Peter Dawkins is the Ronald Henderson Professor of Applied Economic and Social Research and Director of the Melbourne Institute. Peter has been one of Australia’s prominent applied economists over the last decade. He is best known for his work on labour markets but has conducted extensive research on many economic and social issues. His previous position was as Professor of Economics at Curtin University from 1990 to 1995. He is currently conducting research on the interface between the labour market and the tax and welfare system. He is also leading the Melbourne Institute – IBIS Research Program on the performance and dynamics of Australian enterprises. Professor Dawkins has been the author or co-author of a large number of books, monographs and articles in refereed journals such as the Economic Journal, Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Record, Australian Economic Review, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Australian Economic Papers, Australian Bulletin of Labour, Journal of Industrial Relations, International Journal of Manpower, International Journal of Social Economics, Labour Economics and Productivity and Australian Journal of Education.