John Davies  

Professor

Email: john.davies@acadiau.ca

Office Location : BAC 340

Phone: (902) 585 - 1492

Fax: (902) 585 - 1070

I was born and raised in industrial South Wales, a land that then boasted a unique admixture of heavy industry, rugby and sheep, a cocktail from which many an interest in higher education has sprung. In 1973 I graduated from the sea-side University of Aberystwyth ending up with a double honours BSc. Degree in Economics and Geography. Like many flower children of the time, the last thing I wanted then was a real job, so instead I joined "Voluntary Service Overseas" (similar to CUSO) and was promptly sent to the Fiji Islands in South Pacific, where I worked for three years as a development economist. It was during this time that I really came to understand the practical importance of economics. Indeed, there is nothing like living in a developing country, witnessing daily the commonality of humanity coping with poverty, to drive home the importance of economic development and the associated need to understand the economic forces that arrest, or promote, the developmental process.

Rebel turned realist, I returned to the UK in 1976 to pursue a masters degree in Management and Technology, this time in Cardiff University. The intension was to use this degree as a vehicle for continuing a career in development economics. The University, however, invited, and paid, me to stay on and do a PhD in Economics, an offer I couldn't refuse. I completed the degree in 1980. My thesis was on the regulation of international shipping industry, an area that provided the opportunity for a further change of career, to the private sector. However, by this time I had become so seduced by the academic lifestyle that I opted instead for a go at being a professor. After a year lecturing in Nottingham, I took up a position in Acadia University where I have since remained.

My initial conviction regarding the necessity of making economics practically relevant has remained undiminished during my career as an academic. Within my research, which over the years has targeted the shipping industry, pure and applied microeconomic theory, and economic development, this conviction is reflected in a writing style that, hopefully, emphasises deliberately exposition over formal technique.

I have a wife and three children. My prime recreational pursuits are cross-country skiing in the winter and fishing in the summer.

"On the Sources of Inter-Ethnic Conflict in Fiji", Peace Initiatives, vol.VI, No. 1-3, 2000. This article has also been web published at numerous news sites, the first being: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rhimona/karere/karesup.htm

"The Causes and Consequences of Cane Burning in Fiji's Sugar Belt", Journal of Pacific Studies, vol.22, 1998.

"Giffen Goods, the Survival Imperative and the Irish Potato Culture", Journal of Political Economy, vol.102, no.3, 1994, p.547-565.

"The Evolution of Canadian Liner Shipping Policy", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.21, no.1, 1994, p.77-92.

"Promoting Competition and Economic Performance in Liner Shipping", Marine Policy, Nov.1990, p.477-483.

"Destructive Competition and Market Unsustainability in the Liner Shipping Industry", International Journal of Transport Economics, vol.18, no.3, 1990, p227-246.

"Impediments to Contestability in Liner Markets", Logistics and Transportation Review, vol.25, no.4, 1989, p.325-342.

"Competition, Contestability and the Liner Shipping Industry : A Rejoinder", Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, vol.23, no.2, 1989, p.203-208.

"Cost Recovery Arrangements for Interstate Land Transport in Australia : A Review of Recent Policy Initiatives", Economic Analysis and Policy, vol.19, no.1, 1989, p91-102.

With Lee, F.S., "A Post Keynesian Appraisal of the Contestability Criterion", Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, vol.11, no.1, 1988, p3-24.

"Contestability Theory and Liner Shipping : Some Doubts on Pearson's Doubts", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.15, no.1, 1988, p15-18.

With Moussa, H., "Natural Monopoly and the Invisible Hand", The Economic Studies Quarterly, vol.39, no.2, 1988, p118-131.

"On the Nature and Sources of Controversy in the Economic Analysis of the Liner Shipping Industry", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.14, no.3, 1987, p249-261.

"Competition, Contestability and the Liner Shipping Industry", Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, vol.20, no.3, 1986, p.299-312.

With Lee, F.S., Irving-Lessmann, J. and Earl, P., "P.W.S. Andrews' Theory of Competitive Oligopoly : A New Interpretation", British Review of Economic Issues, vol.8, no.19, 1986, p.13-39.

"Peak Load Pricing in Liner Shipping - A Reply to Mr. Goss", International Journal of Transport Economics, vol.13, no.2, 1986, p235-236.

"Freight Rate Stability in Liner Shipping: Implicit Peak Load Pricing?", International Journal of Transport Economics, vol.11, no.2-3, 1984, p.163-176.

With Davies, G., "The Revolution in Monopoly Theory", Lloyds Bank Review, no.153, 1984, p38-52.

"An Analysis of Cost and Supply Conditions in the Liner Shipping Industry", Journal of Industrial Economics, vol.31, no.4, 1983, p417-435.

"The Economics of the Open Conference System", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.7, no.2, 1980, p85-102.

"The Effects of U.S. Shipping Regulation on Specific Aspects of Liner Conference Operation", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.7, no.1, 1980, p37-54.

With Evan, J.J., Gardner, B.M. and Lowe, A.V., "Liner Shipping in the U.S. Trades", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.5, no.3, 1978.

"The Competitive Environment of Liner Conferences", Maritime Policy and Management, vol.5, no.2, 1978, p97-106.

Longer stuff:

With Courtney Gallimore ,"Reforming the leasing and the Use of Agricultural Land in Fiji" 55p, June 8, 2000, web published at:
http://maorinews.com/karere/leases/cover.htm

"Issues in Contemporary Fijian Transportation - a selection of student papers" edited by J. Davies, (The University of the South Pacific, 1998) 121p.

"An Analysis of the Efficiency of Fiji's Sugar Cane Rail System", (Sugar Commission of Fiji, May, 1997), 60p.

"Legislative Change on the North American Liner Trades: A Study of Causes and Consequences", (Transport Canada, Ottawa, Oct. 1990), 232p.

"The Theory of Contestable Markets and its Application to the Liner Shipping Industry", (Canadian Transport Commission, Ottawa, 1986), 131p.

"Contestability Theory and the Australian Liner Trades", (Bureau of Transport Economics, Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1986), 117p.

"Pricing in the Liner Shipping Industry : A Survey of Conceptual Models", (Canadian Transport Commission, Ottawa, 1983 and reprinted 1984), 118p.

"The Regulation of Liner Conferences : A Study of Motives and Consequences", (PhD, thesis, University of Wales, 1980).

With Evans, J.J., Gardner, B.M. and Lowe, A.V., "Liner Shipping in the US Trades", University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1978, 272p.

Editor, "The Expansion of Merchant Marines in Developing Commonwealth Countries", (Commonwealth Secretariat, London, 1977), 153p.

Four chapters of "Fiji's Seventh Development Plan (1976-1980)", Central Planning Office, Government of Fiji, November 1975.