Absence of long time series data storage in the banking industry often poses serious problems to the quest for the formal analytical relationships between variables. Even if such data exist, the presence of structural breaks may blur meaningful analysis based on traditional formulation. Economists need to think innovatively to overcome this problem.
Increasingly I felt that public policy had become stuck in out-dated frameworks and that, to a certain extent, we needed to return to first principles and adopt a multi-disciplinary approach to economic policy-making; As Secretary, I also felt the Treasury had a responsibility, as New Zealand’s economics and finance ministry, to turn its vision – working towards higher living standards for New Zealanders – into a statement of possibility rather than one of aspiration.