Skills
Applied Economics
We’re proud to call ourselves applied economists.
Good applied economics builds on solid groundings in economic theory. It helps decision makers to achieve better outcomes by understanding the dynamics of people, communities, businesses, governments, industries and markets. It helps us to design regulations, incentives and signals in ways that can result in better use and allocation of resources. It can provide insights that can change people and businesses, and market and industry structures for the better.
Most of our work with clients involves applied economics in some form. Our applied economics work delivers insights that support regulatory and policy reform, better pricing of resources, improved community, industry and environmental outcomes, among other things. We apply our economics at multiple scales – from international and multi-sector issues like climate change, through to highly localised and sector-specific issues. We work with industry, government, and the not-for-profit sector.
Our team have first-class foundations in applied economics. Most of us have post-graduate qualifications in economics. We have applied our economics and refined our skills by working with, and in senior positions for, leading Australian economic institutions like the Productivity Commission, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Treasuries, Economic Regulators and leading Australian and overseas universities.
Our experience means our team are well-networked and respected across senior levels of government and industry. We are known for the quality, robustness and independence of our applied economic advice. We are recognised as industry leaders in applying proven economic tools, plus a good dose of common sense, to help solve complex issues in our areas of specialisation – water, energy, environment, agriculture and earth resources, and public policy.
We communicate all our applied economic advice in plain English.
Over the last five years we have delivered more than 300 investment appraisals and business cases for private and public clients. Since 2017 alone we have delivered investment appraisals for over $20 billion in Australian investments across rural and urban water and green energy, agriculture, earth resources, and the environment.
We use proven approaches. Our investment appraisals include cost-benefit, cost effectiveness analysis and regulatory impact assessments. Much of our work has had profound influences on communities, industries, governments and markets.
Our investment appraisal work covers new infrastructure, existing infrastructure, market, public policy and many other investment proposals. We regularly prepare investment appraisals for State and Commonwealth agencies, or we are called on by these agencies to perform quality assurance of investment appraisals.
We prepare investment cases that are clear, based on strong economic foundations and frameworks, evidence-based, and communicated in plain English.
We are leaders in designing and implementing regulatory, pricing and cost recovery arrangements for the sectors we specialise in.
Our team members started their careers working as regulators or working with regulated businesses. Our work is successful because we blend good applied regulatory, pricing and cost-recovery first principles with real world understanding of how regulatory, pricing and cost-recovery works in practice in the sectors we specialise in.
Members of our team have led the design and implementation of some of Australia’s leading and longest standing regulatory, pricing and cost-recovery mechanisms in water, agriculture, transport, and health services. We are at the forefront of designing and implementing new and innovative pricing and cost recovery mechanisms across several key sectors that we specialise in including urban and rural water, green energy, agriculture and fisheries.
Governments, regulators and decision makers are increasingly using non-market valuation approaches to inform investments and policy decision-making.
Marsden Jacob has some of Australia’s leading specialists in non-market valuation. We are the go-to non-market valuation advisors to many State and Commonwealth Government Departments. Our non-market valuation work has supported nationally and internationally significant natural resource and environmental decisions.
Our non-market valuation team PhD level qualifications in environmental and resource economics and have more than 15 years experience delivering non-market value surveys and studies. Team members have taught non-market valuation at leading Australian Universities, and our work is widely published in peer reviewed journals.
Our approaches to non-market valuation are proven, practical and focus on bringing key stakeholders on the journey to build confidence and understanding in the results.
We love good quantitative work and modelling. Modelling allows us to evidence lines of reasoning, test hypotheses and uncover the unexpected.
We specialise in developing bespoke models for bespoke issues. These models provide insights used by boards, management and professional staff to support regulatory, pricing, investment and other strategic decisions.
We also maintain a suite of sophisticated in-house water, energy, agriculture, and fisheries models. These models have informed some of the most influential regulatory, policy, pricing and market structure decisions in Australia over the last decade.
Our quantitative modelling draws on our deep toolkit and proven approaches across econometrics, numerical simulation, static and dynamic programming, machine learning and more.
We regularly build stochastic optimisation and simulation models that help clients make better infrastructure, regulatory and policy decisions across the water, energy, environment, agriculture, earth resources, waste and transport sectors. We also regularly develop integrated environmental-economic, bio-economic and hydro-economic models. We build these models to deliver insights for our clients to help design and reform policy and strategies around things like clean air regulation, waste recycling, catchment investment prioritisation, urban and rural water infrastructure investment, and energy investment.
Policy making matters because it shapes our lived experience.
We have developed our policy skills by working at senior levels with and for leading Australian policy institutions like the Productivity Commission, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Treasuries, Economic Regulators and leading Australian and overseas academic institutions.
Policy making is about understanding clear objectives, outcomes and evidence in the context of past history. We work collaboratively to understand the client’s needs and work through issues, as they arise, to achieve better outcomes.
Our team are well networked and respected across senior levels of government and industry for the quality, robustness and independence of our applied policy advice. We are recognised as the industry leaders in policy design to solve wicked policy problems in our areas of specialisation – water, energy, environment, agriculture and earth resources, and public policy.
We communicate all our policy advice in plain English.
We have helped design and implement some of the most innovative and influential policies in Australia within the sectors we specialise in.
Our design approach combines a practical understanding of how policy is implemented in the real world and expertise in first principles. Our policy design approach is outcome-focused and collaborative.
Effective policy making requires a collaborative approach to outline a clear process, whether in developing new policies or evaluating existing programs. A good process must understand the formal and informal rules in use.
Our team uses policy fundamentals design principles. We have particular expertise in policy design to address water, waste, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, earth resources, public health and transport issues.
We support governance and institutional design by applying ‘governance fundamentals’ design principles and processes to issues. We have particular expertise in designing and reforming governance and institutional arrangements in the water, waste, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, earth resources, public health and transport sectors, and developing statutory and non-statutory governance arrangements.
Many of our team have held senior executive and non-executive roles in government and industry.
We regularly work with Government, industries and regulators to evaluate the performance of energy, water and environmental policies.
Our approach to evaluation builds on proven approaches established by Australian Commonwealth and State Governments. We have extended these proven approaches in ways that provide additional evaluation insights.
These insights include understanding the drivers of policy or program need, and how these drivers change over time, and opportunities to reform programs and policies.
We focus our policy and program evaluation work in sectors and industries that we have expertise in. This means we when we work with you we come with real insight into the sectors and industries you’re in, and the current and emerging challenges and opportunities that will impact programs and policies. Our experience and know-how means we can do informed policy and program evaluation, and develop practical recommendations for reform.
We are widely recognised as leaders in the design, implementation, governance and performance assessment of Australian and international water, energy, agriculture, and environmental markets.
Clients prefer to work with us because our team has real and comprehensive practical expertise in market design and operation gained from first-hand experience. This first-hand experience in market design and operation is invaluable because you can only go so far on first principles.
Members of our team were involved in the establishment of the Victoria, Western Australia and National Electricity Markets and the Victorian gas market. We have supported the growth and reform of Australia’s rural water markets, and Australia’s salinity markets. We’re also widely recognised as being Australian leaders in designing and implementing new and innovative environmental markets for things like stormwater and biodiversity.
We communicate all our markets advice in plain English.
Good market design crates signals and incentives for participants to behave in ways that allocate resources and change people and business’s behaviours, and market and industry structures to maximise well-being.
We have particular expertise in designing market mechanisms, auctions, and matching markets for allocating natural resources and addressing negative environmental impacts.
We are called on by Government, industry sectors and regulators to monitor and evaluate the performance of energy, water and environmental markets. We are leading advisors to State and Commonwealth Governments on Australian water markets. We are also leading advisors to State and Commonwealth Governments on Australian energy markets.
We work with private clients across Australia’s energy and water markets to help them achieve best outcomes for their investments.
Our approach to strategy advice is grounded in our economics, financial, risk, market and policy expertise.
We only do strategy work in sectors and industries that we have expertise in, and many of us have commercial backgrounds in the industries we specialise in.
This means when you work with us we come with real insight into the sectors and industries you’re in, and the current and emerging challenges and opportunities that will impact on your operations and investments. Our experience and know-how means we can help you position best for the future.
We’re preferred strategic advisors to industry, governments, and the not-for-profit sector. We work together with our clients on strategic matters that impact them across regulation, policy, markets and market access, corporate and business units, and investment portfolios.
We work collaboratively with our clients to design clear, practical and implementable strategies that our clients have confidence in, and want to implement.
Strategy often calls for multidisciplinary expertise and different points of insight. We don’t try to be all things for all people. We draw on people and their skills from other consulting practices who share our values where this will help you to get better outcomes.
We communicate all our strategy advice in plain English.
Our approach to strategy design aligns with our approach to policymaking.
We have helped design and implement some of the most innovative and influential strategy in Australia within the sectors we specialise in.
Our design approach combines a practical understanding of how strategy is implemented in the real world and expertise in first principles. Our strategy design approach is outcome-focused and collaborative.
Our strategy design advice often draws on financial, cashflow, and economic modelling to inform understanding of how to best manage risks and opportunities. Our advice often draws on tools and experience from our governance, institutional and performance and reform work.
We have particular expertise in developing strategies to address water, waste, energy, biodiversity, agriculture, earth resources, public health and transport issues.
Over the past five years we have provided due diligence support to more than $20 billion of public and private sector investment. This investment has primarily been in Australia and primarily in the energy, green energy, water and agriculture sectors.
Our due diligence work provides investors with the confidence and understanding needed to act. Our due diligence work varies across clients, but is always focused on the key issues critical to the client’s investment decisions.
Our work includes but is not limited to:
- market mapping, segmentation and forecasting;
- competitor and customer base analysis;
- revenue and profitability forecasting and assurance;
- pricing structures;
- cashflow analysis;
- and valuation due diligence.
We regularly work with Government, industries and regulators to evaluate the performance of their strategies across the sectors we specialise in.
Our approach to evaluation builds on proven approaches established by Australian Commonwealth and State Governments. We have extended these proven approaches in ways that provide additional evaluation insights and understanding of reform opportunities.
We focus our strategic evaluation work in sectors and industries that we have expertise in. This means we when we work with you we come with real insight into the sectors and industries you’re in, and the current and emerging challenges and opportunities that will impact strategy. Our experience and know-how means we can do informed strategic evaluation, and develop practical recommendations for reform.
