It has been announced that the Police Commissioner has been chosen to head the Finance Minister Nicola Willis' Social Investment Agency when he steps down in November. So how does the NZ Treasury define social investment?
It is "The use of actuarial techniques to calculate a measure of future fiscal liability - which is then used for evaluation of “success” and for policy purposes. The techniques require the use of large longitudinal datasets to prioritize policy and actions, to help choose who to focus case management on, and which interventions to use".
Yes, it's a no-brainer. That position must be widely advertised to attract the person, either local or from overseas, with the highly sophisticated mathematical and statistical skill set to know how to do such calculations, or at least be able to advise on how they are to be done. The chap with a similar job in the US is called Richard Revesz, who works at the White House Office overseeing cost-benefit calculations. He has a Masters in Civil Engineering from MIT, and then went on to a Doctor of Jurisprudence at Yale.
There is no way a lay-person can head a "Social Investment Agency" without high-level maths and statistics skills, given the nature of that specific method of evaluating projects. So why did Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, say "The Social Investment Agency's got a big role to play and I think that Andy Coster, when you look at his background and experience, he's the perfect fit for the role" when Commissioner Coster doesn't have the background, nor the experience?
Mitchell is a politician. Say no more. But if Finance Minister Willis & Mitchell think they're smart playing the political appointment game in Wellington, then those of us with the background & experience to execute these kinds of "social investment" style approaches are over it. We've already worked out our response.
Here's what "my group" of economists, actuaries, statisticians, computer scientists and mathematicians are doing. We've had a gutsful of the top jobs in Wellington going to people who are well connected yet don't have maths skills. So we no longer have an interest in applying to the lower-down technical positions that prop those folks up. Our students are not being recommended to apply to them. We're no longer going to be the slaves in the engine room who do the difficult work so Wellington bosses who don't know what we've done can take credit for our work.
Here's what "my group" of economists, actuaries, statisticians, computer scientists and mathematicians are doing. We've had a gutsful of the top jobs in Wellington going to people who are well connected yet don't have maths skills. So we no longer have an interest in applying to the lower-down technical positions that prop those folks up. Our students are not being recommended to apply to them. We're no longer going to be the slaves in the engine room who do the difficult work so Wellington bosses who don't know what we've done can take credit for our work.
We're telling our students to go overseas, to Sydney, Silicon Valley, London and New York, to take up more highly valued jobs, both in terms of status & money, rather than go to Wellington to be the poor little girl, or boy, who has studied like a dog only to be patronized by the likes of Nicola Willis, Mark Mitchell, and the non-qualified bosses they've appointed.
We're no longer going to be thrown into the engine room of the Titanic whilst the captain who's chatting to guests steers the ship into an iceberg.
Willis & Mitchell just hastened the brain drain making this appointment. When they advertise for a (non) senior management team low grade Tier 3-style economist, actuary, comp. scientist, or maths person at "Social Investment" to do the hard yards, as they're doing at Seymour's Ministry of Regulation, we're telling our talented graduates, "Don't apply". The world's a different place now. The techs call the shots. Only not in NZ.
Sources:
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/mark-mitchell-police-minister-hopeful-andrew-coster-will-succeed-in-new-social-investment-agency-role/
Sources:
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/mark-mitchell-police-minister-hopeful-andrew-coster-will-succeed-in-new-social-investment-agency-role/
Professor Robert MacCulloch holds the Matthew S. Abel Chair of Macroeconomics at Auckland University. He has previously worked at the Reserve Bank, Oxford University, and the London School of Economics. He runs the blog Down to Earth Kiwi from where this article was sourced.
5 comments:
Let's remember where our ex-PM-but-one ended up, in a job being as much use as gumboots on a duck. Maybe the same for Coster.
That's a very valid point Professor. You should also let those praising Coster's abilities to do such a fine job know exactly how rank these types of appointments are. HDPA springs to mind.
Coming from a technical background I get a feel for what you're saying, it's very prevalent but the expertise with which you're talking about is very technical, precise, and accomplished though and having an inexperienced and underqualified head of staff makes difficult work out of it, more than it need be.
Alan Turing faced such problems and he was plagiarised too amongst all other manor of rank deeds, poor man. We owe him so much.
Obviously there are things that we are not being told but which have a strong bearing on this appointment. But don't expect the National Party or its Overlords to tell us the true facts. This is the sort of case that turns people right off National because they are so deceitful and underhand in their dealings within Parliament in particular, and their utter contempt for the electorate in general.
This will surely be reflected in the next general election, and despite National's and Luxon's ratings slightly improving during the last year, National and Luxon will be a one term government. And sadly, that will probably enable the leftwing ideologists to reclaim the Treasury benches and complete the destruction of NZ and the way of life of all NZers.
IF the MSM was decent they simply would ask Hon Mitchell "define in detail the position , experience and requirements that the Social Investment position requires . " THEN detail Costers experience .
On a different matter Professor Robert MacCulloch, I seriously applaud your interesting and thought provoking contributions to Breaking Views. I sense sometimes a high level of frustration , almost despair at the decisions emanating from Parliament and Government departments .
However there is a multitude of NZers who didn't study in Universities, and worked within the school of practical experience and hard knocks with all manner of success and setbacks . We appreciate your high level of understanding and written eloquence . Thank you
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