james.allen

James joined NZIER in July 2010. He has experience in the areas of trade and international economics, as well as an interest in a variety of public policy issues.

Prior to joining NZIER, James worked as an Economist at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). While there he provided economic support to MFAT’s international network of posts and analysis in support of MFAT’s trade negotiations agenda, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

James developed a framework to estimate the value of a client’s predominately volunteer membership. The framework provided the client with a practical assessment of their volunteer memberships' contribution. The client has been able to use the estimated values with confidence.

The client presented the findings to its Board, partners, and membership as part of its strategy to increase support for the organisation.

While working at MFAT James contributed to a number of projects that considered the benefits of potential Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). These studies used of a mix of empirical techniques, including the GTAP CGE model, to demonstrate the national and industry level benefits of these agreements. They also provided advice on areas of key interest for New Zealand’s trade negotiators.

These studies were used by trade negotiators as the basis for initial FTA negotiations. The robust numerical estimates of the gains from the potential FTAs were used by officials and politicians to highlight the gains from these agreements.