Recent activities

An illustrative example of the real world impact CAER’s research is having is the project undertaken by the Economic Measurement Initiative on the use of scanner data in measuring price changes. From the December 2017 quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics implemented the recommended methodological changes to maximise the use of transactions data to compile the CPI. This has come about as a result of UNSW-based research, conducted with the financial support of the Australian Research Council through the Linkage Grants program, in collaboration with the ABS and Statistics Netherlands. For further details, see the following and references therein:

ABS (2017), “An implementation plan to maximise the use of transactions data in the CPI,” Information Paper 6401.0.60.004, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra.

I was part of a team that jointly won a major new UK prize in economics – the Indigo Prize 2017. The Prize challenged entrants to consider how to measure economic activity in a 21st century economy. I collaborated with colleagues from Imperial College, Wellesley College, LUISS (Rome), the Georgetown Centre for Business and Public Policy, and NESTA, to submit an entry titled “Improving GDP: Demolishing, Repointing or Extending?”. The aim of the competition was to catalyse a debate about how and what factors are currently measured given the evolving economies, technology and skills bases, and what should now be taken into consideration in official economic statistics that measure the health, size and growth of a modern economy.

President,, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth (IARIW).

Invited Member, Steering Committee, International Working Group on Price Indices (“Ottawa Group”), United Nations Statistical Commission.

Invited Member, UN/IMF/OECD/World Bank/Eurostat Intersecretariat Working Group on National Accounts, Digitalisation subgroup.

Chair, Panel B of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. (Panel B represents Fellows of the Academy from Accounting, Economics, Economic History, Statistics and Marketing).

Invited Speaker, The Sixth IMF Statistical Forum, Washington DC, IMF HQ2, 19-20 November, 2018.

Invited Speaker, OECD Global Forum on Productivity, Ottawa, 28-29 June 2018.

Invited Speaker, North American Productivity Workshop, University of Miami, 12-15 June 2018.

Invited Speaker, ESCoE Conference on Economic Measurement, Vancouver, Bank of England, 16-17 May 2018.

Invited Speaker, Productivity Research Network Conference, 11-12 January 2018, Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo.

Panellist on the Digital Economy, Industry & Innovation Workshop, Department of Industry, Innovation & Science, 26 September 2017, Canberra.

“The Digital Economy, GDP and Consumer Welfare,” Presented at the NBER Summer Institute CRIW Workshop 17-18 July 2017, Cambridge MA.

Financial Services Indices, Liquidity and Economic Activity Conference, Financial Resilience Research Centre and Bank of England, 23-24 May 2017, London.