GEN’s plans for 2023 include our usual introductory courses to cost benefit analysis, macroeconomic principles for policy, microeconomic principles for policy, and behavioural economics. We also plan to run courses on tax, wellbeing, and urban economics.
We are also developing more advanced level courses for more experienced policy analysts and those with existing economic training.
Introduction to Macroeconomic Principles for Policy
The objective of this course is to provide participants with an appreciation of the principal concepts of macroeconomics with emphasis on their application to public policy analysis.
Lecturer: Dr Grant Scobie
Date/Time: 8.30am-1pm, May 16 and 18, then 23 and 25
BOOK HERE
TAXING ISSUES
This course provides an introduction to the economics of taxes. It will be most helpful to policy advisors who wish to understand the economic effects of different types of taxes and the trade-offs typically considered when new taxes are introduced or existing taxes are changed. It will be particularly useful to those who wish to consider the lessons that can be learned from OECD countries that have significantly different tax systems than New Zealand.
Lecturer: Dr Andrew Coleman
Date/Time: 9.00am-1.00pm, 13, 15, 19 & 21 June, and 3 July.
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INTRODUCTION TO MICROECONOMICS
The objective of this course is to provide participants with an appreciation of the principles of microeconomics used in public policy analysis. Please note that there is a group essay component to the course.
Lecturer: Dr Veronica Jacobsen
Date/Time:
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Behavioural by Design Masterclass
This one day masterclass starts with a foundation of behavioural science, mindsets of design and moves quickly to practical ways of applying these concepts. You will walk out with the tools to design behavioural innovations for policy, products/services and communications.
Lecturer: Vishal George
9.00am – 4.30pm, 21 June 2023
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Introduction to cost-benefit analysis
This course will be most helpful to policy advisors who need to understand the basic mechanics of a cost-benefit analysis, to conduct or be able to critically review cost-benefit analyses done by others. No previous knowledge of economics is assumed. Some familiarity with economic thinking and terminologies would be helpful.
Lecturers: Joanne Leung, Ministry of Transport and Kirsten Jensen, NZ Treasury
9am – 5pm, Monday 10 and Tuesday 11 July 2023
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INTRODUCTION to Wellbeing economics
This course is intended to give participants an introduction to the concepts and evidence from wellbeing economics most useful in a policy context. Wellbeing economics supports better public policy to improve human lives. It explicitly recognises the canvas of human concerns beyond income and material consumption, and draws on knowledge from other disciplines such as psychology and philosophy. Yet it also applies and builds on well-established tools in welfare economics, such as constrained dynamic optimisation and comparative institutional analysis. These tools help explain why people make the choices they do, and the role policy can play to promote broad and sustainable wellbeing in liberal democracies such as Aotearoa New Zealand.
Lecturer: Tim Ng
Date/Time: Wednesday 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30 August 2023
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Macroeconomics: next steps
Have you done GEN’s Introduction to Macroeconomic Principles for Policy course? This ‘next steps’ course extends on the concepts and policy applications that you learned in the introduction course, building on your capability to understand economic developments and their implications for your work. As well as understanding the nature of the economic concepts that underpin the economy, this course will enable you to better understand the role of government and the Reserve Bank in New Zealand. Exploring the COVID-19 case study will illuminate the key elements of macro and fiscal policy and how the impact on the economy.
Lecturer: Dr Grant Scobie
Date/Time: 9am-12.30pm, 25 & 27 July, 1 & 3 August 2023 (Please note dates are different to those originally advertised)
BOOK HERE