55. Professor Mike Young
1 Contact
Professor Mike Young
Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Land and Water, Urrbrae, SA 5064
Phone: 08 83038665
Email: Mike.young@csiro.au
2 Qualifications
MAgSc, Adelaide, 1980
BEc, Adelaide , 1980
BAgSc, Adelaide, 1974
3 Appointments
Promoted to Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO, 2003
Moved to CSIRO Land and Water to form Policy and Economic Research Unit, 1998
Appointed Technical Director, National Land and Water Resources Audit, 1997 – 1998
Promoted to Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO, 1996
4 Awards
Centenary Medal for ‘outstanding service through environmental economics’, 2003
5 Experience
A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences, Mike Young established and now directs CSIRO’s Policy and Economic Research Unit with offices in Adelaide and Canberra. He holds Adjunct Professorships with Centre for Ecological Economics and Water Policy Research at the University of New England and Faculty of Science and Agriculture at Charles Sturt University.
Mike is a member of the South Australian Government’s Sustainability Roundtable, a member of the renowned Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, and a member of the Barton group that overseas the Commonwealth Government’s Environment Industries Action Agenda.
Mike is best known for his capacity to integrate biophysical and economic information to produce innovative proposals that catalyse policy change. Recent policy changes that he has made significant contributions to include: The conceptual framework that underpins Australia’s national water initiative and the adoption of more robust ways to define water entitlements in several states of Australia; the Inter-governmental Agreement that will result in increased environmental flows in the River Murray; the increasing use of market-based incentives to improve natural resource use; and the use of incentives to help conserve biodiversity.
Mike conceived the need for the National Land and Water Resources Audit and then helped set it up. In the area of urban water use, he is the acknowledged father of the Water Proofing Adelaide program and, following pioneering work on water use externalities, developed draft guidelines for the management of externalities in Australia. He was the architect of New South Wales Fishery Share System. From 1985 - 88 he led the OECD’s early work on the integration of agricultural and environmental policies. He then spent six months in Washington DC as a research fellow with the USDA’s Economic Research Service and the US EPA.
Mike is an experienced commentator and has a strong media profile. He has chaired and contributed to a large number of government processes and is routinely asked to address industry and academic conferences. He averages around one plenary conference presentation per month.
Mike has strong international interests and has served on the Board of the International Livestock Research Institute and the Board of the International Livestock Centre for Africa. He is a review editor for the Millennium Assessment and he has served as Secretary/Treasurer of the International Society for Ecological Economics. He was founding President of the Australia New Zealand Society for Ecological Economics. Mike is an Associate Editor of Ecological Economics and a member of the Editorial Board of six other international journals.
6 Relationships
7 Publications
Refereed journal papers
Young M and McColl J. (2003). Robust reform. The case for a new water entitlement system for Australia. Australian Economic Review. 36(2), 225 - 34.
Young M and McColl J. (2003). Robust separation: A search for a generic framework to simplify registration and trading of interest in natural resources. Agricultural Science. 15(1), 17 - 22.
Young M and Hatton MacDonald D. (2003). An opportunity to improve water trading in the southeast catchment of South Australia. Water Policy. 5(2), 127 - 146.
Hajkowicz S and Young M D. (2002). An economic analysis of revegetation for dryland salinity control on the Lower Eyre peninsula in South Australia. Land Degradation and Development. 13, 1 - 12.
Greiner R, Young M D, McDonald A D and Brooks M. (2000). Incentive instruments for the sustainable use of marine resources. Ocean and Coastal Management. 43, 29 - 50.
Books and monographs
Dovers S, Stern D I and Young M D. (2003). New Dimensions in Ecological Economics: Integrated Approaches to People and Nature. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham.
Young M D. (2004). Learning from the Market: Ex-Post water access entitlement and allocation trading assessment experience in Australia. Chapter 6 in Trading Permits: Policy Evaluation, Design and Reform. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris.
Young M D and McColl J C. (2003). Robust reform: Implementing robust institutional arrangements to achieve efficient water use in Australia. CSIRO Land and Water.
Wentworth Group. (2003). Blueprint for a national water plan. World Wide Fund for Nature, Sydney.
Reports
Young M, Shi T and Crosthwaite J. (2003). Duty of Care: An Instrument for Increasing the Effectiveness of Catchment Management. Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria.
Young M D, Young D, Hamilton A and Bright M. (2002). A preliminary assessment of the economic and social implications of environmental flow scenarios for the River Murray System. A report prepared for the Murray Darling Basin Commission, Policy and Economic Research Unit, CSIRO Land and Water, Adelaide.
Conference Papers
Young M D. (2003). Allocation and coordination of water Resources. Towards a National Water Policy Framework:” Vision to Implementation. Conference Proceedings. United Nations Association (Victoria) Inc.
8 Research
9 Key words
Economics, environmental policy, tradable property rights, market-based incentives
