63rd Annual Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists

It is my pleasure to once again welcome you to the Annual Conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists. We are pleased to put together an annual conference where participants from academia, government and private sectors can come together in order to discuss and share ideas on important issues facing New Zealand. More importantly, this also provides an opportunity to bring together economists at all stages of their careers to share their experiences, build networks and support the economic research infrastructure in New Zealand.

This year we welcome five outstanding keynote speakers this year. Kenneth Gillingham, Professor of Economics at Yale University; Lawrence H. Goulder, Professor of Economics at Stanford and Director of the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center; Warwick McKibbin, Distinguished Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis at the Australian National University; Robert A. Buckle, Emeritus Professor at Victoria University of Wellington; and Rhema Vaithianathan, Professor of Economics at Auckland University of Technology. The diversity of their backgrounds and insights reflects well the broad spread of interests of you, the attendees. 

A dedicated conference committee is working to bring you this event: chaired by John Saunders (Lincoln University), with support from Julia Talbot-Jones (Victoria University of Wellington). They are aptly supported by the expertise of OnCue and Motu. They are also supported by an army of judges that volunteer their time to help judge a wide range of prizes.

I wish to acknowledge the financial support of our major sponsors. The support of Treasury, the Reserve Bank, and Stats New Zealand enables us to provide a professional conference experience that brings together the economics community to nourish our profession. The support of the NZ Work Research Institute, AUT in hosting our meeting again is also greatly appreciated, as are the contributions of Motu, AERU, NZIER and SDAS.

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.

Professor Gail Pacheco
NZAE President