Professor Sholeh Maani

Biography

Sholeh is a Professor of Economics at The University of Auckland. She is a specialist in applied microeconomics, in particular the economics of the labour market, and the economics of education. Her researched and published work include human capital and wage determination, returns to education, and participation in higher education, income distribution, Maori education, health and housing, intergenerational economic effects, and economic consequences of immigration. As a specialist in economics of education and labour markets, she is engaged in international research collaborations and serves as a research advisor on labour market research and policy in New Zealand and overseas.

She has an ongoing interest in the economics of higher education, and is the author of ‘Investing in Minds: The Economics of Higher Education in New Zealand’ (Institute of Policy Studies). Her current research is on labour market outcomes of increased education, and the economic consequences of skilled immigration.

Sholeh has a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has held visiting scholar positions at NBER, and Harvard University, and visiting professor positions at University of Queensland, Oxford University, and University of Wisconsin. She is a fellow of IZA (Institute of Labor Economics), and co-editor of the Australian Journal of Labour Economics.She served as the Deputy Head of the Economics Department, University of Auckland through 2008 and 2009. She has served as a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Social Science Advisory Committee, and as the President of the New Zealand Association of Economists.

Areas of expertise

• Economics of Labour Markets and Labour Market Policy
• Economics of Education
• Economics of Immigration
• Income Distribution
• Health and Housing