AUT Professor wins prestigious economics award
AUT University Professor of Public Policy, Marilyn Waring, was yesterday announced the 2014 recipient of the prestigious New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) Economics Award.
The NZIER Economics Award recognises outstanding contributions to the advancement of economics affecting New Zealand. Professor Waring was selected by this year’s panel of judges for her “unusual courage and persistence in campaigning for full recognition of the economic worth of contributions made outside of the formal labour markets.”
The judges added, "there can be no doubt that the winner of the award is a tireless, and brilliant, communicator of her arguments, and that she has been persuasive in drawing attention to problems and concepts that have been inadequately catered for in New Zealand and elsewhere."
A public policy researcher well known for her research on the value of unpaid work, Professor Waring’s 1998 book Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women Are Worth has had worldwide impact. Her extensive body of research is internationally respected, and has spanned political economy, governance and public policy, gender analysis and human rights.
Reflecting on the award, Professor Waring commented, "All my work springs from the communities of Taupiri and Ngaruawahia where I grew up, the different concepts of value I learned from the Tainui people, and the extraordinary environment of Aotearoa that we still battle to preserve against mad exploitation.”
“I treasure the stories of women's lives that gave me the politics for my work in political economy. So it is a very special day to have my work recognised at home through the award of the foremost annual prize in economics”, she says.
The winner of the NZIER Economics Award is selected by an independent panel, which includes the Governor of the Reserve Bank, the President of the New Zealand Association of Economists, and the Secretary for Treasury (or their nominees), as well as representatives of the academic and business communities.
Past winners of the prize include Dr Roderick Deane, Sir Frank Holmes, Dr Donald Brash and Dr Brian Easton.