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Our Economics Directorate staff

We produce a variety of research about monetary policy, financial stability, and related economic and financial issues. This page provides information on our researchers and their research interests.

Senior Manager, Economics

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Adam is a Senior Manager in the Economics Department. He joined the Bank in 2007. He has spent time in a number of roles across the Economics and Financial Markets Departments and has been a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee. He also spent a year working in Sydney as an economist for an international bank.

Adam has an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Otago and is a CFA charterholder.

Current research interests
  • Monetary policy transmission
  • Machine learning applications
  • Macro modelling
Recent publications
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Andrew is an Adviser in the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. He conducts research on a wide range of macroeconomic topics relevant to the New Zealand economy including housing, inflation, taxation, and retirement policy, using a range of theoretical and empirical modelling strategies. He previously worked at the University of Otago and the University of Michigan, where he researched how transport systems affected commodity prices and interest rates during the Gold Standard era. 

Current research interests
  • Inflation and relative price movements
  • Inflation, taxation, and housing markets
  • Preferences over inflation and unemployment outcomes
  • Optimal inflation targets
Recent publications
Policy Analysis Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Anna is an Adviser in the Policy Analysis team in the Economics Department. In this role, she leads the speech programme for the Economics Department and contributes to strategic advice. 

Anna joined the Reserve Bank in late 2021 as an Adviser in the Policy Research and Development team. Prior to this, she previously worked in forecasting, modelling and research, and macroeconomic, fiscal and housing policy at the New Zealand Treasury and Otago University. 

She has a Master of Commerce majoring in Economics from the Victoria University of Wellington - Te Herenga Waka.

Current research interests
  • Central Bank communication
  • Fiscal policy
  • Monetary policy strategy
Recent publications
 
Modelling Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Aynaz is an Adviser in the Modelling team in the Economics Directorate. She joined us in 2019. She started in the Supervision Directorate where she worked mainly on oversight of banks and non-bank deposit takers. 

Aynaz graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Master of Applied Finance and Economics degree. She also holds a master degree in regional planning from the University of Texas at Austin. She has worked previously at the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department.

Current research interests
  • Monetary policy transmission
  • Macroeconomic forecasting
Recent publications
 
Policy Analysis Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Ben is a Senior Analyst in the Policy Analysis team in the Economics Department. Before joining the bank, Ben was a Senior Economist in the Economics team at the Commerce Commission working on infrastructure regulation and market studies. He has a BCom (First Class Honours) in Finance from Victoria University of Wellington. 

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomic modelling
  • Effects of competition on inflation and monetary policy
  • Yield curve modelling
  • Cost of capital
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Calista is the Manager of the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. Before joining the Reserve Bank in 2024, she worked at the Bank of Canada and the OECD. She has a Masters degree in Economics from Boston University and a Bachelor’s degree with Joint Honours in Economics and Finance from McGill University. 

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomics
  • Monetary policy
  • International economics
  • Indigenous economy
Recent publications
Policy Analysis Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Chris is the Manager of the Policy Analysis team in the Economics Department. 

Chris has been at the Reserve Bank since 2005 and has worked in several roles during this time. From 2009-2020 he worked in the financial stability area of the Reserve Bank where he was instrumental in the design and implementation of loan to value ratio restrictions and led the development of the bank stress testing programme and production of the Financial Stability Report.

Chris rejoined the Economics department in late 2020, and in his current role is responsible for maintaining the frameworks under which monetary policy operates and for providing advice on monetary policy strategy to the Monetary Policy Committee. With his team, he led the recent review of the MPC’s Remit and Charter. 

Current policy interests
  • Monetary policy strategy
  • Coordination of monetary policy with fiscal and financial stability policy
Recent publications
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Chris is a Senior Adviser in the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. 

Dr. Christopher Ball is a labour economist and a leading researcher. His research interests include the impacts of job transitions and on-the-job search, applying machine learning and nowcasting techniques to labour market data, and developing high-frequency price and wage indices.

Recent publications
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Elvis is an Analyst in the Research and Analytics team. Prior to joining the Economics Department, he worked in the Resilience Policy and Policy Projects teams in the Reserve Bank’s Financial Stability Group. 

Elvis holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Auckland. He has previously worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Auckland Business School and the Latin America Centre for Asia Pacific Excellence. 

Current research interests
  • Monetary policy transmission
  • Time series econometrics
  • Microdata research
  • International macroeconomics
Forecasting Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Gerelmaa is a Senior Economic Analyst in the Forecasting team in the Economics Department. Before joining the RBNZ, she worked for the Bank of Mongolia as an economist. Gerelmaa has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in central banking. 

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomic modelling
  • Monetary policy transmission
Modelling Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Hamish is a Senior Analyst in the Economics Department and has previously worked in London as an Economic Consultant. He has a Masters in Economics from the University of Otago and a Masters of Science in Economics From the London School of Economics, where he received the Excellence in Macroeconomics Award. 

Previous teams:

  • Forecasting
  • Financial System Analysis
  • Central Banking Analytics
Current research interests
  • Climate change
  • Macroeconomic modelling
  • Monetary policy
Recent publications
Policy Analysis Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

James is a Senior Economic Analyst in the Policy Analysis team in the Economics Department. Previously James worked at the Bank of England from 2019 until early 2023. 

Current research interests
  • Inflation dynamics
  • Current account deficit sustainability
  • Global supply chains
  • Operational Risk and resilience
  • Credit Risk
Forecasting Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

John is an Adviser in the Forecasting team in the Economics Department. John is a CFA charterholder and has a BCom (Hons) in Finance and a BSc in Applied Mathematics from the University of Auckland. He has worked in a range of core central banking functions, including financial markets and financial stability.

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomic forecasting
  • Monetary policy transmission
  • Housing market dynamics
Recent publications
Modelling Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Karan is a Senior Analyst in the Modelling team in the Economics Directorate. He holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Economics and Physics, and a Master’s degree in Economics, all from the University of Auckland. 

Current research interests
  • Forecasting
  • Innovation and network economics
  • Industrial organisation and organisational economics
  • Inflation
Publications
Research and Analytics Team

Email: Karsten [email protected]

Biography

Karsten is an Adviser in the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. Karsten joined the Reserve Bank in July 2017.  Prior to this, he completed his PhD in economics from Indiana University in the United States.

Karsten’s main fields of interest include heterogeneous agent macroeconomics, computational economics, and financial time series.  While at the Reserve Bank, he has contributed to work on distributional effects of monetary policy in New Zealand, interaction between monetary and fiscal policies, and understanding the macroeconomic consequences of climate change and the transition to a net zero economy.  He has published in international journals including the European Economic Review, the Journal of Macroeconomics, and Computational Economics.

Previously Karsten completed a PhD in mathematics at the University of British Columbia, Canada and worked as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the California Institute of Technology and Indiana University.

Current research interests
  • Heterogeneous Agent Macroeconomics
  • Monetary Fiscal Interactions
  • Macroeconomic Impacts of Climate Change
Recent publications
Policy Analysis team 

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Lewis is a Senior Adviser in the Policy Analysis team in the Economics Department. Lewis joined what is now the Bank’s Financial System Policy and Analysis (FSPA) department in 2014.

in FSPA, Lewis worked on a range of financial policy and financial stability matters. While in Economics, Lewis contributed to assessing the monetary policy implications of economic developments during the initial years of the COVID-19 pandemic.  More recently, in Policy Analysis, Lewis’ primary interests have been in central bank balance sheets and financing arrangements.

Lewis has an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Canterbury.

Current research interests
  • Central bank balance sheets and financing arrangements
Recent publications
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Lucas is a Senior Economic Analyst in the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. Lucas is a microdata (IDI/LBD) researcher with a wealth of public sector experience. Lucas holds a MCom in Economics and BSc (hons) in Statistics.

Current research interests
  • Labour market
  • Firm dynamics
  • Productivity
  • Machine learning
  • Central Bank Digital Currency
Recent publications
 
Modelling Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Marea is Acting Manager of the Modelling team in the Economics Department. She has an MPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford, and a MIT in Big Data Science from the University of Pretoria. She was previously employed by the South African Reserve Bank and has previous central banking experience in forecasting and macroprudential analysis. 

Current research interests

  • Machine-learning and deep-learning 
  • Microdata 
  • Distributional impacts of macroeconomic policy
  • Structural and empirical macroeconomic modelling
Recent publications
 
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Matthew Brunton is an Adviser in the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. He joined the Reserve Bank in 2018 and has worked across financial policy and monetary policy teams. He is involved in work relating to the housing market and monetary policy frameworks. Matthew holds a BCom (Hons) in Economics from the University of Auckland. 

Current research interests
  • Housing market
  • Monetary policy strategy and frameworks
Recent publications
 
Forecasting Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Maui is a Senior Analyst in the Forecasting team in the Economics Department. Maui has a BCom in Economics and Finance from the University of Canterbury, and an MSc in Economic and Social Sciences from Bocconi University.  

Current research interests
  • Applied macroeconomics
  • Labour market and wage dynamics
Forecasting Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Nele is an Adviser in the Forecasting team in the Economics Department. She started at the RBNZ in 2021 and before joining the Economics department, Nele worked in the Financial Stability Group in the Financial Market Infrastructures team. Prior to that she has worked as a senior consultant in risk advisory at Deloitte.

Nele holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel and University of Hamburg (Germany).

Current research interests
  • Implications of behavioural economics on monetary policy
  • Macroeconomic forecasting
  • Labour markets
 
Modelling Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Nimesh is an Adviser in the Modelling team in the Economics Department. Prior to joining in 2024 he served as a faculty member at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. Nimesh has a PhD in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomic modelling
  • Financial markets
  • Household finance
Recent publications
Research and Analytics Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Punnoose (alias Reuben) is a Senior Adviser in the Research and Analytics team in the Economics Department. 

After five years of university in India, he travelled to the Netherlands to pursue an MSc in Economics from Tilburg University, and then to Belgium for his doctoral degree at Ghent University.  Punnoose was also a PhD intern at the National Bank of Belgium in 2008-09. After defending the doctoral dissertation in 2010, Punnoose pursued two years of post-doctoral research at Ghent and at the Chair of International Finance, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. He moved to Wellington in 2012.

Current research interests
  • International Macroeconomics
Publications
Forecasting Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Rebecca leads the Forecasting team, which is responsible for advising the Monetary Policy Committee on the current state of the New Zealand economy, the medium-term outlook, and the likely monetary policy settings required to meet the Bank’s inflation and employment objectives. The team is also responsible for producing the Monetary Policy Statement, published four times a year. 

Before becoming Manager of the Forecasting team, Rebecca led the Policy Analysis team and was involved in the first phase of the RBNZ Act Review (focused on changes to the monetary policy framework) and preparation of the Monetary Policy Handbook

Rebecca joined the Bank in 2010 and has a BCom (Hons) in Economics and a BA in History from the University of Canterbury. 

Publications
 
Forecasting Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Ross Kendall is a Senior Adviser in the Forecasting team within the Economics Department. He joined the Reserve Bank in 2012 and has worked in various roles across the Economics and Financial Markets Directorates and was seconded to the Reserve Bank of Australia for two years. Ross holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in Economics from the University of Canterbury.

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomic developments in New Zealand
  • Monetary policy strategy
  • Monetary policy transmission
  • Linkages between New Zealand and overseas economies
Recent publications
Policy Analysis Team

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Tyler is a Senior Analyst in the Policy Analysis team in the Economics Department. He has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Canterbury. Tyler has previously worked in the Financial Stability department working on solvency stress tests and preparing the financial stability report and prior to this in the forecasting team within Economics. 

Current research interests
  • Macroeconomic forecasting
  • Monetary policy transmission
  • Interactions between monetary policy and financial stability
Recent publications