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News and Events
Contents
- Departmental Visitors in 2008
- Honours graduate set to take up study at top
US University
- Erkin Bairam Memorial Prize
- 2nd Year Honours Students
- 16th NZESG Meeting
Departmental Visitors in 2008
Dr Anu Rammohan (University of Sydney) is
visiting the Department of Economics for the 2008 academic
year. Anu holds degrees from Simon Fraser University and La
Trobe University. Her primary research interests are in demographic
economics, development economics, health economics and labour
economics. Her publications include papers in Oxford Development
Studies, Journal of Economic Development, Australian Economic
Papers, Education Economics, Journal of International Development,
Australian Journal of Labour Economics, Research in Labor
Economics and ASEAN Economics Bulletin.
Associate Professor Peter Robertson (University of New South
Wales) is visiting the Department of Economics for the 2008
academic year. Peter was educated at the University of Otago,
the University of New England, and Simon Fraser University
and was employed in the economic modelling group of the Productivity
Commission from 1994-1996. He has established a research record
in the fields of economic growth, international trade, and
environmental economics. His current interests are centred
on interactions between economic growth and international
trade, including the growth of India and China on the international
economy, the effects of international trade on human capital
accumulation and economic policy in developing economies.
He has published widely in economics journals such as the
International Economic Review, Oxford Economics Papers
and the Economic Record.
Honours graduate set to take up study at
top
US University
Phillip Hall, who graduated in 2005 with
a BCom(Hons) in Economics and a BSc(Hons) in Psychology has
been awarded a Fulbright-Ministry of Research, Science and
Technology Graduate Award to undertake postgraduate study
at a US institution. Phillip will start PhD study at the University
of Arizona in August 2007. He plans to undertake research
in the area of neuroeconomics, a blend of economics, psychology
and neuroscience. His research will focus on the cognitive
and neural processes that underlie human decision-making.
Phillip, who suffers from an 82% hearing
loss that has required him to wear two hearing aids since
the age of nine, has won two other scholarships, which he
will use to support his study plans. The National Foundation
for the Deaf Quest for Excellence Scholarship is designed
as an incentive for hearing impaired or deaf students who
have had to overcome great odds. The Kelliher Economics Foundation
has also awarded Phillip a Post-Graduate Award.
See http://www.fulbright.org.nz/awards/nz-morst.html
and http://www.nfd.org.nz/Scholarships_Grants/qfe/
for more information.
In memory of Erkin's life and his many contributions to the
Department of Economics and the University of Otago, a fund
has been established from the donations of his former students,
friends and colleagues. The money is held in trust by the
University.
From 2003, the Erkin Bairam Memorial Prize is to be awarded
annually by the University Council on the recommendation of
the Assistant Vice-Chancellor of Commerce to the student with
the highest aggregate mark across the core third-year honours
Economics papers in the same year (if there is more than one
winner the Prize will be split between them).
All students, including non-Honours students, taking these
courses in any single year will be eligible for the Prize.
Currently the papers in this core are:
- ECON371: Microeconomic
Theory
- ECON375: Econometrics
(both taught by Erkin at some time)
- ECON376: Macroeconomic
Theory
- ECON377: Mathematical
Economics (Not required in 2008)
For more information about the Prize please contact Paul
Hansen.
Download a copy of the Prize brochure in
pdf format.
2nd Year Honours Students
Please note that the structure of the third-year Honours
programme in Economics will change from 2007.
All Honours students will be required to take ECON377 (Mathematical
Economics) in addition to ECON371, ECON375 and ECON376. The
number of other 300-level papers third-year students are expected
to take will be simultaneously cut from three to two.
The purpose of the new paper is to systematically cover the
mathematical techniques useful for analysing topics explored
in some of the ECON 400-level papers. At present, these techniques
are covered in an ad hoc fashion in the 400-level papers themselves
and so the introduction of ECON377 will better prepare students
for the fourth year and free up time at the 400-level for
more economics content.
ECON377 will also represent another optional paper that can
be taken by MBus and PGDip students. ECON377 will also (from
2008 onwards) become a prerequisite for ECON424 (Advanced
Macroeconomic Theory) and ECON425 (Topics in Macroeconomics).
The prerequisite for ECON377 will be ECON270.
The 16th Meeting of the
New Zealand Econometric Study group
(NZESG), 4-5 August 2006,
University of Otago, Dunedin
The 16th Meeting of the New Zealand Econometric Study Group
(NZESG) was held in Dunedin on 4-5th August 2006. The meeting
was hosted by the Department of Economics and the venue was
the Council
Chamber in the historic clock-tower building. Programme
Chairs for the Meeting were Peter Phillips (Yale University,
The University of Auckland and York University) and Dorian
Owen (University of Otago).
This year the two-day programme included 24 papers presented
on a wide range of topics in theoretical and applied econometrics
and, as usual, involved a single stream of presentations and
discussants. Taking part were 35 participants from Australia,
Finland, Japan, the UK and the USA, as well as representatives
from most New Zealand universities, the Reserve Bank of New
Zealand and the Department of Labour. International representation
has been a feature of the meetings since their inception and
this year included Denise Osborne (University of Manchester)
and Stephen Satchell (University of Cambridge).
Another distinctive feature of NZESG meetings has been an
emphasis on encouraging, supporting and celebrating the achievements
of emerging researchers. This year, seven presenters were
eligible for the RBNZ-NZESG Award, which is financially supported
by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and awarded on the basis
of research presented at the meeting. Papers and presentations
were of a very high quality and a joint award was made to
David O'Toole
(University of Technology Sydney), William
Rea (University of Canterbury) and Michael
Webb (Victoria University of Wellington). Certificates
were presented at Friday night’s dinner at St Lee’s.
Peter Phillips
gave a memorial lecture in memory of New Zealand’s first
econometrician, A. R. (Rex) Bergstrom, formerly of the University
of Auckland, who died on 1 May, 2005 and whose influence on
the development of econometrics in New Zealand was profound.
Organisers received very favourable feedback on the content,
structure, organisation and venue of the workshop. The next
meeting of NZESG will be in 2007.
Programme.
All papers can be dowloaded from the papers
index page.
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