12069 applied economics brochure

7/31/2019 12069 Applied Economics Brochure

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The University o Auckland

Business School

Owen G Glenn BuildingLevel 3, Case Room 325

12 Graton Road

Auckland

Applied Economics

WorkshopSaturday 21 July 2012

10am-5pm

Presented by


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Workshop programme

10am Introduction and welcome

10.05am Basil Sharp (Head o Department)

10.15am Rhema Vaithianathan (Director o CARE)10.30am Nick Tuey

11am Jonathan Eriksen

11.30am Ben Gerritsen

12pm Lunch

12.45pm Panel debate

2pm Ideation Challenge

3.30pm Aternoon tea

3.50pm Presentations and judging

4.20pm MADE

4.30pm Judges eedback

4.45pm Closing remarks

5pm Finish


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Introduction

The Applied Economics Workshop was born out o a conversation I had earlier this year about

student engagement with the economic issues aecting not only New Zealand as a whole but

also in our local communities.

In particular, we wondered i we could turn this into a two-way relationship. On one hand, wewanted to create the opportunity or students to apply their skills and knowledge to achieve

tangible outcomes in society. At the same time, students could learn practical research skills

outside the scope o their courses and be inspired by making a dierence however little or big

in their communities.

As the workshop has come to evolve through the past ew months, we have tried to bring together

a mix o social and commercial insights into the way economics operates in the real world. We also

wanted to create a platorm or like-minded students and proessionals to come together and share

their ideas.

Most importantly, however, we want participants to walk away rom this workshop with broadened

perspectives and a desire to contribute to positive change.

We hope you come to this workshop with an open mind and curiosity, and leave with more

questions than you started with.

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the team that has turned this idea into a reality

and to Rhema or her support and inspiration. And o course, to all the speakers, panellists and

judges who have taken the time out o their busy schedules to share their insights with us today.

Alice Wang

Applied Economics Workshop committee member


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About the workshop

This inaugural Applied Economics Workshop will take economics outside the classroom and show

participants how economics is being used to impact society.

Sponsored by the Department o Economics at The University o Auckland Business School, the

workshop is catered toward postgraduate and senior undergraduate students and eatures

prominent speakers rom diverse felds, a group activity or participants and a panel debate.

This is an excellent opportunity or students to learn more about the impact an economics-centered

career can have.

Speakers

Nick Tuey will speak on how we can correct New Zealands growing current account defcit

and simultaneously achieve a reasonable exchange rate. Jonathan Eriksen will talk about the impact o the Christchurch earthquake.

Ben Gerritsen will discuss how to pay or efcient road and rail networks in Auckland.

Panel debate topics

Whether or not a tax on capital gain is required in New Zealand.

The need or greater economic regulation given the current European economic crisis.

The impact that greater natural resource mining could have on New Zealands economic prosperity.


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Rhema Vaithianathan

Founder o MADE

[email protected]

What inspired me to start MADE

I love economics. When I was 14, I readan economics textbook and I was sold on

economics. I loved how it combines systematic

and rigorous thinking with issues that I really

cared about. Ever since then I have had a love-

hate relationship with economics. The potential

or economics is immense. It has not reached

its potential.

Almost every medical researcher I have met

thinks their research will ultimately relieve painand suering. Yet economics oers so much

more in its ability or relieving human suering.

The 40 year dierence in lie expectancy

between Japan and Burkino Faso is economics,

not medical science.

Sadly, so ew economists think that their role is to

improve the world.

I dont blame economists nothing in our

current pedagogy has taught us how to changethe world. So we resort to writing reports that

no one reads, running regressions that no one

cares about and proving theorems that no one

understands. Some o us who are so moved

rage against the dying o the light. Yet it all

ends in ailure.

There has to be a better way.

A new feld is needed one that I call

translational economics. This is a feld that takesthe ideas o economics and implements it in a

real world setting to realise its ull potential.

Economists have shown that emale quotas

in city councils increase spending on public

goods that improve health. Why is a quota not

implemented in every city where an economist

received a copy o Econometrica in which that

article was published? Economists have shown

the long term eects o unemployment on mens

health and mortality make it a major healthrisk. Yet why do we not oer unemployed men

health support services to prevent these health

consequences? These are all simple, ideas that

could be implemented. In almost every economic

paper I have read is a gem o a tool, policy or

behaviour change that could make things better.

Few o them see the light o day.

Economists like me who try to change the world

get rustrated because we think that all we needto do is to point out that a policy was a good /

bad idea and it would get taken up / dropped.

I have come to realise that ailure to implement

good economic policy is not written in the stars,

but that the remedy lies in our hands. We must

think like Steve Jobs, who understood that the

trick to selling computers is not to think like

computer geeks but to think like designers.

Similarly, the way to implement economic

ideas is not like economic geeks but like social

designers. The changes we advocate must be so

natural, so beautiul and simple that they must

slot into peoples lives the way an iPhone slots

into their hand.

The idea behind MADE was to get young people

to start learning how to be change agents or

economic ideas. To change the world one needs

to understand the steps o change making how

to democratise ideas, how to lead, how to behumble, how to build a team.

As I oten tell my students, i you want to do

something about New Zealanders indierence

to poverty or the acceptance o corruption in

Arica you need to have learned how to change

small things. Learn how to walk beore you can

run. MADE oers students a chance to crawl.

My dream or students is that they make agreater impact on the world than I. Not in a

amous, Nobel prize winning, high-ying, jet-

setting kind o way. But in a humble, powerul

and eective way.


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Oliver Browne

Oliver Browne is

a recent graduate

o The Universityo Auckland with

honours degrees

in Arts and

Engineering. He

has since worked

in the Department

o Economics and

at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.

His research involves using simulation models

to assess policy interventions in energy andenvironmental markets. Oliver also tutors

the Universitys introductory courses in

microeconomics and macroeconomics.

In August, Oliver is leaving New Zealand to

study or a PhD in Economics at the University

o Chicago.

Proessor Craig Ellie

Craig has 14years experience

as a tax partner at

KPMG and eight

years experience

as a tax partner

at Chapman

Tripp. His areas o

expertise include

taxation consulting

in technology and electronic commerce;

international tax; restructuring; and cross-

border transactions. Craig has also been

involved in cross-border royalty, income tax and

GST issues.

His interests are in inormation, communication

and entertainment, as well as international tax,

services and manuacturing.

Jonathan Eriksen

Jonathan is the

Managing Director

o Eriksen &Associates Ltd, New

Zealand. He is a

registered actuary

and an employee

beneft consultant

with more than 25

years experience.

He specialises in superannuation and investment

advice to trustees and advises lie insurers and

investment managers on product design. He isalso a past president o New Zealand Society o

Actuaries and past chairman o Association o

Superannuation Funds o New Zealand.

Jonathan has had many years experience

advising corporate pension unds o multinationals

based in Europe, the United Kingdom and the

United States among others. He has personally

helped multinationals develop their pension

arrangements in Australia, Belgium, Japan, NewZealand, the UK and the US.

Proessor Prasanna Gai

Prasanna is an

academic adviser

on fnancial stability

matters or the Bank

o England and the

Bank o Canada. He

was senior adviser at

the Bank o England

responsible or

directing the banks

research work on systemic risk and editing the

Financial Stability Review.

Prasanna has also been a Fellow in Economics

at the Research School o Pacifc and Asian

Studies, Australian National University, a

visiting lecturer at the University o Oxord, anacademic visitor to the Bank o International

Settlements and the Reserve Bank o New

Zealand, and a visiting ellow at the Hong Kong

Institute o Monetary Research.

Speakers and judges


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Ben Gerritsen

Ben advises

public and private

sector clients oneconomic and

regulatory policy

in inrastructure

sectors, ocusing

on the interplay

between public

demands or

quality inrastructure services and private sector

investment opportunities. Ben also works on

competition policy cases, providing economicadvice and analysis o competition law claims.

Ben was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in

2006 and holds a Master o Public Policy rom

Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Ben also holds bachelors degrees in Law and

Economics rom New Zealand.

Ben has recently managed projects in the

Philippines, Indonesia, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania,

South Arica, Nicaragua, Trinidad and Tobagoand New Zealand.

Proessor Tim Hazledine (Chair)

Tim joined the

Department o

Economics in 1992.

His specialist

teaching interests

are industrial

organisation, public

economics and

economic reorm

in developed

and transitional economics. He has taught at

Otago, Warwick, Balliol College Oxord, Queens

University in Ontario and at the University o

British Columbia. Tim also has experience in

government and consulting.

Over the 1991 to 1992 academic year he held theTD MacDonald Chair in Industrial Economics at

the Bureau o Competition Policy, in Ottawa. Tim

studied Industrial Organisation at Warwick.

James Ruddell

James is in his

fnal year o a BA/

LLB(Hons) degree.He is CEO o SavY, a

student charity that

runs fnancial literacy

workshops in high

schools. Last year,

110 workshops were

conducted in the

Auckland and Waikato regions. He was External

Relations Manager o SavY in 2011 and spoke

in this capacity at the Financial Literacy Summitorganised by the Retirement Commission. He

has also represented The University o Auckland

at international business case competitions and

debating tournaments.

Dr Deborah Shepherd

Deborah is a senior

lecturer in the

Business SchoolsDepartment o

Management

and International

Business. She

currently teaches in

the postgraduate

and executive

programmes in the areas o Organisation

Change and Development and Proessional

Development. Deborah is one o the acultydirectors o the Spark Vision to Business

Programme and was part o the ounding

team or The ICEHOUSE Business Growth

Programmes, where she continues to develop

and acilitate the Owner Manager Programme.

Deborah has worked as a researcher,

consultant, acilitator and experiential trainer

with a variety o large companies, SMEs and

not-or-proft organisations.


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Associate Proessor Susan St John

Susans research

and teaching

interests are

ocused on

public sector andretirement policy

issues, including

decumulation

o savings

and annuity

issues, tax and poverty issues, and applied

macroeconomics. Susan is a co-director o The

University o Aucklands Retirement Policy and

Research Centre.

She taught ull-time in the Department oEconomics rom 1981 to 2011, and is now

teaching part-time on public policy and

politics. Susan is a member o the editorial

board oPensionReforms and a ounding

member and economics adviser or the

Child Poverty Action Group. Susan was also

a member o the advisory board or the

2007 Retirement Commissions Review o

Retirement Policies in New Zealand.

Nick Tufey

Nick was appointed

as ASBs chie

economist in

January 2007.

Prior to joining

ASB, Nick was the

senior economist at

Westpac where heworked or seven

years, having spent

three years at the Reserve Bank beore that.

Much o his career has been spent analysing

and orecasting the New Zealand economy,

with a particular ocus on monetary policy

issues. Nick and his economics teams provide

regular commentary on developments in the

New Zealand economy through publications

and media interviews. Nick studied at theUniversity o Canterbury, graduating with a

Master o Commerce in Economics.

Dr Christine Woods

Christine is a

senior lecturer in

Entrepreneurship

and Innovation at

the Business School.In 2003 she was

instrumental, with

the Postgraduate

Students

Association, in

establishing the Spark Entrepreneurship

Challenge and is now the aculty director o

Sparks Vision to Business programme.

Christine is also part o the direction team or

The ICEHOUSE Business Growth Programmesand acilitates the Owner Manager Programme

and the Agribusiness programme. Her

consultancy work is with SMEs and amily

businesses in strategy development, learning

and business growth.


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Making a Dierence with EconomicsMADE was established in 2010 by Associate Proessor Rhema Vaithianathan in The University o

Auckland Business Schools Department o Economics.

It is open to senior economics students and recent alumni to help them learn how to take economics

rom the classroom and into the community.

MADE plays a similar role to teaching hospitals in medical schools. Economics is increasingly a

practical policy science, which can have a huge impact on peoples lives i correctly deployed. However,current pedagogy struggles to teach economic students these clinical methods. One reason is that

there are no natural teaching hospitals where economics students can come ace-to-ace with real

world economic problems. For a practicing economist, the client could be the whole economy or

smaller sub-sections such as industries, frms, groups o consumers, markets or communities.

Vision

MADE aims to empower economics students to make social change through the application o

economic principles and analysis.

Values Empowerment equipping students with tools to create change through continual learning and

reection.

Integrity maintaining respect or proessionalism, ethics and objectivity.

Ownership a persistent commitment to achieving tangible outcomes.

Partnership building synergy with teamwork and collaboration in the pursuit o common goals.

Passionately curious a willingness to take initiative and challenge the status quo.

Contact

For more inormation on how to get involved, please talk to one o the MADE representatives at the

Applied Economics Workshop or email [email protected]


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Applied economics is economics in action, and applied economists are practical people. John

Maynard Keynes, the twentieth centurys most infuential economist, said we should be humbly

useul like dentists.

The Centre or Applied Research in Economics (CARE) was ounded in 2011 with this vision. Ourgoal is to improve the prosperity and welare o all sectors o New Zealand through research

projects which translate cutting-edge economics into best-practice solutions to real-world problems.

As applied and translational researchers, we translate pure research rom the academic

rontiers into actionable change. We take rontier research to businesses, government departments

or other workplaces, adapt them to messy realities and operationalise them so end-users can

integrate them into daily practice. I the frst solution doesnt succeed, we refne it.

As academics we analyse results rigorously and strive to stay evidence-based and impartial. And

we publish our fndings: not only in peer-reviewed academic journals, but also through our website,

seminars, workshops, media interviews, even social networks.

CARE consists o a small hub in the Department o Economics, radiating out through larger

networks o multi-disciplinary researchers. We have collaborated with a variety o disciplines rom

engineering to education. We cover all specialties, rom health economics to monetary policy.

We oten have hal a dozen projects on the go trying to fnd solutions to problems our clients

have identifed. We work in partnership with clients in public, private and non-governmental

organisations here and overseas.

The aim o CARE is to unshackle the power o

economics to be a orce or positive change inthe world. Change that is lasting and benefts

humanity.

Visit: www.business.auckland.ac.nz

and search CARE

Applied economics and CARE

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Augustine Choi

Augustine is in his

fth year o a BCom/

LLB(Hons), majoringin Economics. For

Augustine, economics

has grown rom being

the sole commerce-

related CIE course

oered at school, to a subject truly enjoyed. It is

the best o two worlds, combining value-based

social science with uninching mathematics.

Augustine eels that most importantly,

economics allows students to engage withissues not just o practical importance to the

sel-interested, but o society generally also.

He is hoping this workshop is at least an

acknowledgement o this strength.

Max Montgomery

Max is in his ourth year

o a conjoint BSc/BCom

at The University oAuckland. His passion

or mathematics has led

him to choose majors

in Pure Mathematics,

Statistics, Economics and

Finance. Max is interested in the externalities

o banking practices and how regulation can

be used to reduce the probability o negative

events occurring. Max worked in the Risk

Advisory team at KPMG last summer, and isinterested in pursuing an actuarial career i his

high cricket aspirations are not achieved.

Matthew Scoltock

Matthew is in his fth

year o a BCom/LLB. He

has a particular interest

in general equilibrium,

monetary economicsand environmental

economics, and spent

last summer researching

economic growth in

New Zealand as part o a research project

or Proessor Basil Sharp. He is interested in

pursuing a career as part o the tax team at

Deloitte starting next year.

Alice Wang

Alice is currently in

her ourth year o

a conjoint BA/LLB.

Studying philosophy

and economics during

her BA has pulled

her toward public

policy and economicregulation, and she recently spent a summer

working or an international legal and

regulatory practice in Auckland and Sydney.

Alice is also particularly interested in social

entrepreneurship and development, which has

taken her to programmes at Zhejiang University

in China and more recently to Gadjah Mada

University in Indonesia. Alice currently works as

a research assistant or Rhema Vaithianathan.

Jennie Yao

Jennie is currently in her

third year o a conjoint

BCom/LLB, majoring in

Economics. She hopes

to encourage her ellow

economics students to

realise that economics

is hardly just aboutdiagrams, ormulas and fgures, but it provides

us with a much more powerul apparatus or

thinking about our society and issues around

us. More importantly, our studies should induce

us to do something about these issues. People

say economists orecast the movements in

society; Jennie believes the most powerul

economists dictate how society moves.

I you are interested in keeping in touch withus or joining the committee or 2013, please

contact Alice Wang at

[email protected]

Applied Economics Workshop Committee 2012


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12069 applied economics brochure

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