P. and Owen, A. (eds) (1991) ‘Contemporary Issues in Australian Economics’, Macmillan, Melbourne.

Johnson, M and Rix, S. (eds) (1991) ‘Powering the Future: The Electricity Industry and Australia's Energy Future’, Pluto Press, Sydney.

BOOK CHAPTERS



Johnson, M 2003, 'Transforming the public sector', in G Argyrous & F Stilwell (eds), Economics as a Social Science, Pluto Press, Sydney.



Johnson, M 2002, 'The links between environmental research, disclosure and governance', in S Kerr, T Buhrs & C Dann (eds), Green Governance: From Periphery to Power, Published Monograph of Proceedings of the Ecopolitics XIII Conference, Lincoln University.



Johnson, M 2001, 'The impact of new public management on the reform of the transportation infrastructure in Sydney', in L Jones, J Guthrie & P Steane (eds), Learning from Public Management Reform: Research in Public Policy Analysis and Management, JAI Elsevier Science, Amsterdam.


Johnson, M 2000, 'Balancing sustainability, efficiency and equity: An economic perspective', in K Dobbinson & C Stone (eds), Sustainable Transport for Sustainable Cities: The State of Play Technical Papers, Warren Centre, Sydney.

Johnson, M. (1998) ‘The Influence of international financial institutions and the restructuring of the state in five Asia-Pacific countries’ in Small, R. (ed) The Gobal State?, Public Sector Research Centre Monograph, No 4, PSRC. Sydney.

Johnson, M. and Guthrie, J. (1994) ‘Commercialisation of the public sector: Why, how and for what? A prospective view’ in Wiltshire, K (ed) Governance and Economic Efficiency, Melbourne, Committee for Economic Development in Australia (CEDA.

Johnson, M. (1994) 'Structural adjustment: What does it mean and what might trade unions do about it?’ in Hirayama, Y (ed) Information From Overseas: Volume 1, Tokyo, Labour Federation of Government Related Organisations (in Japanese).

Johnson, M. (1994) 'Fred Hollows- Eye Doctor' in Baulderstone, S & Amendolia, M (eds) Seeing is Believing, Sydney, The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Johnson, M. (1993) 'The user pays philosophy: Implications for government and consumers' in Guthrie, J. (Ed) Australian Public Service: Pathways to Change in the 1990s, IIR Ltd, Sydney.

Johnson, M. (1993) 'Balancing relevance, perspective and funding of social science for government: A strategic view' in Keen, S. (Ed.) Social Science Research and Government, School of Social Science and Policy Monograph, UNSW.

Johnson, M. (1990) 'Meeting environmental targets: More regulation or less' Chapter in Head, B. (ed.) Deregulation or Re-regulation, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne.


RECENT CONFERENCE PAPERS



Johnson, M. (2008) ‘Human Rights and Economic Development: Working From Principles to Practice’, 4Rs Conference, University of Technology. Sydney, 1-3 October.

Chester, L. and Johnson, M. (2007) ‘A New Form of Australian State?’, Paper Presented at the 8th Annual Association of Heterodox Economists Conference, University of Western England, Bristol, 13-15th July.

Johnson, M. and Chester, L. (2006) ‘Australia’s Infrastructure Crisis’, ‘John Howards Decade’ Conference, The Australian National University, Canberra, 3-4 March.

Johnson, M. (2006) ‘Is The Public Sector Ethical Framework Enough?’ Markets, Commercialisation and Ethics in the Management of the Changing Public Sector’, Papers of The 13th Annual Australian Applied Professional and Applied Ethics Conference, 12-14 June, University of New South Wales.

Johnson, M. (2006) ‘Property Rights, Public Goods and Policy: Reflections on the Political Economy of the Management of Water Resources in Australia’, Association for Heterodox Economics Annual Conference, London School of Economics and University College London, July 14-16.

Johnson, M. (2006) The Role of Legitimacy and Human Rights in International Not-For-Profit Organisations: An Australian Case Study, Paper Presented at the Global Justice: Theory, Practice and Rhetoric Workshop, UNSW, 24-25 March 2006.

Johnson, M. (2005) ‘The Role of Institutional Research in Energy Market Reform’, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets, Research Seminar, UNSW, 20th July, 2005.

Johnson, M. (2001) 'The links between environmental research, disclosure and governance: An Australian perspective', in Proceedings of the Conference on Ecopolitics XIII, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, NZ, 29 November - 2 December.



RESEARCH REPORTS



Johnson, M 2002, 'Economic principles in transport infrastructure investment', in J McKerral (ed.), Sustainable Transport for Sustainable Cities: Transport Pricing-More than Just a Tax, Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering, Sydney.



Johnson, M 1995, ‘Infrastructure and Australia's economic and social development through the 1990s: Assessing the problem and the priorities in EPAC’, Private Infrastructure Task Force, Interim Report: Commissioned Studies, AGPS, Canberra, May.


Other Information

Michael was a member of the Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences Discipline Panel of the Australia Research Council from 1998 to 2001. He was a founding Director of the Public Sector Research Centre at UNSW and The Eritrean Education and Training Fund that contributed to creating a College of Engineering at the University of Asmara, Eritrea in the 1990's. He has been a consultant to government organisations and trade unions. He previously taught economic history, theory and policy in the School of Economics at UNSW, was an economic policy advisor to the Commonwealth Government and worked in various capacities in the private sector.
He is currently a Director and Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors of the Fred Hollows Foundation that has development programs in 18 countries in Asia and Africa. He was one of the original Directors of FHF when it was established in 1993 and currently serves on the FHF Board Finance and Governance and the Nominations Committees of the Board and has contributed to developing the FHF programs in Africa.

Interests

Michael’s research interests include the role of the public sector in the economy and the areas of infrastructure provision (water electricity and infrastructure policy), regulation as well as the area of public management and its reform. He is also interested in environmental management and development policy in the area of the role of 'not-for-profits' and human rights.