Dr Kim Houghton is a unique mix in Australia – an economist with a passion for regional Australia, and a great communicator.

Kim is an independent economist who has been researching regional economic development issues since 1997, helping hundreds of communities understand the challenges they face and work on solutions. Kim is well known for his ability to ‘make data make sense’, demystifying data through telling entertaining and meaningful stories.

Kim was Chief Economist at the Regional Australia Institute for over eight years, directing an ambitious program of research on contemporary economic development challenges facing regional Australians. Kim led the Institute’s work on regional housing, population mobility,  labour markets, disaster recovery and COVID impacts.

Kim’s consulting company, Strategic Economic Solutions, helps communities respond to the economic challenges they face through understandable analysis and tailored small business development support. Kim has a deep interest in small businesses and small communities, having written a book in 1997 on the importance of small businesses in regional economies called Jobs in Our Regions: Building on the Small Business Base. While consulting on economic development Kim created innovative approaches to help small businesses directly – including the Springboard Business Development program. Kim was a co-author of the popular Community Adaptability Tool funded through Agrifutures Australia:

Kim is well known for presentations and workshops which are entertaining as well as informative, drawing on Kim’s experience as researcher with a PhD in Economics, his own entrepreneurial experiments, his background in community mediation and his reputation as a performance poet.

A short CV for Kim is available here Kim Houghton CV 2024

Contact Kim directly via email

If you want to join any of the discussions on any of the topics I’ve blogged on, or if you want to ask a question, please send a comment in using the form below