Econometrics in New Zealand

Econometrics is alive and well in New Zealand! 

This comes as no surprise to me, given the long and illustrious history of the discipline in that country. and the continuation of that tradition was in evidence this past week at the 23rd meeting of the New Zealand Econometrics Study Group.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was attending the meeting again this year, after an unconscionable gap of more than a decade. I'm really pleased that I was able to be there, at the University of Auckland, together with other participants from Japan, Korea, Australia, the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. - as well as many from New Zealand, of course.

The meeting was of the type that I really enjoy - a small group of enthusiasts sharing the multiple tasks of presenting and discussing papers, and chairing the sessions. It was great t meet new people, to see how the econometrics community is faring in New Zealand, and to catch up with former colleagues, former students, and students of former students!

The program covered a wide range of interesting material in econometric theory and applied econometrics. There was a bit of an emphasis on time-series econometrics and financial econometrics.  Empirical macroeconomics was well represented, but there wasn't the usual over-kill of empirical microeconomics papers. Not that I'm complaining about that - it was a breath of fresh air for me personally!

There were 25 presented papers, the quality of which was excellent, and these (not just the abstracts) are available here.

The highlight for me was set of presentations by the younger participants. These were really outstanding!

Prizes were presented for the best papers from the latter authors, and these went to ?Lorenzo Ductor (Massey University, N.Z.) and Yae in Baek (Yonsei University, Korea). Ole Maneesoonthorn (University of Melbourne) and Gael Price and Katy Bergstrom (both of the Reserve Bank of N.Z.) received well-deserved "honourable mentions". It must have been very difficult for the adjudication panel to separate all of these fine papers and presentations.

My thanks to Peter Phillips, Dimitris Margaretis, Taesuk Lee,  and everyone else involved in the organization and support of this excellent conference; and my congratulations to them for continuing to foster and promote the New Zealand tradition of excellence in econometrics.

I'll be back - if you'll have me!

© 2013, David E. Giles