The NZIER Early Career Economics Leader Award Winners

Professor Gail Pacheco - 2018 NZIER Economics Award winner

In an effort to make New Zealand a prosperous and fulfilling society for all New Zealanders, there has been an increasing demand on policymakers to provide robust and trustworthy analysis of the challenging social issues confronting this country from time to time. Real evidence-based analysis is being increasingly recognised by many institutions as the best way, and perhaps the only way, to gain insights and solutions to the many social issues in our society.

The recipient of the NZIER Economics Award for 2018 has undertaken work for many
government organisations including the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Treasury, the Ministry of Education, the Productivity Commission, the Ministry of Women, Auckland Council, and Careers NZ. This public sector work has been complemented with work for business and non-government organisations, including the Employment and Manufacturers’ Association Northern, Business NZ, the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust, Diversity Works NZ, Coca Cola Amatil NZ, the Vodafone Foundation, and the Blind Foundation. It is a testament to the high regard in which the recipient is held that such a wide range of government and non-government agencies seek her assistance and trust her results.

Her work stands out for its diversity, quantity and quality. She focuses on the analysis of
important social issues, with a particular emphasis on labour and health research. Her work has covered inter-generational welfare effects, gender, education as both a driver and an outcome, industry structures, culture, job satisfaction and well-being measures, health as it relates to employment, health system service delivery, and ethnic disparities.

Of particular note is her work on the gender pay gap. Based on her research findings, the
Ministry of Women produced an employer guide with seven actions for employers who want to know how to assess if they have a gender pay gap, and what to do about it. The supporting research has been consistently cited, domestically and internationally, by the Human Rights Commission and other stakeholders. It is now forming the basis of policy initiatives by the Government to help close the gender pay gap.

Her work is always independent. It is based on sound theoretical thinking, with economic
modelling of the data used to highlight relationships that are not necessarily obvious. She brings no pre-conceived bias to her work, and is happy reporting on and explaining results that may appear contrary to popular opinion, if that is what the data shows. Her depth of understanding about the strengths and shortcomings of her data sources means both that her results are robust and that she is able to explain them clearly to the broader public. This ability is recognised in her frequent invitations to give media interviews and to deliver seminars at various government ministries, to act as a mentor to ministry staff, and to review internal
ministry papers.

From her first work as an Honours student at the University of Auckland, investigating the
impacts of the minimum wage, through to her current role as Director of the New Zealand Work Research Institute at Auckland University of Technology, her focus has been to undertake applied econometric work to inform policy for a better New Zealand.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research Economics Award for 2018 is therefore given to Gail Pacheco.

NZIER Economics Award for 2016 given to Professor John Creedy

The NZIER Economics Award for 2016 was presented to Professor John Creedy at NZIER’s AGM & dinner.

The citation for Professor Creedy is attached, along with his acceptance speech.

Dr Alan Bollard - 2015 NZIER Economics Award winner

The NZIER Economics Award for 2015 was presented to Dr Alan Bollard. 

The citation for Dr  Bollard is attached.

Professor Marilyn Waring - 2014 Economics Award winner

The winner of the NZIER Economics Award for 2014 career spans politics, government and academic life, teaching, writing, and research. That career has been particularly marked by the winner’s unusual courage and persistence in campaigning for full recognition of the economic worth of contributions made outside of the formal labour markets, which had for decades been regarded as too hard to measure accurately, and thus had not been measured at all. It is a measure of the winner’s achievement, over more than 37 years, that her written work, most notably her book published in 1988 and issued in a second edition in 1999, but also her writing in journals and contributions to collected works in economics and related disciplines edited by others, is now cited by researchers, policy-makers, and practising economists throughout the world, with a frequency that is exceptional for a New Zealand academic.

The winner of the Award was appointed a member of the Public Expenditure Committee of the New Zealand Parliament only a year after her election as a Member of Parliament in 1975. From 1979 to 1984, she was the chairperson of that committee, just at the time when New Zealand’s National Income and Expenditure Accounts were being reformed, using standards set by the United Nations System of National Accounts. She took a strong interest in these standards, particularly in the way in which their production boundary excluded, and still excludes, work performed within a household, mostly by women, for its own consumption. Following her retirement from active politics in 1984, and a period of research, she published in 1988 a book which captured attention across the world, entitled “Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women Are Worth”.

That book, including its second edition published in 1999, has had an extensive international impact. It has been the subject of a documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada, and has appeared in French, Japanese, Norwegian and Spanish translations. Its 25th anniversary inspired a tribute volume published this year. Further books and articles have sustained the writer’s arguments and reasoning, and have extended them to the discussion of the recognition in economic assessments of the worth, and if possible measurement, of voluntary, in the sense of unpaid or only notionally paid, work of all kinds. Such work occurs in many situations, including charitable work, old-age care, physical and economic disasters, and in many humanitarian concerns which are constant in even a relatively modern society such as New Zealand’s.

There can be no doubt that the winner of the Award is a tireless, and brilliant, communicator of her arguments, and that she has been persuasive in drawing attention to problems and concepts that have been inadequately catered for in New Zealand and elsewhere. One of the objectives of the annual NZIER Economics Award is to recognise and reward specific contributions in the fields of applied economics, economic dissemination, and economic policymaking affecting New Zealand, if these are of relevance to the economic welfare of New Zealand. The Award Panel is clear that those objectives, and those criteria, apply to the winner’s research, writing, and advocacy of her conclusions.

The NZIER Economics Award for 2014 is therefore given to Professor Marilyn Waring.

Professor Jacques Poot - 2013 Economics Award winner

The NZIER Economic Award's Operating Guidelines enjoin the Awarding Panel to "look for outstanding contributions to the advancement of economics and its applications in New Zealand". To qualify for the Award, a contribution “must advance economic matters of direct relevance to New Zealand and must be likely to be of long-term lasting importance to New Zealand.

Population dynamics and migration flows have critical influences on the evolution of labour markets, on the volatility of business cycles and housing markets, and on regional and economy-wide economic growth and development. New Zealand's economic history has been characterised by volatile migration flows, and by large internal migration movements that have had an important influence on the acquisition and loss of labour market skills, on regional development, the development of our cities, and on asset prices, particularly house prices. The recipient of the 2013 Award has, for more than 30 years, pursued the study of population change, economic aspects of migration, trans-Tasman migration and regional development, and has made important contributions that have dealt with “economic matters of direct relevance to New Zealand”.

His contributions to understanding population change and regional development have improved our understanding of the spatial dimensions of employment change, and of how demographic change and regional competitiveness are connected. He has developed stochastic models for regional population projections and models to support long-term regional planning. His research has improved our understanding of the relationships between international trade and migration, the labour market impacts of migration, the effects of migration on income growth and income convergence, the creation of relationship capital, and international travel. His research has significantly advanced our understanding of the determinants of trans-Tasman migration and its influence on labour markets and economic development in Australasia.

An outstanding feature of the work of this year's recipient is that while his research has focused particularly on New Zealand, his work has attracted world-wide interest. He has held visiting positions in Australia, the United States and the Netherlands, and has twice been appointed Foreign Professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. He is an adjunct Professor in the Department of Spatial Economics at VU University Amsterdam, an associate of the Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration at University College London, and a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor in Bonn. His empirical research is characterised by the application of advanced econometric techniques to answer questions of contemporary importance to demography and spatial economics. He is a leading international contributor to the development and application of meta-analysis and is himself one of the most cited economists internationally in his field. He is an elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Academia Europaea.

Throughout his career, he has invested in the development of the economics profession and provided effective institutional leadership. He has been a successful university teacher and supervisor of New Zealand and European graduate students. He is a highly respected editor of prestigious academic journals, is a section editor for the Springer Handbook of Regional Science, is on the editorial boards of several international journals, has been a tireless organiser of conferences and research workshops, and has been a referee for many of the leading academic journals in economics, demography and regional science. As Professor, and Director of the Population Studies Centre, at the University of Waikato he has played a key role in reinforcing the international standing of this important New Zealand research institution.

The recipient of this year’s award has, throughout his career, been an important contributor to forging links between the research community and public policy. His published work, and his frequent participation in expert groups established by, for example, the Department of Labour, Statistics New Zealand and the Treasury, have been influential in helping improve public officials’ understanding of population dynamics, migration and regional development.

The Awarding Panel was in no doubt that the recipient’s work is an outstanding contribution to the advancement of economics and its applications in New Zealand, and will be of long-term lasting importance.

The NZIER Economics Award for 2013 is accordingly given to Professor Jacques Poot.