Levente Timar
Research Economist
Levi joined Motu and GNS Science from Hungary in September 2009. The joint position he fills was established to strengthen integrated environmental economic research across the two organisations.
Levi earned a PhD in economics from North Carolina State University in 2008. His dissertation focused on evaluating policies designed to control the spread of aquatic invasive species, and zebra mussels in particular, whose primary spread vector is recreational boaters. At Motu his broad research responsibilities include modeling rural land use and the impact on agriculture of various economic and climate change scenarios, and valuing water quality, while at GNS he works on a framework to evaluate the direct and indirect economic impacts of disruptive natural hazard events.
In his free time, Levi enjoys running. He used to be quite competitive in the 3000m steeplechase, and ran on the Hungarian national team for several years. When he is neither working nor running, chances are he is out in nature tramping with his finacee Mariann, or reading a novel.
Curriculum Vitae (pdf, 130KB)
Publications
Baisden, Troy; Levente Timar; ED Keller; Duncan Smeaton; A Clark; David Austin; William Power and Wei Zhang. 2010. "New Zealand's Pasture Production in 2020 and 2050," GNS Science Consultancy Report 2010/154.
Kerr, Suzi; Levente Timar and Wei Zhang. 2010. "Emissions Trading for Forestry and Agriculture: Policy Design and Integrated Simulations in New Zealand," poster at the Analysis, Integration and Modelling of Earth Systems Open Science Conference, Edinburgh, UK.
Timar, Levente. 2011. "Māori Land and Rural Land Use in New Zealand," New Zealand Association of Economists Annual Conference, Wellington, 29 June-1 July 2011.
Timar, Levente. 2011. "Modelling Rural Land Use in New Zealand: A Discrete Choice Perspective," paper presented at the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Conference, Melbourne, 8-11 February 2011.
- Timar, Levente. 2011. "Socio-Economic Impacts of the Agricultural Emissions Trading Scheme: A Very Preliminary Analysis," New Zealand Agricultural and Resource Economics Society Annual Conference, Nelson, NZ, 25-26 August 2011.
- Timar, Levente. 2011. "Modelling Rural Land Use Decisions in New Zealand," Asymmetric Information: Newsletter of the New Zealand Association of Economists, Issue 41, August 2011.
- Tímár, Levente. 2011. "Rural Land Use and Land Tenure in New Zealand," Motu Working Paper 11-13, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, Wellington.