Joe Branigan is an economist specialising in fiscal policy, the economic regulation of utilities and transport infrastructure, and resources economics. He has worked at the Federal Treasury and Productivity Commission and was an economic advisor to the United States Ambassador to Australia when Australia hosted the G20 and APEC meetings in the mid-2000s. He is currently a senior research fellow with the SMART Infrastructure Group at the University of Wollongong and a consultant economist with Green Square Associates (with Professor Henry Ergas).