Steven Bond-Smith

Steven joined UHERO as an Assistant Professor in 2021. Steven’s main research focus is the implications of distance and scale for productivity and growth in small and isolated economies such as Hawai’i. This research helps to understand regional growth dynamics and supports development of place-based policy approaches, informed by theory and data, to support economic growth for more people in more places. Prior to joining UHERO, Steven was a Senior Research Fellow in Economics at Curtin University in Western Australia. Steven was previously employed in various government, corporate and consulting roles in Australia and New Zealand providing economic advice to government departments, regulators, businesses and stakeholders.

Research Interests

• Urban and Regional Economics, Spatial Economics, Economic Growth, Economics of Innovation, Regional Economic Policy

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) University of Waikato (2009 — 2014)
• The Australian National University (2013 — 2013)
• London School of Economics and Political Science (2012 — 2013)
• Master of Management Studies (M.MS.) University of Waikato (2007 — 2009)
• University of Auckland (2008 — 2008)
• Bachelor of Management Studies (B.MS.) University of Waikato (2003 — 2006)
• Otumoetai College (1998 — 2002)

Selected Publications

• Bond-Smith, S., “The unintended consequences of increasing returns to scale in geographical economics,” Journal of Economic Geography, Forthcoming.

• Bond-Smith, S., and McCann, P., “A multi-sector model of relatedness, growth and industry clustering,” Journal of Economic Geography, Vol. 20, Iss. 5, 2020, pp.1145–1163.

• Bond-Smith, S., “The decades-long dispute over scale effects in the theory of economic growth,” Journal of Economic Surveys, Vol. 33, Iss. 5, 2019, pp. 1359-1388.

• Bond-Smith, S., “The impact of compatibility on innovation in markets with network effects,” Economics of Innovation and New Technology, vol. 28, no. 8, 2019, pp. 816-840.

• Bond-Smith, S., McCann, P., and Oxley, L., “A regional model of endogenous growth without scale assumptions,” Spatial Economic Analysis, vol. 13, no. 1, 2018, pp. 5-35.

• Bond-Smith, S., and McCann, P., “Incorporating space in the theory of endogenous growth: Contributions from the New Economic Geography,” in Fischer, M. and Nijkamp, P., Handbook of Regional Science, Springer, 2014. Second edition 2020.

• Leishman, C., Bond-Smith, S., Liang, W., Long , J., Maclennan, D. and Rowley, S. “Relationships between metropolitan, satellite and regional city size, spatial context and economic productivity,” AHURI Final Report No. 357, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited, Melbourne, 2021.