Tim Harcourt is the chief economist of the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade). As chief economist Tim analyses the global economy to help Australian exporters and helps Austrade devise its own business strategies. Tim is also an active commentator in the Australian and international media on economic and trade issues and a regular columnist with Business Review Weekly, The Australian Financial Review, The Age and The Australian and The OECD Observer.

Before joining the Austrade, Tim was an economist and industrial advocate with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). He was also an economic policy adviser to the ACTU on international trade, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and the environment. He has also worked as an economist for the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission and has overseas experience in the corporate sector, as an economic consultant in the UK and Israel, and environment adviser in the US. He was educated at the University of Adelaide, the University of Minnesota and Harvard University.

Tim holds advisory positions with the Australian Davos Connection (World Economic Forum), the Centre for Globalisation and Economic Policy at the University of Nottingham, the Australian APEC Study Centre, the World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, the International Labour Organisation, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics the Australian Business Economists (ABE). He is a Corporate Fellow at the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) and Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney.

His latest book BEYOND OUR SHORES: Essays on Australia and the Global Economy together with other articles and speeches can be found on the "economists corner" web page: www.austrade.gov.au/economistscorner