Dr Eric Crampton: Finally our unemployment figures make sense

The economists descended on Wellington last week. Or, at least, many shuffled their way from the Ministries over to Victoria University to meet with academics from across the country for the annual three-day conference of the New Zealand Association of Economists.

The NZAE annual meetings are a strange and wonderful thing, whether by accident or by design. In larger countries, economists’ conferences tend to be more specialised. Academics attend some conferences, including academic researchers based in places like the Federal Reserve, but few practitioners attend. Other conferences cater to policy practitioners in the bureaus – with fewer academics in attendance. The NZAE meetings mix things up, so policymakers get to hear from academics and vice versa.