Steven Bond-Smith
Ph.D.
MMS(Hons)
BMS (Hons)
Economics of innovation, endogenous growth theory, economic geography, industrial organisation
Biography
Steven is currently Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, after spending five years at the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre as Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow. Steven contributed to a number of significant research reports while at the Centre, and his research has been presented at international conferences and universities. His work is published in the Journal of Economic Geography, Journal of Economic Surveys, Economics of Innovation and New Technology and Spatial Economic Analysis. Prior to joining BCEC, Steven has been in a number of government, corporate and consulting roles providing economic advice to government departments, regulators and stakeholders.
Steven’s research focuses on urban and regional economics and the economics of innovation and growth. His work embeds the micro-foundations of innovation within economic growth models in order to develop policy recommendations for sustainable and inclusive growth. He has published research on economic geography, economic growth, regional economics and industrial organisation. His recent research examines industrial and regional economic structures to explain diversification and growth patterns, with a particular emphasis on isolated and smaller state economies.
Steven is Co-Editor of the academic journal Spatial Economic Analysis, sits on the international Editorial Board for Regional Economies and Policies and is a referee for a number of leading international journals. Prior to joining BCEC, Steven has been a visiting researcher at the Australian National University, the London School of Economics, VU University Amsterdam and the University of Groningen.
Projects
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Australia’s First Regional Digital Innovation District and City
The City of Bunbury has identified Bunbury as a suitable ‘Second City’ for WA and a regional ‘Digital City’. The City is proposing that strategic regional investment in a ‘Digital Innovation District’ can enable new opportunities by removing the capability,... Read article
The role of small businesses in driving WA’s economic recovery post-COVID-19
The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the global economy has introduced an important new context to WA’s diversification and regional economic development strategies, and importantly, the role that small businesses can play as an engine of growth for the... Read article
Relationships between metropolitan, satellite and regional city size, spatial context and economic productivity
The project will provide an evidence base to support policy development options in relation to harnessing agglomeration economies in Australia’s cities and regions. This will be based on econometric analyses of Australian, EU and US datasets using panel, threshold and... Read article
Publications
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Discretely innovating: The effect of limited market contestability on innovation and growth
I consider the impact of market contestability on innovation and growth. To examine this, I use discrete entry (i.e. an integer number of firms) as a tool to vary contestability in each sector of a disaggregated multi-sector endogenous growth model.... Read article
The unintended consequences of increasing returns to scale in geographical economics
Increasing returns to scale is the basis for many powerful results in economics and economic geography. But the limitations of assumptions about returns to scale in economic growth theories are often ignored when applied to geography. This leads to an... Read article
Relationships between metropolitan, satellite and regional city size, spatial context and economic productivity
This report, funded by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), considers evidence about the existence and scale of agglomeration economies, including in Australian cities. Agglomeration economies are inherently complex in terms of how they interact with city size... Read article
BCEC Quarterly Economic Commentary – June 2021
This Western Australia Quarterly Economic Commentary analyses the most recent data on economic and social indicators for WA. WA’s economy continues to strengthen Western Australia’s domestic economic output, also known as State Final Demand, increased by 3 per cent over the March... Read article
BCEC Quarterly Economic Commentary – March 2021
This Western Australia Quarterly Economic Commentary analyses the most recent data on economic and social indicators for WA. Key findings from this edition include: Is the WA economy in good shape? Western Australia is in better economic shape than any other state as... Read article
Agriculture in WA – Update Note
This research note provides an update on current trends in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector in Western Australia. The economic and employment contribution that the sector makes to the Western Australian economy are discussed, along with the latest trends... Read article
The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre team acknowledges the Wadjuk Nyungar people as the traditional owners of the land on which the Centre is situated.