The University of Western Australia

Professor Michael Burton

Professor
School of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Contact details

Address

School of Agricultural and Resource Economics
The University of Western Australia (M089)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 2531

Fax

6488 1098

Email

michael.burton@uwa.edu.au

Location

Room G021, Agriculture North West Wing, Crawley campus

Qualifications

BSc Bath, MA PhD Manc.

Biography

Having been brought up on a farm in Buckinghamshire, UK, I had no real interest in agriculture as a career destination. However, a first degree in Economics from Bath University (1981), and the lure of a postgraduate scholarship took me to Manchester University for a Masters in Agricultural Economics. This provided the basis for the type of research that I have followed since: an interest in applied economics within the area of agricultural (and later natural resource) economics, with a strong emphasis on the application of quantitative techniques. A Ph.D., again at Manchester, led me to build a statistical model of the UK agricultural sector but gave the freedom to follow research interests into almost any area, in particular the analysis of food demand. I joined the academic staff in the-then Department of Agricultural Economics at Manchester in 1985, and remained there until I joined Agricultural and Resource Economics at UWA in 1998. The shift in hemispheres has led to a change in focus, but not in approach: I am currently working in the area of quantitative approaches to valuing environmental resources, with a particular focus on the assets in WA that are under threat from salinity and other factors.

Key research

Agricultural policy; Bio-economic modelling; Commodity marketing; Environmental economics and policy; Natural resource economics and management; Non-market valuation; Sustainable resource management; Wildlife management

Previous positions

1996-1998Senior Lecturer, School of Economic Studies, University of Manchester

1985-96Lecturer, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Manchester.

1984-85 Research Associate, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Manchester.

Teaching

Agricultural policy, Econometrics, Economics for natural resource management

Research profile

Research profile and publications