The qualifications of the leadership of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) compared to the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) are as follows - note that MIT is regarded by most in the profession as the top economics department in the world:
RBA
Governor: PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Deputy Governor: PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Assistant Governor (Financial Markets): PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Assistant Governor (Economics): PhD, University of New South Wales
RBNZ
Governor: Masters in Development Economics, Leicester University
Deputy Governor: Masters, Australian National University
Assistant Governor (Economics, Financial Markets): Master of Commerce, Canterbury, NZ.
Head of Economics: Bachelor of Commerce, Auckland, NZ.
A PhD from a top university is no luxury for running a Central Bank - it's regarded in most serious countries as a vital professional qualification - a requirement for such an occupation. And a similar thing is happening across many Wellington government departments. Where did it all go wrong?