Symposium examines economics and public policy
Listen to the discussion on why the foundational role that economics plays in public policy is strengthened when its insights are brought together with those from other disciplines.
Professor Girol Karacaoglu, Head of the School of Government hosted the discussion with Gabriel Makhlouf, Secretary of Treasury and Udayan Mukherjee, a senior analyst, plus an audience of around eighty attendees on 8 April.
As Frank Holmes wrote over 50 years ago “economists confronted by problems posed by Government or business, or seeking solutions to the difficulties in the society in which they are working, feel compelled to cross the traditional boundaries between disciplines or to explore topics which were not generally regarded as important or relevant topics for examination by economists...”.
Makhlouf and Mukherjee discussed the global debate on economics and its history (recently reinvigorated by a round of soul-searching ten years after the financial crisis) and explore lessons from New Zealand’s own history of economics and economic policy.