School of Economics

Professor Ian MacKenzie

Director of Teaching & Learning
School of Economics
+61 7 336 56619
Room 611, Level 6, Colin Clark Building (#39)
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Researcher biography

Professor Ian MacKenzie works in the fields of environmental economics, environmental policy design, and political economics. He joined the University of Queensland in September 2012, after more than five years at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He has published research articles on the economics of pollution markets, environmental auctions, and contests in outlets such as the Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Oxford Economic Papers, International Journal of Industrial Organization, Public Choice, Environmental and Resource Economics. His work has won the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Award for outstanding publication in the journal Environmental and Resource Economics. He is a Co-editor of Resource and Energy Economics and his current research focuses on environmental offsets, resource conflict, and the political economy of environmental regulation.

His passion is understanding how environmental markets operate. He has led numerous interdisciplinary teams in investigating environmental markets in collaboration with policymakers at the council, state, and federal level. His funding has been supported by the ARC (Discovery Project), Agrifutures, Rural Economies Centre of Excellence, Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government, and the Australian Federal Government’s $5bn Future Drought Fund (Regional Drought Resilience Plan).

Professor MacKenzie's teaching has connected students’ learned knowledge with real-world (and interdisciplinary) policy outcomes, with impact recognised by an Australian Awards for University Teaching (2021), UQ Citation (2020) and Commendation (2019) for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning, BEL Excellence in Education Award, and 10 School of Economics Teaching Awards. He has been recognised because of his creative leadership in pedagogy: in the way he teaches and supports learning. He leads a transformation in how students engage in class and are inspired to learn by using novel learning techniques that include: storytelling and unusual contextualisation; adopting multiple strategies to expand students’ deep learning capabilities; and creating scenarios where learning is applied authentically. In doing so his students become critical and deep thinkers capable of transferring their knowledge beyond the classroom to help address society’s problems. He is the Director of Teaching and Learning within the School of Economics.

He was appointed to the Multisector Reference Group Committee, Queensland Government, (2021-) to advise the Queensland Government on revisions to the Biodiversity Offset Framework and has co-authored on the Australia Academy of Science response to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) on the Independent Review of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs). He often speaks at industry-government-academic events regarding environmental markets and has a strong media presence of his own research and expert advice on environmental markets.

Featured ProjectsDuration
Managing Carbon Offsets to Improve Australian Climate Policy Effectiveness(2022–2025)
Environmental indicators for tracking environmental condition and trend in Queensland(2021–2023)
Evaluation of Cooperative Models Under a Carbon Market as a Method of Increased Engagement and Uptake by Producers, Including Exploring New or Augmented Approaches (Agrifutures grant led by SQL)(2021–2022)
Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (QLD Department of Agriculture and Fisheries grant administered by the University of Southern Queensland)(2018–2024)

 

Publications

Book Chapter (1)
Journal Articles (29)
Research Report (1)
Working Papers (14)
Newspaper Articles (6)

Book Chapter

Hintermann, Beat and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2011). Reassessing the importance of initial allocation methods in emission permit markets. Advances in environmental research. (pp. 207-238) edited by Justin A. Daniels. New York: Nova Publishing.

Journal Articles

Debowicz, Dario, Dickson, Alex, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Sekeris, Petros G. (2025). Income and the (eventual) rise of democracy. Public Choice 102759. doi: 10.1007/s11127-025-01268-3
Friesen, Lana, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Nguyen, Mai Phuong (2023). Initially contestable property rights and Coase: evidence from the lab. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 120 102842, 102842. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2023.102842
Dickson, Alex, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Sekeris, Petros G. (2022). Rent dissipation in simple Tullock contests. Games, 13 (6) 83, 1-11. doi: 10.3390/g13060083
Dickson, Alex, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Sekeris, Petros G. (2022). The role of markets on resource conflicts. The Scandinavian Journal of Economics, 124 (3), 677-708. doi: 10.1111/sjoe.12471
Dickson, Alex and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2022). Permit markets with political and market distortions. Environmental and Resource Economics, 82 (1), 227-255. doi: 10.1007/s10640-022-00673-2
Friesen, Lana, Gangadharan, Lata, Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2022). Mind your Ps and Qs! Variable allowance supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 112 102620, 102620. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2022.102620
MacKenzie, Ian A. (2022). The evolution of pollution auctions. Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, 16 (1), 000-000. doi: 10.1086/717898
Dickson, Alex, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Sekeris, Petros G. (2021). Non‐linear revenue evaluation. Scottish Journal of Political Economy, 69 (5), 487-505. doi: 10.1111/sjpe.12303
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2021). An allocatively efficient auction for pollution permits. Environmental and Resource Economics, 78 (4), 571-585. doi: 10.1007/s10640-021-00543-3
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2021). Revenue and efficiency in pollution permit allocation mechanisms. Energy Economics, 93 105033, 105033. doi: 10.1016/j.eneco.2020.105033
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2018). Permit market auctions with allowance reserves. International Journal of Industrial Organization, 61, 283-306. doi: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2018.09.005
Dickson, Alex, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Sekeris, Petros G. (2018). Rent-seeking incentives in share contests. Journal of Public Economics, 166, 53-62. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2018.08.004
Dickson, Alex and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2018). Strategic trade in pollution permits. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 87, 94-113. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2017.04.009
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2018). Consignment auctions. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 87, 42-51. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2017.11.003
MacKenzie, Ian (2017). Rent creation and rent seeking in environmental policy. Public Choice, 171 (1-2), 145-166. doi: 10.1007/s11127-017-0401-8
MacKenzie, Ian A. (2016). Review of Political Economy and Instruments of Environmental Politics, by Friedrich Schneider, Andrea Kollman and Johannes Reichl (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2015), pp. 285. Economic Record, 92 (299), 670-671. doi: 10.1111/1475-4932.12300
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2016). Caps on Coasean Transfers. Oxford Economic Papers, 68 (2) gpv091, 566-584. doi: 10.1093/oep/gpv091
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2016). Coasean bargaining in the presence of Pigouvian taxation. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 75, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2015.09.003
Gerigk, Joschka, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2015). A model of benchmarking regulation: revisiting the efficiency of environmental standards. Environmental and Resource Economics, 62 (1), 59-82. doi: 10.1007/s10640-014-9815-7
Brunnschweiler, Christa N., Jennings, Colin and MacKenzie, Ian (2014). A study of expressive choice and strikes. European Journal of Political Economy, 2014, 111-125. doi: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2014.01.004
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2013). Restricted Coasean bargaining. Journal of Public Economics, 97 (1), 296-307. doi: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2012.11.002
MacKenzie, Ian A., Ohndorf, Markus and Palmer, Charles (2012). Enforcement-proof contracts with moral hazard and precaution: ensuring 'permanence' in carbon sequestration. Oxford Economic Papers, 64 (2) gpr057, 350-374. doi: 10.1093/oep/gpr057
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, M. (2012). Optimal monitoring for project-based emissions trading systems under asymmetric information. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 42 (2), 180-203. doi: 10.1007/s11149-012-9196-1
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2012). Cap-and-trade, taxes, and distributional conflict. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 63 (1), 51-65. doi: 10.1016/j.jeem.2011.05.002
Fell, Harrison, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Pizer, William A. (2012). Prices versus quantities versus bankable quantities. Resource and Energy Economics, 34 (4), 607-623. doi: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2012.05.004
MacKenzie, Ian A. (2011). Tradable permit allocations and sequential choice. Resource and Energy Economics, 33 (1), 268-278. doi: 10.1016/j.reseneeco.2010.06.004
Hanley, Nick and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2010). The effects of rent seeking over tradable pollution permits. BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 10 (1) 56, 56.1-56.26. doi: 10.2202/1935-1682.2497
MacKenzie, Ian A., Hanley, Nick and Kornienko, Tatiana (2009). Using contests to allocate pollution permits. Energy Policy, 37 (7), 2798-2806. doi: 10.1016/j.enpol.2009.03.030
MacKenzie, Ian A., Hanley, Nick and Kornienko, Tatiana (2008). The optimal initial allocation of pollution permits: a relative performance approach. Environmental and Resource Economics, 39 (3), 265-282. doi: 10.1007/s10640-007-9125-4

Research Report

Wade, Belinda, MacKenzie, Ian, Agnew, Scott and Meath, Cristyn (2018). Australia’s evolving energy future: preparing business through systems modelling, organisational capabilities and stable energy policy. AIBE Industry Research Series Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.

Working Papers

Dickson, Alex and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2025). Adjustable quantities. 669. School of Economics, The University of Queensland.
Friesen, Lana , MacKenzie, Ian A. and Nguyen, Mai Phuong (2022). Initially contestable property rights and Coase: evidence from the lab.
Friesen, Lana , Gangadharan, Lata , Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2020). Mind your Ps and Qs! An Experiment on Variable Allowance Supply in the US Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. School of Economics Discussion Paper. 618. School of Economics, The University of Queensland, QLD Australia.
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2018). Revenue and efficiency in pollution permit allocation mechanisms. School of Economics.
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2018). An efficient and implementable auction for environmental rights. Discussion Paper. 587. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Dickson, Alex, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Sekeris, Petros (2016). Sharing contests with general preferences. Discussion Paper Series. 573. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Dickson, A. and MacKenzie, I. A. (2016). Strategic trade in pollution permits. Discussion Paper Series. 554. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2016). Permit market auctions with allowance reserves. Discussion Paper Series. 553. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Khezr, Peyman and MacKenzie, Ian A. (2016). Consignment auctions. Discussion paper series. 558. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
MacKenzie, I.A. (2015). Prices versus quantities with distributional rent seeking. Discussion Paper Series. 548. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
MacKenzie, Ian (2014). Precaution with endogenous litigation choices. Discussion Papers, Department of Economics, University of Queensland. 535. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
Gerigk, Joschka, MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2014). A model of benchmarking regulation: revisiting the efficiency of environmental standards. 519. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2014). Coasean Bargaining in the Presence of Pigouvian Taxation: Revisiting the Buchanan-Stubblebine-Turvey Theorem. School of Economics Discussion Paper Series. 515. School of Economics, University of Queensland.
MacKenzie, Ian A. and Ohndorf, Markus (2013). Caps on Coasean Transfers. 485. School of Economics, University of Queensland.

Newspaper Articles

MacKenzie, Ian A. (2022, 09 06). Taxes out, subsidies in: Australia and the US are passing major climate bills – without taxing carbon The Conversation
MacKenzie, Ian A. (2022, 08 18). Australia may be heading for emissions trading between big polluters The Conversation
MacKenzie, Ian A. (2019, 02 26). The government’s $2bn climate fund: a rebadged rehash of old mistakes The Conversation
MacKenzie, Ian A. (2018, 04 19). The recycling crisis in Australia: easy solutions to a hard problem The Conversation
MacKenzie, I. A. (2018, 02 26). Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund is almost empty. It shouldn’t be refilled The Conversation
MacKenzie, I. A. (2017, 03 28). Plastic fantastic: how lotteries could revolutionise recycling The Conversation

Areas of research

Applied Economics
Economic Theory
Environment and Resource Economics