{{Short description|Australian economist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} alt=Richard Denniss (2016)|thumb|Richard Denniss (2016) '''Richard Denniss''' is an Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, who is the Executive Director of The Australia Institute.<ref name="TAI">{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://australiainstitute.org.au/about/ |access-date=2022-11-24 |website=The Australia Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> and a former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University in Canberra.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://tai.org.au/content/structure|title=Organisational structure|work=The Australia Institute|access-date=2018-10-27|language=en}}</ref>
Denniss was described by Mark Kenny in the Sydney Morning Herald as "a constant thorn in the side of politicians on both sides due to his habit of skewering dodgy economic justifications for policy".<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/australia-institute-head-richard-denniss-changes-roles-20150628-ghzvbl.html| title = Australia Institute head Richard Denniss changes roles| date = 28 June 2015}}</ref> In October 2018, the Australian Financial Review listed Denniss and Ben Oquist of The Australia Institute as equal tenth-place on their "Covert Power" list of the most powerful people in Australia.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.afr.com/brand/afr-magazine/the-20-most-powerful-people-in-australia-in-2018-20180814-h13xqu|title=How the leadership coup changed our Power list|date=2018-10-05|work=Financial Review|access-date=2018-10-27|language=en-US}}</ref>
== Career == Prior to his appointment at The Australia Institute, Denniss was Senior Strategic Advisor to Australian Greens Leader Senator Bob Brown and was also Chief of Staff to Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, former Leader of the Australian Democrats.<ref name="TAI" /> Denniss also worked as a researcher at the H.V. Evatt Memorial Foundation (the 'Evatt Foundation'), a public policy organisation with strong links to the Australian Labor Party.{{Citation needed|date=April 2016}} His academic work has resulted in publications in various peer-reviewed journals, and he has lectured in Economics at the University of Newcastle.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-denniss-4045|title=Richard Denniss|website=The Conversation|access-date=2016-04-17}}</ref>
During the 2000s, Denniss' research focused on climate change policy<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tai.org.au/index.php?q=node%2F19&act=display&type=1&pubid=531|title=''Fixing the Floor in the ETS''|last= Denniss |first=Richard|date= November 2008 |work= Australia Institute Policy Brief |accessdate=2008-11-12}}</ref> and tax policy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tai.org.au/index.php?q=node%2F19&act=display&type=1&pageID=1&pubid=510|title=''The case for a new top tax rate''|last= Denniss |first=Richard|date= October 2008 |work= Australia Institute Research Paper |accessdate=2008-10-20}}</ref> He also worked on a number of projects aimed at improving the measurement of government and economic performance including the 'Genuine Progress Indicator' (GPI),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.tai.org.au/?q=node/9&pubid=56|title=''Tracking Well-being in Australia: The Genuine Progress Indicator 2000 ''|last1=Denniss|first1=Richard|last2=Hamilton|first2=Clive|date=December 2000|work=Australia Institute Web Paper|accessdate=2008-10-20|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706130904/https://www.tai.org.au/?q=node%2F9&pubid=56|archivedate=2011-07-06}}</ref> the 'Wellbeing Manifesto',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wellbeingmanifesto.net/index.htm|title = Ozzie's Favorite Pokie Game Tips – High Rollers Grab This Bonus}}</ref> and the state of Australian Government.
666 ABC Canberra produced and broadcast "An occasional series with 'The Moral Economist'" podcast starring Richard Denniss, in 2013. The series discussed economic issues from the dollar cost of a human life to preventative health care to who deserves welfare.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2013/02/27/3699581.htm|title = An occasional series with 'The Moral Economist' - ABC (None) - Australian Broadcasting Corporation|website = Australian Broadcasting Corporation}}</ref>
In 2015, Denniss delivered the 16th Manning Clark Lecture at the Australian National University. The speech drew from Clark's writings, identifying 'enlargers' and 'punishers' in Australian cultural, economic and political history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/what-can-economists-learn-from-manning-clark/6293242|title = The 2015 Manning Clark lecture|website = Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date = 10 March 2015}}</ref>
Australian Labor Party MP Andrew Leigh is quoted as saying, "I think of Richard as being kind of a mirror image of [free-market economist and former Reserve Bank board member] Warwick McKibbin."<ref name="thesaturdaypaper.com.au">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2014/10/11/the-australia-institute-are-the-real-senate-puppet-masters/14129460001094#.VZIrFRuVISU|title=The Australia Institute are the real senate puppet masters|date=11 October 2014}}</ref>
==Publications== Denniss is the co-author (with Clive Hamilton) of best-selling book ''Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough''<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.api-network.com/main/index.php?apply=reviews&webpage=api_reviews&Review=5065|title=Review of ''Affluenza: When too much is never enough''|last= Durber |first=Dean|date= October 2005 |work= The Australian Public Intellectual Network |accessdate=2008-11-12}}</ref> and ''An introduction to Australian Public Policy'' (with Sarah Maddison). He co-authored [https://www.mup.com.au/books/minority-policy-hardback1 Minority policy: rethinking governance when parliament matters] with Brenton Prosser, a book that examines the operations of minority government and implications for public policy in Westminster systems. In 2016, his book ''[https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/econobabble Econobabble]'' was published by Black Inc and Redback.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.redbackquarterly.com.au/book/2016/01/econobabble|title=Econobabble|last=|website=Redback Quarterly|access-date=2016-04-17}}</ref> Most recently, Denniss has published [https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/curing-affluenza Curing Affluenza], a followup to Affluenza: When too Much is Never Enough, and is the author of the June 2018 Quarterly Essay, [https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/dead-right Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next].
Denniss is a regular contributor to The Monthly<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.themonthly.com.au/author/richard-denniss|title = Richard Denniss|date = 25 March 2015}}</ref> and Quarterly Essay, as well as producing columns in the Canberra Times<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/by/Richard-Denniss| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140611045439/http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/by/Richard-Denniss| archive-date = 2014-06-11| title = Richard Denniss - Comment - canberratimes.com.au}}</ref> and the Australian Financial Review.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.afr.com/richard-denniss-hvf6q |title=Author {{!}} afr.com |website=www.afr.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105023/http://www.afr.com/richard-denniss-hvf6q |archive-date=2016-03-04}}</ref>
==External links== * [http://tai.org.au/author?combine=&field_section_tid=All&field_author_value=6 The Australia Institute research by Richard Denniss] * [https://www.themonthly.com.au/author/richard-denniss Article archive] at The Monthly * [http://www.afr.com/richard-denniss-hvf6q Article archive] at The Australian Financial Review * [http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/by/Richard-Denniss-hvf6q Article archive] at The Canberra Times * [http://www.tai.org.au/content/richard-denniss-recorded-appearances Recorded appearances]
==References== {{reflist|40em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Denniss, Richard}} Category:Living people Category:Sustainability advocates Category:20th-century Australian economists Category:Academic staff of the Australian National University Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:21st-century Australian economists Category:21st-century Australian non-fiction writers