Qualifications
PhD, Melb; Dip Ed, La Trobe; BEc, La Trobe

Professional experience

Dr. Messinis is Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Economic Studies. Here, he has conducted research in three major programs: Innovation, Health and Pharmaceuticals, and Skills and Employment. He has expertise in applied macroeconomics and a variety of econometric techniques using large-scale datasets such as ABS surveys, the British Household Panel Survey and HILDA. The focus of his work on pharmaceuticals has been on R&D expenditure and patents where he has addressed the question of the apparently declining R&D productivity in the industry.

Together with Professor Peter Sheehan, he has contributed to the Cambridge Handbook of the Social Sciences in Australia (2003), the first scholarly overview of social science research in Australia. More recently, he has examined the role of human capital in innovation and productivity growth. He has also led a CSES team in the development of the SEEK Employment Index, the first indicator of skill shortages and labour market balance in Australia. In collaboration with Professor Nilss Olekalns, he has also written on the link between skill mismatches and job training in Australia. Further, he has contributed to the ‘efficiency wages’ literature to study the impact of ‘fair wages’ and worker morale on labour productivity.

Research interests
His work in the field of behavioural economics began with the application of insights from the theory of consumer addiction, health psychology and institutional economics to arrive at the idea of ‘habit modification’ in consumption.

His current research interests and work include:

• R&D, innovation, patent quality and research productivity in medical sciences;
• human capital, skills, job training, and productivity growth and economic development; and
• SEEK Employment Index, skill shortages and labour market.

Publications

Journal articles
Messinis, G. and Olekalns, N. 2007, 'Skill Mismatch and Training in Australia: Some Implications for Policy', Australian Economic Review, vol. 40, no. 3, 300-306.

Messinis, G. with O. Henry and N. Olekalns 2002, ‘Rational habit modification in consumption’, Economic Modelling, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 665-678.

Messinins, G. 1999, ‘Habit Formation and the Theory of Addiction’, Journal of Economic Surveys, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 417-442.

Book chapter
Messinis, G. and Sheehan, P. 2003, ‘Innovation in Australia’, in I. McAllister, S. Dowrick and R. Hassan (eds), Cambridge Handbook of Social Sciences in Australia, Cambridge University Press.

Conference papers
Messinis, G. 2007, 'Second Generation Greek-Australians and Italian-Australians: Returns to Education and LOTE', invited paper presented at the 7th Conference on Greek Research, Flinders University, Adelaide, 28 June -1 July.

Messinis, G. and Cheng, E. 2007, 'The Value of Education and Job Training in the Developing World: New Evidence from Migrant Workers in China', invited paper presented at the Conference on Migration and Social Protection in China, 25-27 September 2007, Beijing.

Messinis, G. and Olekalns, N. 2006, ‘Training and Returns to Undereducation and Overeducation: New Australian Evidence’, refereed paper presented at the 35th Conference of Economists Australia, Perth, 25-27 September.

Messinis, G. 2006, ‘Forever Young Mr. J.K. Galbraith! Executive Pay, Unfair Wages and Economic Growth’, refereed paper presented at the IAREP-SABE Conference, International Association for Research in Economic Psychology and The Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, 5-8 July, Paris.

Messinis, G. 2005, 'Patent Quality and R&D Productivity in the Pharmaceuticals: The Role of Inflation and International Collaboration’, paper presented at the 27th Conference of Australian Health Economists, Auckland, New Zealand, 29-30 September.

Messinis, G. and Sheehan, P. 2004, ‘Economic Growth in Australia: Efficiency Wages or Human Capital?’, paper presented at the 33rd Conference of Economists, Economic Society of Australia, Sydney, 27-30 September.

Messinis, G. 2004, ‘R&D Price Inflation, Real BERD and Innovation: Pharmaceuticals, OECD 1980-2000’, paper presented at the 26th Australian Conference of Health Economists, Melbourne, 30 September - 1 October.

Working papers
Messinis, G. and Olekalns, N. 2007, 'Skill Mismatch and Returns to Training in Australia: Some New Evidence',  Working Paper No. 997, November, Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne,  Melbourne.

Messinis, G. 2005, ‘Is Europe a Laggard in Pharmaceuticals? R&D Joint Ventures, Patent Quality and R&D Productivity’, Pharmaceutical Industry Working Paper No. 30, CSES, Victoria University, Melbourne, September.

Messinis, G. 2005, ‘Patent Quality and R&D Productivity in Pharmaceuticals: The Role of Inflation and International Collaboration', Pharmaceutical Industry Working Paper No. 27, CSES, Victoria University, Melbourne, August.

Messinis, G. 2004, ‘R&D Price Inflation, Real BERD and Innovation: Pharmaceuticals, OECD 1980–2000’, Pharmaceutical Industry Working Paper No. 18, CSES, Victoria University, Melbourne, May.

Messinis, G. 2002, ‘The Australian Pharmaceutical Industry and Its Global Context’, Pharmaceutical Industry Project Working Paper No. 7, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Melbourne.
 

Professional membership
Society for the Advancement of Behavioural Economics (SABE) (1999-present)
Economic Society of Australia (1992-present)
History of Economic Thought Society of Australia (1996-present)

Editorial duties
Referee for Oxford Economic Papers, Economic Record, and Asia Pacific Journal of Economics and Business.