Abstract:
The 23rd PhD Conference was held between 17-19 November 2010 and involved 31 students from 17 different universities in Australia and New Zealand. 36 discussants from 21 universities and government institutions throughout Australia contributed to the success of the conference. The PhD students the discussants faculty from the Research School of Economics and other economists from around the Australian National University kept attendance at high levels and generated interesting and stimulating discussion around the paper presentations. Many participants commented that the general level of quality of students' papers was very high. In an improvement on past conferences a committee was appointed to judge the best student paper/presentation in an impartial and professional way. Renee Fry of the Australian National University chaired the committee which also consisted of Jennifer Foster of the University of New South Wales Laurent Pauwels of the University of Sydney and Graeme Wells of the University of Tasmania. In the end two papers were chosen for the prize: Gabriel Fiuza de Braganca PhD Student with ISCR/SEF at Victoria University of Wellington. 'Can Market Power in the Electricity Spot Market Translate into Market Power in the Hedge Market?' Jason Ng Monash University. 'Non-Parametric Estimation of Forecast Distributions in Non-Gaussian State Space Models.'
