AWH Phillips Memorial Lecture

This memorial lecture was first given by Patrick Minford (copy) at the 2004 NZAE conference. The Association also celebrated the 50 years since Professor Phillips’ influential 1958 paper on the relationship between inflation and unemployment with a Symposium in 2008. Phillips himself regarded his 1958 article as of only passing interest as his areas of interest were far more wide-ranging than this. He was a pioneer in the field of macroeconomic dynamics, and towards the end of his career he became one of the few experts internationally on the emerging Chinese economy. Phillips scholar Alan Bollard describes a man who was intrepid and ingenious; unassuming but a truly independent thinker. A lecture given by Bollard* on Phillips’ life was entitled: “How a unique man built a machine, drew a curve and helped world economics move forward.” These aspects of the man and his work provide the background for the diversity of speakers invited to give this lecture in Phillips’ memory.

* Alan Bollard also authored two books about or based on Bill Phillips:
A Few Hares to Chase: The Life and Economics of Bill Phillips (2016)
THE ROUGH MECHANICAL: The Man Who Could (2012)

John McMillan Memorial Lecture

Introduced at the 50th Anniversary of NZAE in 2009, this lecture celebrates the life and work of John McMillan. John made major contributions to the international literature on applications of modern microeconomic theory and this was recognised by the Association by awarding him the honour of Distinguished Fellow in 2005. In recognition of the applied nature of his work including his best-selling book, Reinventing the Bazaar: A Natural History of Markets, the theme of this memorial lecture is “The Ordinary Business of life” (Marshall, 1890, p1).