A very successful conference was held at the James Cook Grand Chancellor Hotel, Wellington when 243 delegates attended the 50th Annual Conference of the association. They were joined by members of the Law and Economic Association of New Zealand who contributed several papers and speakers to the conference

Key note speakers included :-
Professor Dean Hyslop,    co-recipient of the 2008 Frisch Medal, from Victoria University of Wellington (AWH Phillips Lecture)
Professor Peter Phillips,  from Yale University and University of Auckland
Professor Robert MacCulloch, from the Imperial College Business School, (Inaugural John McMillan Memorial Lecture,)
Hon Rodney Hide, NZ Act Party and Minister of Local Government

Contributed papers were received from over 100 authors and presented in five sessions over seven venues within the hotel.

Topics covered included :-
Economic Growth in NZ, Trade and Inflation, Public Policy, Land Use & Tourism, Experimental Economics, Regional Transport, DSGE(Macro Modelling), Education and Earnings, NZ Topics, Housing, Public, Productivity, Economic Discipline, Research & Development, Economic History,  Education, NZ labour, Development & Infrastructure, Studies of Firms, Greenhouse Gases, Finance & Employment, Tax Policy Reform, Immigration, Sport, Macro Finance, Family and Labour Force Participation, Statistics and Econometrics, Ecosystems, Health, Special Topics, Exporting, Household Wealth,

Copies of many of these papers are available through the NZAE website.

Social highlight was the 50th Anniversary Conference Dinner held at the Parliamentary Banquet Hall when several Life Members were honoured by the members.

Photos of this function are available through the NZAE Association.

Conference Committee    
Mary Hedges, Auckland University  
Bill Kaye-Blake, Lincoln University  
Stephen Knowles, Otago University

Conference Brokers managed the logistical elements of the conference including liaison with the venue, coordination of registration procedures, received and processed all abstracts, coordinated the programme publications, and managed all onsite aspects of the conference to ensure a smooth and successful event.