Welcome
It is my pleasure to once again invite you to the Annual Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists. The Association brings together economists and researchers from academia, government and private sectors to provide an opportunity for stimulating discussion on important issues facing New Zealand.
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Reflecting the continuing challenges of operating in a COVID19 environment, this year we offer a more compact one-day format. We welcome two distinguished keynote speakers: John Creedy, and Marjan van den Belt. John (Victoria University of Wellington) has made important contributions to the study of public economics, labour economics and income distribution in New Zealand. Marjan is an ecological economist actively engaged in helping organisations and community’s transition towards a sustainability perspective using regenerative economics. The diversity of their insights, together with those of our other conference contributors, will ensure that the conference appeals to a broad spread of interests.
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A dedicated conference committee is working to bring you this event: Ian Duncan (Independent Consultant), John Saunders (Lincoln University), Julia Talbot-Jones (Victoria University of Wellington), Graham Squires (Massey University) and I are aptly supported by the expertise of OnCue and Motu.
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I wish to acknowledge the financial support of our major sponsors. The support of Treasury, the Reserve Bank, and Statistics New Zealand enables us to provide a professional conference experience that brings together the economics community to nourish our profession. The support of Victoria University of Wellington in hosting our meeting is also greatly appreciated, as are the contributions of Motu, AERU and SDAS.
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Your participation is valued. By coming to the conference, sharing your research and engaging with other participants, you are contributing to the success of the conference, the Association and the economics community in New Zealand. I am sure that you will find it enjoyable and worthwhile.
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Peter Tait
NZAE President
