I was born in Sheffield, England in 1949 and my family migrated to New Zealand in 1956.
EducationI attended
Kuranui College in Greytown, N.Z. (1962-1966), and was Dux in 1966. I then studied at the
University of Canterbury in Christchurch, N.Z. (1967-1971). There, thanks to Peter Spooner, I was a resident at
College House, the oldest university college in N.Z., for 3 years and completed a B.Sc. (Pure Mathematics, and Statistics, 1969). This was followed by an M.Comm., 1st. Class Hons. (Economics, 1971). Subsequently, my Ph.D. dissertation, “Bayesian Applications in Econometrics”, was supervised by Prof. Tony Rayner (1973 -1975). Although the University of Canterbury was founded in 1873, this was the first Ph.D. in Economics to be awarded at that institution.
Professional CareerAfter over 40 years in academia I'm now retired, as Professor
Emeritus, from the Department of Economics at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada. My professional career began in the Economic Department at the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. There, I was fortunate to be part of a team involved in developing the first large-scale macro-econometric models for forecasting and economic policy-making in that country, under the amazing guidance and direction of Dr. (Sir) Roderick Deane.
My academic career in the field of Econometrics began at Monash University, Australia (1978-1986), where I was Lecturer, then Professor, and also served as Chair of the Department of Econometrics and O.R.. I then returned to New Zealand, and was Professor of Economics at the University of Canterbury (1986-1993). During the rest of of my career I held the position of Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Victoria, Canada (1994-2017).
Credentials- You can learn more about my qualifications, experience, research, and publications in my c.v., here.
- My peer-reviewed published research in econometrics, statistics, and economics includes 6 books, 17 book chapters, and over 130 journal articles. These publications have received more than 7,900 citations, and my Google Scholar h-index is 45.
- In the mathematics/statistics community I have an Erdös number of 4.
- I became a Distinguished Fellow of the New Zealand Association of Economists in 2014.
- I received an "Excellence in Teaching Award" from the University of Victoria in 2003-04.
- You can find some (but not all) of the books that I have written, and edited, on Amazon.
- My former blog (2011 - 2019), Econometrics Beat, has received over 10 million "hits".
Current ActivitiesMy wife, Carol, and I now live on Lucerne Lake in L'Amable, in rural Eastern Ontario. I maintain a bit of a
research program, and undertake consulting assignments from time to time.
(
Last updated:
5 January 2025)
