Eminent Speakers Feature In Symposium At Otago

16 March 2005

Eminent Speakers Feature In Symposium At Otago

The way nations gain, lose and sustain economic advantage is coming under the microscope at the University of Otago later this week.

Professor Rick Garside, Dean of the University’s School of Liberal Arts, has organised a symposium which includes two scholars of international repute, Professor Barry Supple and Professor Robert Wade.

Professor Wade, a graduate of Otago University, is Professor of Political Economy and Development at the London School of Economics. He graduated from Otago with a BA in economics in 1965. Professor Supple is the former Professor of Economic History and Master of St Catherine’s College at the University of Cambridge.

“Alongside these international leaders in their field we have people from around New Zealand and Australia from a range of disciplines speaking at the symposium. Political scientists, economists, economic historians, economic geographers, and people from the New Zealand Treasury will all contribute to the debate.

“I believe the multidisciplinary field we have drawn together can provide a focus for New Zealand as it grapples with finding its place in the globalised world,” Professor Garside says.

His own expertise is in the Japanese experience – a nation that made substantial economic progress in the post-war world, but which has since lost that advantage.

“There is a balance between the capacity of the free market to be efficient and where state intervention fits in. There are many examples in world economic history that can be used to advantage by New Zealand.

“The challenge is to find the appropriate relationship between government, institutions and the market,” Professor Garside says.

About 30 people are expected to attend the symposium which begins on Friday 18 March and continues on Saturday. It is being held in the University’s Council Chamber.

Papers presented at the conference are likely to be published.

ENDS

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