Charles David Throsby AO (born 14 May 1939) is an Australian economist.

He has also written extensively on the theory of public goods and the economics of higher education.

His secondary education was at North Sydney Boys High School.

[2] As an undergraduate he studied at the University of Sydney and received his doctorate from the London School of Economics.

He is on the editorial boards of journals including the Journal of Cultural Economics and the International Journal of Cultural Policy and has served on the boards of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, The Australian Museum and the Copyright Agency Ltd. His survey of cultural economics in JEL has been frequently quoted since 1994.