Max Yong
I'm an economist studying how policy shapes the choices people make — from university fees to household finances, and more. I'm currently at Harvard, where I study public policy and teach personal finance, and my writing on economics, finance, AI, and education appears regularly across Australia's major mastheads.
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John Monash
Where I work and study
Harvard Kennedy School ↗
Master in Public Policy candidate, as a 2025 John Monash Scholar (ANZAC Centenary Scholarship)
Harvard University, Department of Economics ↗
Teaching Fellow — Personal Finance (ECON 70) and Industrial Policy (BGP 622)
University of Melbourne ↗
Honorary Fellow, Centre for the Study of Higher Education; research with the Melbourne Institute
The Age & The Sydney Morning Herald ↗
Contributor — columns on economics, finance, AI, and education
Recent pieces
Do fees change what students study?
My research with the Melbourne Institute uses Australia's Job-ready Graduates reform — the largest re-pricing of degrees in a generation — to measure how students respond to university fees. The findings have been cited in the Australian Universities Accord and the Productivity Commission's five-year inquiry.
From evidence to policy design
In 2026 I made a submission to the Australian Senate proposing a budget-neutral redesign of the Job-ready Graduates fee structure. Alongside it I built an interactive optimiser where you can set the constraints — government spending, university revenue, fee caps — and see the optimal fee schedule it produces.
