Morag McDonald
Summer intern 2010-11
After completing her Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Politics, and Philosophy at the University of Otago, Morag came to Motu for the summer of 2010-2011 as an intern for Arthur Grimes and Steven Stillman.
During her seven week internship, she investigatied the reliability of the census data, comparing it with official Housing New Zealand Corporation state housing data. Morag read relevant literature, analysed the new dataset, reshaped the data, learned how to write code and create clear graphs and wrote a paper discussing her findings.
She found the flexible working conditions and extremely helpful co-workers made this a fun and exciting working experience, and allowed her to make the most of the learning opportunities that came along.
She also particularly enjoyed attending the Motu Public Policy Seminars, lunchtime lectures and any presentations she could find, and just enjoyed being based in Wellington, with the culture of experience, knowledge and an eagerness to continue learning.
“I found the whole experience very enlightening. This is the kind of stuff you only learn by doing and I now feel much more prepared for continuing my study and hopefully continuing in the field of economics after I graduate. Now I know what I am in for!”