Research in the Economics Department is very active across a broad spectrum involving both individual and group research.

Major areas of interest in macroeconomics and finance include fiscal, industry and inflation policy, financial reform, international economics and finance (including capital markets, taxation, exchange rates, energy markets, commodity futures) competition in financial markets, financial risk management, and labour market issues.

Microeconomic research includes major projects on the measurement of demand for public outlays, tax policy modelling, the economics of drug abuse, economics of the arts and culture, valuation of the environment and sustainable development, deregulation, productivity and efficiency.

Research on the history of economic thought includes Keynes' thought, the relationship between economics, philosophy and politics, including theories of redistributive justice, and the history of Australian economic thought.

With regard to Asian economies, the department is noted for its research on the Japanese, Vietnamese and Burmese economies. It also has relevant expertise on transition and emerging market economies more generally (especially in the areas of industrial organisation, inequality, global trading and monetary systems) as well as econometric studies of developing economies.

Econometric research includes time series analysis, as well as macroeconomic and microeconomic modelling, index number theory, aggregation, duality, and applied econometrics.