On completing his undergraduate and master's degrees in agricultural economics at the University of Sydney, in 1960 Warren Musgrave took up a lectureship in the Faculty of Agricultural Economics at the University of New England and did his PhD there. He spent all his academic life at UNE, with visiting positions at Michigan State University, the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, ANU and Wye College. In 1974, he was appointed to the UNE Chair in Agricultural Economics previously held by Jack Lewis. Throughout his professorship, he usually alternated headship of the department with John Dillon. He retired from academe in 1995 and was appointed Emeritus Professor.