He holds degrees in mathematics and economics from the University of Canterbury, and in economics from Victoria University of Wellington. He is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a Chartered Statistician, and a Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and a Distinguished Fellow of the New Zealand Economic Association. He was appointed to the Prime Minister’s Growth and Innovation Advisory Board during its entire existence from 2002 to 2009, and in 2009 he was made NZIER Economist of the year.
The Royal Society of New Zealand awarded him a grant from the Marsden fund to study globalisation from 2004-2006. In 2004 he was also a Fulbright Distinguished Visiting Fellow. In 2007 he took up a one year Claude McCarthy Fellowship to begin writing a history of New Zealand from an economic perspective, and in 2008 he was awarded the John David Stout Fellowship at the Stout Research Centre to continue this project.
Other major research concerns include current macroeconomic developments, economic evaluation (especially of health and the environment) and the impact of alcohol and gambling on public welfare, and public policy generally. His writings include the fortnightly column for The Listener, and occasionally for other journals and newspapers, and learned articles and reviews which appear on this website.
Many of his consulting activities are confidential but examples of clients where the work is in the public domain, include the Alcohol Advisory Council, Department of Labour, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Social Policy, the Law Commission, Statistics New Zealand; and The Treasury. Potential clients are welcome to contact him using the address below.
He has the current following honorary positions:
– Associate of the Stout Research Centre
– Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Public Policy, Auckland Univeristy of Technology.
– Honorary Fellow of SHORE (Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation), Massey University.
– Honorary Fellow of the Wellington Scool of Medicine, University of Otago.
He also has given guest and keynote lectures and contributes papers to learned seminars and conferences, many of which appear in this website.
A brief biography written around his publications up to 2003 is The Origins of Four Books
Brian can be contacted at eastonbhnzatgmail.com
www.eastonbh.ac.nz