I am a graduate of the University of Aberdeen. I am presently a Consultant Economist and Managing Director of LabourNet Australia Pty Ltd.. I was a Member of the WA State Administrative Tribunal from 2005 until 2010. I was Director of the Centre for Labour Market Research, at The University of Western Australia from 1998 until 2006. From 1998 until 2001 I was Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce at The University of Western Australia. I was appointed Foundation Professor of Industrial Relations at The University of Western Australia in 1981 and was appointed Professor of Labour Economics in 1996. I was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 1998. I was also Chair of the IT Policy Committee of the Faculties of Economics, Commerce, Education and Law. I have held teaching and research positions at Trinity College, Dublin, New York University, Princeton University, University of Glasgow, Stockholm University and University of California at Berkeley.

From 1974 until 1981 I was Joint Editor of the Scottish Journal of Political Economy and from 1988 until 2000 was Co-Editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Economics. I am author of numerous articles on economics and industrial relations in academic journals, including American Economic Review, Economica, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Industrial Relations, British Journal of Industrial Relations, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Economics of Education Review, Labour Economics, Economics Letters, Australian Bulletin of Labour, The Manchester School, Economic Record and my books include The Economics of Inflation, Oxford, Martin Robertson (with R. Jackman and J.A. Trevithick); The Economic Analysis of Trade Unions, Oxford, Martin Robertson; and The Economics of Wages and Labour, London, Macmillan (with L.C. Hunter).