The Special 18th Meeting of the New Zealand Econometric Study Group (NZESG) in honor of Peter C.B. Phillips, 7-9 March 2008, University of Auckland, Auckland

The 18th meeting of the New Zealand Econometric Study Group in honor of Peter C.B. Phillips was held at University of Auckland on 7-9th March 2008. The meeting was hosted by the Department of Economics and the venue was in Owen G. Glen Building. The programme chairs were Chirok Han and Donggyu Sul. The conference consisted of two parts. On the first day, seven special invitees reviewed 38 years of Peter’s works. On the second and third day, 27 papers presented on a wide range of topics in theoretical to applied econometrics. Taking part were 51 participants from Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Singapore, the UK, the USA, as well as scholars from most New Zealand universities, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and MOTU.

Peter C.B. Phillips, his daughter Lara and his wife Debora Blood

The conference began with Basil Sharp’s opening speech and ended with Les Oxley’s closing remarks to celebrate Peter’s 60th birthday. At the first conference dinner, Peter gave an unforgettable special speech “Unit Roots in Life: Places & People”. This was an excellent and moving speech about his parents, his childhood, his teachers, students, and the places he has loved and worked in.

This year, five presenters were eligible for the RBNZ-NZESG Award. Papers and presentations were of a very high quality and a joint award was made to Renuka Sane (UNSW), Kazuhiko Hayakawa (Hitotsubashi), and Heejoon Han (National Singapore University).

Renuka Sane and Peter C.B. Phillips, Kazuhiko Hayakawa and Peter C.B. Phillips, Heejoon Han and Peter C.B. Phillips